Bruins Notes: Boston Needs To Find ‘Consistent’ Play Before Postseason
The Boston Bruins played one of their worst games of the season, dropping an atrocious 5-1 decision to the New York Islanders at UBS Arean on Saturday night.
Boston has traditionally focused on turning the page after games, win or loss, but Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery said that wouldn’t be the case with this game.
“We got to look at some things, why we didn’t start on time,” Montgomery told Andy Brickley, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “Look at little things of how we can get better. Our execution was pretty poor to start the game.”
The Bruins are in second place in the Atlantic Division, holding a six-point lead over the Toronto Maple Leafs, while the Islanders are fighting for a Wild Card spot with 66 points.
“We talked a lot about having urgency in our game and raising our level,” Montgomery said. “It’s the month of March and it’s time to start building our game at a consistent level for 60 minutes and get ready for the playoffs.”
Even though the Bruins gave up three goals in the opening frame, Montgomery left goalie Linus Ullmark in the game.
“They got to three-nothing, I thought about it. Then we started the second, he made some excellent saves,” Montgomery explained to reporters, per the Bruins. “Then they scored two empty net goals. Nothing was our goaltender’s fault but if it got too many goals early in the first we would have made a switch. One more goal, just to relieve him from the onslaught, that’s all.”
Montgomery added: “We’re a team, right? We win together, we lose together. We won a lot of hockey games so far this year and the goalies have helped us a lot. Sometimes when the team’s not good in front of them that’s gonna happen. They’re part of the team.”
