The Boston Bruins have rarely frowned in recent seasons and have to put the brakes on a bad streak, but they want to get back on their feet quickly, especially by strengthening their defensive game.
Aside from the loss in the first round of the 2023 playoffs to the Florida Panthers, head coach Jim Montgomery’s team’s consecutive failures represented an extraordinary event. After setting National Hockey League records with 65 wins and 135 points in the 2022/23 season They were on course to achieve a similar result this year, but they have now suffered three straight defeats while scoring 17 goals in the process.
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With a record of 14-4-3, good for first place in the Atlantic Division before hosting the San Jose Sharks on Thursday, the Bruins are confident they can make the necessary corrections that will allow them to return to victory .
“It’s about getting back to a better prognosis. “I think we were an easy club to play against, not just in the last three meetings, but also in the last 6-7,” Montgomery told NHL.com. We didn’t like our puck possession game, we didn’t save enough pucks. The more you force the opponent to defend, the less energy he will have against you. There the other teams compete against us with full force.
Necessary misfortune?
The pilot emphasized that everything needs to be tightened up on most ice surfaces. In order to achieve satisfactory results, he juggled his squad slightly and, among others, transferred Brad Marchand within a trio around the young Matthew Poitras.
However, the changes will only bear fruit if there is effort and appropriate preparation. And overcoming obstacles early in the season could come in handy in the playoffs, something the Bruins experienced last spring.
“Adversity is good,” defenseman Charlie McAvoy said. I don’t think we really saw that last year. So there is a change of pace here. We are used to winning so often that defeats hurt. They have very different effects because they are few and far between. […] As the season progresses, we’ll learn a lot more about ourselves.
“Often you have to break the ice. When things don’t go well, it’s difficult to get out of the quagmire. But once you do that, you can go back and that will be helpful early in the playoffs, especially if you fall behind in the series or lose twice in a row. We have to see everything that way and not negatively,” he said.