Bruins’ Jim Montgomery Pulls No Punches After ‘Self-Inflicted’ Loss

BOSTON — The Bruins haven’t exactly done a lot of losing since Jim Montgomery was hired as head coach.

That’s probably why he was so peeved following Boston’s loss on Friday afternoon at TD Garden — a game that might just have been the B’s worst regular-season performance during his tenure.

The Bruins never really felt like they were in it Friday, falling to the Detroit Red Wings in a sleepy effort from start to finish. It was the first game under Montgomery that Boston allowed four goals in regulation at TD Garden, according to BostonSportsInf on X, leading to a pretty blunt response to the first question the 54-year-old faced following the final horn.

“It was about 90%,” Montgomery said, responding to a question about how much of the Bruins’ loss was self-inflicted. “They played fast and we didn’t. … The only part of our game that I thought was good was out breakouts. The power-play wasn’t good. The penalty kill wasn’t good. You’re not going to win a lot of hockey games when that’s the case.”

“We also didn’t like the momentum goals,” Montgomery continued. “We’re down 2-0, then we make it 2-1. That next shift is important. We got right to their end and they spent 45 seconds in our zone. Then we made it 3-2, we take a penalty two shifts after. All we were doing was defending.”

It was a game where the B’s just didn’t have it, with rookie mistakes highlighting a poor game from just about everyone on Boston’s roster. The Bruins have a chance to bounce back quickly, as they’ll head straight for Madison Square Garden to take on the New York Rangers on Saturday afternoon.