Jim Montgomery calls out Bruins after Game 2 loss

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.