After Sunday’s practice, Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery discussed his team’s performance in Game 1 and adjustments ahead of Game 2.
Sometimes, Brandon Carlo can operate under the radar, but do you agree he was present and physical in Game 1?
Montgomery: I do. It is nice that he got the goal, but there were a couple of plays he made in the neutral zone where he just shut them down. When Brandon Carlo is a dominant player for the Bruins, his play without the puck is really noticeable and really frustrating for the opposition.
Jakub Lauko got his first playoff experience last spring. How much more ready do you think he is for the moment this year?
Montgomery: It is a good question. You are making me think. Last year, I thought there was an excitement to play. In the first two games, he was one of our better forwards for what his role is. Last night, he was excited and also a little more comfortable handling pucks and wanting to be out there more.
John Beecher started the year here, and then Boqvist went down. Beecher went down, came back up, and how they are playing together. Would you have ever envisioned them playing on a line together in the playoffs?
Montgomery: I think we did in the beginning of the year because they are both guys we thought had a really good chance of being Bruins. Did we see them playing on the same line? Probably not.
What do you like about them together?
Montgomery: One is a good puck-possession guy. The other has good speed and physicality to him. Both are very responsible at both ends of the ice.
What did you do well against the Leafs‘ top offensive players? What do you need to do better?
Montgomery: We didn’t spend a lot of time in our own zone. That was probably the biggest reason why we were able to neutralize some of what they did. I don’t think we were all that good at the net front. Swayman had to make a lot of second-chance saves, which we don’t like.
What can we do better? We need to spend more time in the offensive zone. We didn’t do a good job offensively yesterday at five-on-five.
How well-suited is Morgan Geekie’s game to the playoffs with his size and strength?
Montgomery: He had a couple of really good hits. His line, right after it went to 4-1, came out two shifts later and had a great shift in the offensive zone. It was probably our best offensive-zone shift of the game. It drew a penalty. That kind of turned the tide back in our favour. He leads that line.
What is the biggest challenge for Pavel Zacha in this series going up against John Tavares and his line?
Montgomery: Their biggest challenge is being willing to work for offense. They have had a lot of success during the year. Some of their success comes off the rush, but more—if you dig into their success—comes from o-zone play. That wasn’t very evident last night. They need to be better at o-zone play.
How much do you anticipate the changes Toronto might make versus focusing on the Bruins and your own game?
Montgomery: Probably 25-40% is focusing on what adjustments they might make to what we did well and what adjustments we need to make to what they did well against us.
It seemed like the Game 1 start meant a lot to Jeremy Swayman. Have you decided if you want to stick with that or keep rotating?
Montgomery: We are still contemplating what the right way to go is.
