Tag: Jim Montgomery

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Jim Montgomery hints at 3 major changes for Game 7.

The Boston Bruins are in an unexpected position heading into Sunday’s Game 7, facing the threat of an early elimination in the Stanley Cup playoffs after the most dominant regular season in National Hockey League history and after taking a commanding 3-1 lead over the Florida Panthers in this series.

It’s hard to believe but it feels like all of the pressure is now on the Bruins to close out the deal, and it seems as though head coach Jim Montgomery may be making the changes he feels necessary to deal with the toughest hurdle his team has faced all season.

Although Montgomery would not disclose any changes he made to his lineup on Sunday, there are some things we can infer based on how the Bruins behaved during their morning skate. The biggest of these changes appears to be a much anticipated change in goal, with backup goaltender Jeremy Swayman being the first off the ice during the skate on Saturday. This is usually an indication of who the starter will be, although things could change at a moments notice during the playoffs.

Montgomery also appeared to swap out a pair of skaters on Sunday, with Nick Foligno and Conor Clifton remaining on the ice late into practice, an indication that they will both be scratched tonight. Bruins insider Fluto Shinzawa of the Boston Globe believes that this means we will see Trent Frederic and Matt Grzelcyk step into the lineup tonight to replace those two aforementioned Bruins.

A first round exit would be incredibly disappointing after the season the Bruins had, and it will be very interesting to see how they react to that pressure tonight.

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Jim Montgomery hints at major change for Game 7

NBC Sports

For the second straight game, the Boston Bruins have been unable to punch their ticket to Round 2 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Their opponent in the Florida Panthers absolutely refuse to lay down, and have forced what just about everyone prior to the beginning of the series never thought was possible – a Game 7.

It was gritty forward Matthew Tkachuk who vowed after his overtime game winning goal in Game 5 at TD Garden that he and his teammates would be back for a winner-take-all Game 7, and his prediction has come to pass. Tkachuk scored two more goals and added an assist in what was an absolutely wild affair tonight at FLA Live Arena, a 7-5 final score to ensure that this series will be going the distance. 

The Bruins, who won an NHL-record 65 games during the regular season, looked rattled multiple times over the course of the game. Goaltender Linus Ullmark followed up his brutal giveaway in overtime of the previous game with another sorely subpar performance between the pipes, allowing six goals. 

Head coach Jim Montgomery admitted after the game that he considered pulling Ullmark in favor of backup Jeremy Swayman, and also hinted that it could be the latter who gets the nod in net on Sunday.

A Vezina Trophy candidate for his spectacular record during the regular season, Ullmark hasn’t been able to replicate the performance that saw him rack up 40 wins and a goals against average below that of two. 

“I felt good throughout the game…unfortunately, I couldn’t make that extra save today,” Ullmark explained in the dressing room after. “We’ve been trying to have the mindset throughout the season of closing the series, and we specifically did it during the season. We have one more opportunity on Sunday to get it.” 

The start time for Game 7 at TD Garden has yet to be announced. Who will get the start in goal for Boston? Who should it be? 

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Jim Montgomery addresses the goaltending controversy in Boston.

In what has been a stunning turn of events for many, the Bruins are now staring down the possibility of being eliminated in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs after a dominant regular season. Making matters even worse, the Bruins are doing so after taking a commanding 3-1 lead in their opening round series over the Florida Panthers and there is now a serious controversy when it comes to the Bruins lineup.

Many have questioned the performance of Bruins starting goaltender Linus Ullmark in these playoffs, a performance that has been uncharacteristically shaky after Ullmark had such a strong campaign in the regular season. In fact many believe that Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery has erred in his decision to keep going back to Ullmark, especially after how Game 6 came to an end.

On Saturday, Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery was asked about his goaltending situation and was questioned about who would get the start in Game 7, but the Bruins bench boss refused to give a straight answer. Montgomery did add that he had “no regrets” about his decision to go with Ullmark for 6 straight games to start this series, something that I find very hard to believe at this point in the series.

When pressed on the issue of a potential swap by Bruins reporter Jimmy Murphy, Montgomery admitted that if he did make a change in goal for Game 7 that the blame for such a decision would fall on the shoulders of Ullmark himself.

“Linus hasn’t stopped enough pucks,” admitted Montgomery. “Plain and simple.”

A big part of the reason Montgomery’s decision to stick with Ullmark has been questioned is due to the fact that the Bruins have a solid backup in Jeremy Swayman. Swayman had a strong regular season with a 2.27 goals against average and a .920 save percentage, and it sounds like there is at least a chance he may get to showcase his abilities in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

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Key updates on Bergeron, Ullmark, and Krejci ahead of Game 4.

The Boston Bruins have taken a 2-1 series lead over the Florida Panthers in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, and it sounds like that lead may have granted Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery some luxuries when it comes to his lineup.

On Saturday, Montgomery hinted at 2 possible changes to the Bruins lineup ahead of Game 4 when he provided updates on both goaltender Linus Ullmark and veteran forward David Krejci.

In the case of Ullmark, Montgomery admitted that he had given some thought to the idea of swapping in goaltender Jeremy Swayman for Game 4 in order to give Ullmark, who is dealing with a minor injury, some additional time to rest in the middle of the series.

“Yeah there is thoughts of going with Jeremy,” admitted Montgomery on Saturday. “Just because, one, Jeremy’s excellent, and two after tomorrow’s game there’s three days between the next one… game’s 4 and 5.”

Montgomery also indicated that David Krejci, who missed Game 3 of the series, could possibly return for Game 4 but he did not have any more to say regarding the status of the veteran Bruins forward.

“Krejci no,” responded Montgomery when asked if Krejci would skate on Saturday. “There’s no real update, I would just say he’s questionable for tomorrow.”

Montgomery was also able to confirm that Bergeron remained on track to return, not for Sunday’s Game 4, but for Game 5 this coming Wednesday.

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Jim Montgomery names his goalie for Game 4

Brian Fluharty/Getty

The Boston Bruins are set to face off against the Florida Panthers on Sunday afternoon and based on the decision made by Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery it seems safe to suggest that he is hoping to see his team take a stranglehold on this series.

On Saturday, Montgomery hinted at the possibility that we could see backup goaltender Jeremy Swayman make an appearance in Game 4 but that will not be the case after all. Montgomery confirmed on Sunday that it will be Linus Ullmark who once again gets the start for the Bruins.

Here is the rest of your Boston Bruins lineup for Game 4:

Forwards:

Brad Marchand-Charlie Coyle-Jake DeBrusk
Tyler Bertuzzi-Pavel Zacha-David Pastrnak
Nick Foligno-Trent Frederic-Taylor Hall
Jakub Lauko–Tomas Nosek–Garnet Hathaway
Defensemen:

Matt Grzelcyk-Charlie McAvoy
Hampus Lindholm-Brandon Carlo
Derek Forbort-Dmitry Orlov

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Bruins announce David Krejci’s status for Game 4

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The bad news for the Boston Bruins, who were already skating in tonight’s game without captain and veteran leader Patrice Bergeron, found out right before tonight’s Game 3 matchup against the Florida Panthers that fellow veteran David Krejci would not be suiting up. He was announced as a last-minute scratch due to an upper-body injury; he was replaced in the lineup by Nick Foligno. 

The good news is that the Bruins took care of business, regaining their series advantage by defeating the Panthers by a 4-2 final score. And for those wondering what Krejci’s status for Sunday’s critical Game 4 is, it’s still not 100% known. According to head coach Jim Montgomery, Krejci is “50-50” to play.

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Jim Montgomery calls out Bruins after Game 2 loss

NBC Sports

The Boston Bruins were punched in the mouth by the Florida Panthers on Wednesday night, and they had no response. The Panthers, who played the Bruins hard in Game 1 of their Round 1 postseason series despite a 3-1 setback, dominated Game 2 and tied up the series with a convincing 6-3 win. 

This is completely unfamiliar territory for the Bruins, who won an NHL record 65 games during the regular season and were viewed as the consensus Number 1 pick to win the Stanley Cup this year.

Multiple turnovers and poor decisions with the puck spelled doom for the Bruins last night, and they were appropriately called out by their head coach afterward. 

“Players didn’t make the best decisions at moments. I thought for the majority of the first two periods we were doing some really good things with the puck, but the turnovers we had tonight were catastrophic,” said Boston Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery in his postgame media remarks. “They were right through the middle of the ice and not typical of the turnovers we usually have. That’s not typically an area where we’re trying to make plays, where we turned it over.”

Despite the score being knotted up at 2-2 going into the third period, the Panthers would explode for four goals in the final frame. Needless to say, Boston must use it as a learning experience heading into Game 3 in Florida. 

“It’s five guys working together, it’s not just defensemen and it’s not just forwards not scoring goals,” said Montgomery. “We believe in being a five-man unit in every zone. For the first two periods we thought we did that, except for some of the puck decisions that we made.”

“And in the third period, our game got away from us. For a team that’s been really good in the third period for a long time, it’s an opportunity for us to learn and grow from that.”

Game 3 between the Bruins and Panthers will be tomorrow night from FLA Live Arena starting at 7:30 PM EST. 

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David Krejci speaks on Boston’s uncertain lineup

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The Boston Bruins absolutely cruised through the regular season, re-writing the National Hockey League record book with a historic 65 win campaign and also setting several new marks for their astounding domination of their competition. This came on the heels of just about everyone expecting them to take a considerable step backward.

The real fun begins tonight, as the Bruins will be looking to prove that their regular season record was no fluke when they begin the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Their opening round series sees them matched up against the Florida Panthers, who had to scratch and claw (no pun) their way into the postseason this year after having proceeded the Bruins in winning the President’s Trophy last year. 

However, the Bruins may not have their full lineup available, as captain and reliable center Patrice Bergeron’s status isn’t fully determined, as head coach Jim Montgomery stated that Bergeron and a few other players have been feeling “under the weather”. He was also removed from a late season game after suffering an injury that wasn’t believed to be of the serious variety. 

According to veteran David Krejci, who is making his return to the lineup tonight for the first time in six games, it will simply be the next man up mentality for the rest of his teammates. 

“If you do your job, I think we’ve done a pretty good job in this room of just believing in ourselves,” he said. “If we do our job, the guy next to you is gonna do his job as well.”

Tonight’s game will get underway from TD Garden in downtown Bostons starting at 7:30 PM EST. 

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Disaster strikes the Boston Bruins just hours before Game 1.

Keystone

It’s hard to imagine how Monday morning could possibly get any worse for the Boston Bruins.

Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery has just shared what can only be described as a boatload of bad news on Monday morning, just hours before his team is set to face off against the Florida Panthers for Game 1 of their first round Stanley Cup playoffs series.

Perhaps the biggest news of the day comes in the form of a call up, with the Bruins calling up Brandon Bussi from the American Hockey League’s Providence Bruins on an emergency basis. The call up of Bussi appears to indicate that the Bruins aren’t sure both Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman will be ready to play for Game 1, and there is good reason for those concerns.

Swayman missed practice on Sunday with what Montgomery described as an illness, although he did skate on Monday morning, as did Linus Ullmark. Montgomery though describe Ullmark as a “gametime decision” which may indicate that he is also feeling somewhat under the weather.

Bussi has never appeared in an NHL game before so it would be a huge step up for him to enter the Stanley Cup playoffs. That being said, he had an outstanding performance with the Providence Bruins of the AHL this season, recording a 2.40 goals against average and a .924 save percentage over 32 games.

It sounds like there is some kind of bug floating around the Bruins locker room and it sounds like several key members of the Bruins roster may be dealing with that illness at this time. Montgomery confirmed that David Krejci is in, Derek Forbort is in, and that Nick Foligno is likely to play, but the lineup remains up in the air given the questionable status of some players.

Bruins captain Patrice Bergeron will also be a gametime decision, and you have to suspect that if he misses Game 1 the Bruins will be heavily criticized for having him play against the Montreal Canadiens in a meaningless game at the end of the regular season.

The last thing you want at this stage of the season is an illness going around the locker room, and unfortunately disaster seems to have struck the Bruins at the worst possible time.

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Updates on Bergeron, Marchand and Krejci on Saturday.

Bob DeChiara/USA TODAY Sports

The Boston Bruins are just days away from the start of the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs and after such a successful regular season effort, you know the expectations being placed on the Bruins’ shoulders are at an all-time high.

That being said things aren’t perfect for the Bruins coming into the playoffs and unfortunately that appears to include a few things on the injury front as well. On Saturday, Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery provided a number of status updates regarding his core players, including an update on the status of Bruins captain Patrice Bergeron.

“You know we’re just giving him extra rest,” said Montgomery on Saturday. “He’s had a long year.”

Bergeron was notably absent from practice on Saturday and after he left the final game of the regular season early, that has understandably caused some concern ahead of the playoffs. That being said Montgomery downplayed the situation as best that he could and did something similar when the topic of Bruins forward Marchand came up.

“Same thing with Marchy,” said Montgomery. “Marchy wanted to give it a try today and he had a little bit of soreness so I said ‘Get off the ice.'”

Montgomery cited a hard practice repeatedly as the reason for being extra careful with some of his guys on Saturday, something that lines up with the scrimmage the Bruins had on the day. It sounds like Nick Foligno, Derek Forbort, and perhaps the returning David Krejci were the motivating factors behind that particular decision.

“The reason I wanted to have a hard practice with some scrimmage involved is we’re looking at Foligno and Forbort and we wanna see where their condition at game speed is,” confirmed Montgomery.

You can hear the full comments from the Bruins head coach in the short clip below: