BOSTON — The Bruins are only two games into the postseason and their coach, Jim Montgomery, is already talking about a “lack of urgency.”
True, it’s the danged Stanley Cup tournament, with its annual promise of momentum shifts, plot twists and mood swings. You know what they say about the Stanley Cup weather, right? If you don’t like it, just wait a minute.
Advertisement
Montgomery knows this as well as anybody. But it didn’t make it any easier for him to emerge as the latest in a never-ending string of NHL coaches to have to stand at a podium and talk about the so many things that went wrong just a couple of days after standing at that same podium and talking about the so many things that went right.
GO DEEPER
How the Bruins fell short of the Maple Leafs in Game 2 loss
In this case, the podium setting was TD Garden late Monday night following the Bruins’ 3-2 Game 2 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs,
“I didn’t think our urgency was where it needed to be,” Montgomery said. Now in fairness, he was answering the question in accordance with the manner in which it was posed — and the questioner did ask about urgency. It’s not like Montgomery walked into the room carrying “Lack of Urgency” placards under each arm. But no matter. He was asked. He answered. And two things about that: 1) Montgomery happens to be right about the lack of urgency, vague though the term may be, and 2) It’s in the Bruins’ best interest that he make a big deal about it as this opening-round series shifts to Toronto for Game 3 Wednesday night.
🎥 Coach Montgomery, Morgan Geekie, Linus Ullmark, Pavel Zacha, and David Pastrnak react after the #NHLBruins loss to the Maple Leafs in Game 2 on Monday night: pic.twitter.com/IMIbVW0FGh
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) April 23, 2024
We can agree that the Maple Leafs and their fan base have a lot more on the line. One of the true tortured franchises in professional sports in North America, the Leafs haven’t won a Stanley Cup since 1967.
It’s not quite as bad as the Red Sox and that whole 1918 thing of days gone by, but it’s still a long time. It’s also Toronto’s problem, not Boston’s.
As for what is Boston’s problem, try to imagine the outrage if yet another fine regular season by the Bruins is papered over by a first-round exodus from the playoffs.
Free, daily sports updates direct to your inbox. Sign up
Free, daily sports updates direct to your inbox. Sign up
Buy
It’s not that the Bruins were lousy Monday night. And just to be clear, the goaltending platoon of Jeremy Swayman in Game 1 to Linus Ullmark in Game 2 was not a factor. The Leafs had Ullmark flopping all over the place in the second period, and the saves were sound. As for the game-winner, netted on a breakaway by Toronto scoring sensation Auston Matthews at 12:06 of the third period, it was an absolute piece of art.
“(Ullmark) made multiple big-time saves,” said Montgomery, rightly calling the platoon “a strength on our team.”
🙅♂️ pic.twitter.com/VeFAUDgnud
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) April 23, 2024
But the Bruins spent most of the night window-shopping when they had the puck anywhere near Toronto goaltender lya Samsonov. While there were moments of brilliance — Pavel Zacha set up a David Pastrnak goal with a backhand pass that was fun to watch, and rewatch — the lack of, well, again, urgency on offensive rushes stood in sharp contrast to Game 1, with the Bruins winning that one 5-1.
Advertisement
“I think it’s a function of (Toronto) defending well,” Montgomery said, but there was another side to that coin: “It’s also a function of we’re not playing fast enough,” he added. “We’re slow in transition, which is not allowing us to possess pucks and it’s not allowing us to get it on the forecheck.”
The Maple Leafs were far from perfect, even if Matthews is close to it. Jake McCabe was whistled off for a really, really unnecessary crosscheck of Jacob Lauko, which means it was really, really dumb, and the Bruins really, really capitalized when Morgan Geekie scored a power-play goal off a feed from Brad Marchand to give the Bruins a 1-0 lead at 10:18 of the first period.
The lead lasted exactly 14 seconds until Max Domi tied it. Matthews’ goal gave the Leafs their first lead of the series.
For those of us who view the Bruins and NBA Celtics as a two-tiered drama when playoff time arrives each spring, the Matthews goal marked the first time any visiting team has had a lead since the postseason began. The Bruins kicked things off with their easy victory over the Maple Leafs Saturday night, and on Sunday the Celtics had a wire-to-wire lead in their Game 1 victory over the Miami Heat.
GO DEEPER
‘No second guesses’: Why the Bruins continued their goalie rotation
And then came Monday night and, suddenly, a lack of urgency. Again, these things happen in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Right?
“We saw them push, and we knew they were going to push,” Geekie said. “Being able to push back right away, I think maybe we took a few deep breaths and took a shift or two to get going again. That’s definitely one of the things we need to key on for Game 3.”
Pastrnak was more blunt — even more blunt than Montgomery.
“I don’t think we played anywhere near as good as we can,” he said. “We have some work to do.”
(Photo of Bruins coach Jim Montgomery calling to his players during the second period: Charles Krupa / Associated Press)
