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Greg Wisinski, ESPN
BOSTON — Manager Jim Montgomery took the blame for the Boston Bruins losing 6-2 in Game 3 at TD Garden on Friday night, dropping the series against the Florida Panthers 2-1. Ta.
“My performance in the last two games wasn’t good enough, but that’s my fault. I have to improve,” Montgomery said.
In particular, in Game 3, the Bruins won 13-3 in the first period, and the Panthers built a 3-0 lead in the second period and were outscored 24-8, but the manager acknowledged responsibility for the slow start. Ta. It was a start that quieted the boisterous Boston crowd.
“We had some games where we got off to a slow start,” Montgomery said. “We’re not creating much offense. We’ve got to give our guys a better plan. Florida was much better than us. We’ve got to come up with a better game plan.”
The Bruins didn’t show any signs of life until the third period, when center Jakub Lauko scored to cut the deficit to 4-1 and end the Panthers’ 10-goal streak in the series. Boston pulled within 4-2, but Florida’s defense and goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky (15 saves) prevented a comeback.
Boston’s late-game rally came after losing captain Brad Marchand to an upper-body injury. Marchand slipped eight shifts in the first period and seven in the second, logging 10 minutes, 51 seconds of ice time before departing for good. He did not record any shots on goal.
Montgomery said the Bruins will learn more about their captain’s status on Saturday. But he said Marchand’s absence may have inspired the players in the third period.
“I thought our captain brought us together,” he said. “I thought all of our players had raised their game to the next level and started competing like Brad Marchand.”
Defenseman Brandon Carlo said winger David Pastrnak, defenseman Charlie McAvoy and winger Pat Maroon were more vocal than usual in the third period to compensate for Marchand’s absence.
“I think we did a good job of producing some production, and that’s the key they brought to our game,” he said.
The Panthers won on the power play. Boston rookie defenseman Mason Loley was whistled for a double minor for high sticking at 14:37 of the second period. Vladimir Tarasenko and Carter Verhaeghe scored on solid power plays to make it 3-0.
Just 3:09 into the third period, defenseman Brandon Montour beat Jeremy Swayman (27 saves) with a power-play goal to make it 4-0. The Panthers had the man advantage, going 4-for-6.
“I think they’ve made adjustments. They’ve got a lot of really good players, but I still have confidence in our penalty kill,” said forward Jake DeBrusk, one of Boston’s penalty killers. “To be honest, we have to move away from that kind of world. [penalty] box. It doesn’t matter what we think about refereeing or what’s going on. ”
But DeBrusk didn’t believe the Game 3 loss was the coach’s fault, no matter how much blame Montgomery may have had.
“I think it goes both ways. We’re the side that’s there and we’re the side that’s playing the game. He can come up with whatever plan he thinks will help us, but we “It’s about execution,” DeBrusk said. “It’s about playing the right games and making the right decisions, and obviously we didn’t do that. When you play a team like that, you have to play a pretty perfect game. We’ve seen in the last two games what happens if you don’t do that.”
Game 4 will be played Sunday night in Boston.
Montgomery said he went back to square one to find a way to end the series, again putting the loss on himself.
“It’s too early to talk about changes,” he said. “We need to do our due diligence and watch the games again and see who’s performing and who’s playing with effort. But that’s not enough. We’re good enough. I didn’t play. That’s why I take responsibility.”
