HC Jim Montgomery makes his thoughts on Boston Bruins' PK in loss to winless Predators extremely clear 

By Abhilasha Aditi

Modified Oct 23, 2024 07:05 GMT

Boston Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery expressed his frustrations over his team’s penalty kill after their 4-0 loss to the Nashville Predators on Tuesday.

The game was the Predators' first win of the season, ending their five-game losing streak. During a media press conference, Montgomery discussed how the penalty kill struggles hurt his team's overall play.

“We're taking far too many stick penalties, and especially you want to prevent scoring chances and take good penalties, and usually you're going to kill those off," Montgomery said. "We're having too many in the offensive zone, you know. And we got to sharpen that up."

When asked about a goal allowed shortly after killing a double minor, Montgomery said it might have affected team morale. He quickly shifted to a more urgent issue: the toll penalties were taking on his players. He added that the Bruins had to kill multiple penalties during the game.

“We have to kill off a four-minute penalty after we've already tried to kill off three in the first, and we only killed off one," he said. "It over taxes certain players, certain players are playing too many minutes. Other players are sitting on the bench too long."

Montgomery also explained how these penalties impacted the lineup and star players like David Pastrnak. He noted that Pastrnak only played nine minutes and 30 seconds by the end of the second period due to the six minor penalties.

Ryan O'Reilly leads Nashville Predators to dominant victory over Boston Bruins

Nashville ended its five-game losing streak with a 4-0 win over Boston on Tuesday. Juuse Saros earned his first shutout of the season, making 33 saves, while Ryan O'Reilly and Luke Evangelista had a goal and an assist each on the night. Roman Josi also had two assists in the game.

O'Reilly scored first with a power-play goal in the first period, redirecting a shot from Josi. Nashville kept the pressure on, and Tommy Novak increased the lead late in the second period after a strong rebound. Early in the third period, Gustav Nyquist scored the third goal during a fast break, making their lead even stronger.

Despite their efforts, the Bruins couldn't score, even with 38 saves from goalie Jeremy Swayman. Defenseman Nikita Zadorov recognized the challenge, highlighting that Nashville played with great intensity and executed well.

“...We played a really desperate team today. They came out, they played hard. They generated chances. They scored on their chances. We didn’t. That was the difference in the game,” Zadorov said via NHL.com.

The Boston Bruins host the Dallas Stars next at TD Garden on Thursday.