Jim Montgomery baffled by Bruins' latest loss

It was the latest setback for the struggling Bruins.

The Boston Bruins' inconsistent play in the early stages of the 2024-25 NHL season continued on Saturday afternoon, as the visiting St. Louis Blues avenged their earlier loss with a 3-2 overtime victory at TD Garden.

Blues captain Brayden Schenn ended the game in the extra session with his third goal of the season, securing the extra point for his team. The issues that have been plaguing Boston once again resurfaced, as they went long stretches without managing a shot on goaltender Jordan Binnington.

As a team, they finished with a total of 17 shots – hardly a winning strategy. And on the heels of a frustrating 7-2 setback at the hands of the Dallas Stars, head coach Jim Montgomery was left searching for answers as to why his team had a lack of energy, via Boston Hockey Now.

“We didn’t have a lot of juice in the tank,” a bewildered Montgomery explained afterward. “I don’t why we didn’t. We flew home, we stayed over in Dallas so we would have proper sleep to enable us to have legs for today. We had legs in the first and kind of fell off after that.”

Meanwhile, forward Trent Frederic—who scored both of Boston’s goals in the second period within a span of less than three minutes—remarked that the Bruins showed a noticeable lack of “jump” throughout the game.

“I thought it could have gone either way,” Frederic. “I think we did a good job fighting for the point and we got the lead, but it didn’t seem like we got much jump as we typically would.”

The Bruins will next hit the ice against the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday night.

Is Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery on the hot seat? 

Boston's inconsistent play and struggles have led to widespread speculation that head coach Jim Montgomery could be in danger of losing his job, a thought that was shared recently by a pair of NHL insiders.

“If they don’t turn it around, they’ll fire the coach,” explained The Fourth Period's Dennis Bernstein on TSN Radio. “The team looked disconnected.”

“Montgomery is not gonna be the coach of the Boston Bruins by Thanksgiving if they [don't turn things around],” replied NHL Network analyst Bill Lindsay.

Hired ahead of the 2022-23 season, Jim Montgomery led the Bruins to an NHL-record 65 wins in his first year behind the bench, only to be stunned by the Florida Panthers in the first round of the playoffs.

While the 2023-24 regular season wasn’t nearly as dominant, the Bruins still secured a comfortable playoff berth. They defeated their rivals, the Toronto Maple Leafs, in the opening round but were once again eliminated by Florida.