Jim Montgomery hasn’t second-guessed how Bruins handled Patrice Bergeron’s workload
"It’s gonna stay with me forever. I think we had the team to win it all."
In his final press conference of the 2022-23 season, Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery took accountability for some of the decisions that played into Boston’s stunning first-round collapse against the Panthers.
But Boston’s bench boss also admitted that he didn’t have regrets over some of his personnel moves in the days leading up to his team’s failed playoff run.
Montgomery echoed a similar sentiment last week in one of his first interviews after Boston’s 2022-23 season wrapped up.
During an extended interview on “The Raw Knuckles Podcast” with Chris “Knuckles” Nilan, Montgomery discussed Boston’s crushing ending, his decision-making process, and the lessons learned from his first season with the Bruins.
When asked about whether he regrets how the team handled both Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci just ahead of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Montgomery stuck to a familiar script.
“We don’t think so,” Montgomery said. “Internally, we had looked – I think Bergeron sat six of the last 18 games, something like that. It was really calculated, scientifically, of how we were gonna get ourselves best prepared for Game 1 of the playoffs. We set the records, that was great, but we sat guys. We sat out four players one game in Carolina and we won it in a shootout. I think it was Marchand, Lindholm, Bergeron, and maybe Orlov, I don’t remember.
“But you’re sitting out four guys, you’re not going for the record. You’re going to set yourself up for Game 1 of the playoffs. We wanted Krejci to play the last game of the year, but he was having issues throughout the year. The amount of practice time those guys sat out was … we don’t second-guess ourselves with what we did as far as that.”
Of course, even though Boston did prescribe some rest for Bergeron over the final weeks of regular-season play, he did play in Game 82 against the Montreal Canadiens. In that finale, Bergeron herniated a disc in his back, forcing him to miss four playoff games and hampering his play in Games 5-7 against the Panthers.
Beyond the decision to play Bergeron in Montreal, Montgomery received criticism for slotting him back into the lineup for Game 5 despite the first-line center’s injury. Even though Bergeron stated that he was good enough to play, he was limited to one point in his three playoff games while posting a minus-6 rating.
But Montgomery doesn’t have any regrets over letting Bergeron play in Game 5 and beyond.
“I also don’t second-guess myself putting Bergeron in Game 5,” Montgomery told Nilan. “People were like, ‘Why don’t you just save him for the second round?’ Could you imagine what people would be saying if they knew I didn’t play Bergeron and he was healthy Game 5 and we lost? I mean, he scored.
“Unfortunately, it lingers with us what happened. We own it. We know we lost to a good team in Florida – they’re in the finals – but we still were up 3-1. You find a way to close that out. That’s the competitor in us, it’s hard to let go. But we have to move forward. Like what do we learn from this? Especially with our young core players that are gonna be here a long time. How do we all grow from this and make sure that, whatever happens in the regular season, that the next time we get to the playoffs, that we own the moment?”
As for lessons learned, Montgomery noted that he’d ideally switch up his defensive pairings in order to better neutralize the Panthers, especially as their forecheck started to wear Boston down as the series continued.
But from behind the bench, Montgomery added that reading his player’s body language stands as one of the many skills he’s looking to hone more in his second year with Boston in 2023-24.
“You look at those things and looking at body language — looking at guys’ eyes, wanting the moment versus not wanting the moment,” Montgomery said. “I’ve done some reading on some body language stuff that might help me as a coach,moving forward, but in the end, we know we didn’t get the job done.
“And that stays with us. It’s gonna stay with me forever. I think we had the team to win it all. And, for me, I’ve always felt I’ve been able to talk about that last third of the year. Get my team to play its best at the most important time. And I failed the process.”
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