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Panthers ‘win the mental side’ vs. Browns

Vaseline October 14, 2024

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“We can’t win hockey games that way, and then we can’t lose as many battles as we do.”

Jim Montgomery and the Bruins fell short again against the Panthers on Monday. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Jim Mongomery didn’t mince his words Monday morning when asked if he considered the Panthers to be the Bruins’ main rival during the 2024-25 season.

“There is no way,” he declared about 90 minutes before puck drop between Boston and Florida at TD Garden.

The Panthers can’t boast the extended hostilities between the Bruins and other Original Six foes like the Maple Leafs and Canadiens. But Florida has embraced the role of Boston’s on-ice opponent in record time thanks to several recent heated playoff battles.

The pain the Panthers dealt when they eliminated the Bruins in back-to-back playoffs in 2023 and 2024 still resonates with a Boston team seemingly unable to get over the hump against the top team in the Eastern Conference.

As such, the early-season meetings between Boston and Florida included the same vitriol and disdain usually reserved for battles in April and May.

“Well, they beat us two years in a row,” Montgomery said of Boston’s hostility toward Florida. “They won the (Stanley) Cup. They went to the cup final. They are the class in the NHL until they get beat. So I mean, if you want to do well in this competition, you have to push through it.

The Boston bank boss was again brief in his address to the media a few hours later.

For the second time in less than a week, the Bruins fell to their top rival. It was a disheartening 4-3 loss, especially since Florida skated without top forwards in Aleksander Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk.

But for Montgomery, it was the way the Bruins let points slip through their grasp that irked him more than the final score itself.

‘They are winning the mental side of the battle against us. … In all four games we will take at least four minor (penalties),” Montgomery said. “We can’t win hockey games that way, and then we can’t lose as many battles as we do.

“I mean, they’re the standard in the NHL right now for winning battles, and we haven’t reached that level yet. We need to improve that level enormously.”

Similar to Boston’s lopsided loss to the Panthers at Amerant Bank Arena on Oct. 10, the Bruins lost their cool at the worst possible times against a roster that thrives on knocking opponents off their game.

Even without Tkachuk in the lineup, the Panthers made a concerted effort to target David Pastrnak during Monday’s matinee. The Bruins’ star wing took plenty of punishment in the loss, including a goal from behind courtesy of AJ Greer that didn’t require a penalty.

Just 18 seconds later, Charlie McAvoy expressed his frustrations over Greer’s lack of a call by checking Florida Carter Verhaeghe, putting Florida in the position of power.

It took Florida six seconds to make McAvoy and the Bruins pay, with Sam Reinhart firing a puck past Jeremy Swayman to give Florida a 2-1 lead at that point.

“Pasta has been hit. And I love what (Pavel Zacha) did, he went in and defended it, that’s awesome,” Montgomery said. “But the punishments afterwards? I mean, it’s just not discipline.”

Through four games, the Bruins lead the NHL with 28 total penalties, including a league-leading 26 minor penalties. That poor discipline hasn’t necessarily burned Boston routinely thanks to a strong start on the penalty kill (90.9 percent, 7th in NHL).

But it’s an untenable approach for the Bruins, especially with their power play (11.1 percent) and the top six grouping sputtering out of the gate.

Three of Boston’s top five scorers so far this season are the fourth-line trio of Mark Kastelic (five points), John Beecher (four points) and Cole Koepke (four points). Meanwhile, Brad Marchand has two assists in these four games, while his linemates in Charlie Coyle and Morgan Geekie are still winless.

“They’re just fulfilling their role,” Montgomery said of Boston’s fourth line. “Guys in the top six are not fulfilling their role.”

The Bruins won’t face the Panthers again until January 11, 2025. Until then, they have plenty of time to resolve their scoring issues and disciplinary errors.

The challenge for Boston, however, is to ensure that the same mistakes don’t creep back into play when the Panthers are on the ice – whether that’s in January or possibly later this spring.

“Our level of competition and our attention to detail has to be a little bit better,” Marchand said. “We need to win more battles. That’s definitely something they had an edge on tonight. If we do that, I’m sure our team will be back where we want it to be.”