Jim Montgomery sounds off on Bruins' major early concern for 2024-25 season
The Boston Bruins have now suffered back-to-back losses to division rival Florida Panthers, the same team that has eliminated them from the playoffs for the past two seasons.
Their latest setback came in a 4-3 defeat at TD Garden on Monday, leaving the Bruins with a 2-2 record through their first four games. This follows a 6-4 loss to the Panthers at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise in their season opener.
Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery expressed his dissatisfaction with his team's compete level and made sure to address it publicly, via the New England Sports Network (NESN).
"Way more concerning, especially this early in the year," Montgomery said after Bruins practice on Wednesday at Warrior Ice Arena. "You're going to have times in the season where you're going to go 3-6-1 in 10 games. ... Last year we went through it, our bad part was early December right before Christmas, and you've got to find ways to get out of it."
"But right now, it's the effort level, the consistency of our effort level over chemistry, that is hurting, and that really affects execution."
Meanwhile, star forward David Pastrnak echoed his coach's sentiments and stated his belief that they are much better than what they've displayed thus far.
"The only frustration is probably that we know we are a much better team than we showed so far," Pastrnak said. "So, that's definitely frustrating, because we know we can do much better. ... I would say healthy frustration, just because we know we can be much better than what we showed."
The Bruins are in action against the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday night from Ball Arena in Denver.
Jim Montgomery is entering his third season as Bruins coach
Montgomery has entered his third season on the job as Bruins head coach and won the Jack Adams Trophy as the NHL's top bench boss for guiding the Bruins to league record-65 victories in 2022-23.
Boston will be hoping that Montgomery can guide them to another postseason spot despite losing considerable talent from the lineup (while also making notable additions) in the offseason.
