Bruins bounce back in Sacco’s first win, but can they build consistency? originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

BOSTON – The Bruins got a wake-up call earlier this week when management decided to fire head coach Jim Montgomery after an 8-9-3 start to the season, and the players responded with a strong performance Thursday night against the Utah Hockey Club.

The Bruins earned a hard-fought 1-0 win at TD Garden, giving Joe Sacco his first win as interim head coach.

The B’s showed improvement in several key areas, especially special teams.

The power play kicked off Thursday with a league success rate of 11.7 percent. That unit moved the puck better, consistently created scoring opportunities and found the back of the net as Elias Lindholm scored his first goal in 18 games. Boston’s power play went 1-for-7 overall, but it yielded 18 shots, 10 scoring chances and six high-risk chances. There was an energy and sharpness that was missing from previous games.

The penalty kill also increased with a perfect 4-for-4 showing, including a huge kill late in the third period in which the Bruins allowed zero shots on Utah’s power play while protecting a 1-0 lead. Boston’s penalty kill ranked 25th in the league going into this match.

The Bruins also appear to be a shot quantity team under Sacco. With Montgomery they were more of a shooting quality group, but because the team is so desperate to score (it ranks 31st in goals scored per game) firing as many pucks on net as possible is the right approach for this squad . The Bruins finished with 31 shots against Utah – just the sixth time they’ve had more than 30 shots in a game this season.

While this win was certainly a step in the right direction, it won’t make much difference if the Bruins don’t build on it and establish some consistency in the way they play and win games. We’ve seen the Bruins bounce back from poor performances a few times this season, only to see that momentum destroyed by more brutal losses.

For example, the Bruins lost 8-2 on the road to the Carolina Hurricanes on Halloween, falling to 4-6-1. They rebounded with back-to-back shutout wins over the Philadelphia Flyers and Seattle Kraken the following weekend. It looked like the B’s had turned a corner, but they went to Toronto two days later and lost 4-0 to the Leafs.

The Bruins lost 3-2 in an ugly game against the Ottawa Senators on November 9. They trailed 2–0 entering the third period in the next match against the St. Louis Blues, then scored three unanswered goals for their first third-period comeback. victory of the campaign. That result in St. Louis felt like a season-changing win, but it ended up being Montgomery’s last win behind the bench as Boston lost its next three games.

The trend of one step forward, two steps back must reverse for the Bruins if they want to climb the standings and fulfill their potential. The B’s have a 2-4-1 record after a win this season, and they have yet to win more than two games in a row.

How do the Bruins build on Thursday’s win?

“Just details and habits,” Sacco said after the game. “Make sure we are ready to go tomorrow in training. It’s one match. We still have a long way to go. Focus on tomorrow’s training and make sure our habits are good and we cover all the details that we want. I think it’s something to build on now.”

Bruins captain Brad Marchand also brought up practice when asked how the team can build some momentum and string together a few wins.

“Practice habits are where you develop all your playing habits,” Marchand said after the game. “It’s so cliché, but you practice how you play. If you practice poorly, you play poorly. If we compete in training and have a high tempo and are sharp and detailed, playing straight to the net and chipping pucks, then ​​that adds to the game. It’s all momentum.

“You have a bad practice, that momentum carries over into the game. You want to see it in the game, but I want to see it more in practice every day. That’s where you build your consistency and your competition. You build it in practice, you show that in competitions.”

The upcoming schedule should help the Bruins rack up some much-needed points in the standings.

The next eight games are currently all against teams outside of a playoff spot, and five of those games are at home. This is an important stretch for the Bruins to build good habits, continue to improve in areas like special teams and 5-on-5 scoring, and get their season back on track.

Although the Bruins have played well below expectations thus far, they are still tied with the Buffalo Sabers for the second wild card playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with 61 games remaining.

This win over Utah was a step in the right direction. Keeping the momentum going is the next challenge.