There are loads of points which might be ailing the Bruins proper now, however the relationship between coach Jim Montgomery and goalie Jeremy Swayman isn’t considered one of them.
With one other recreation slipping away from them on Monday in Columbus, Montgomery took the aggressive step of yanking Swayman after simply two objectives in opposition to. As he defined after the sport, he was merely making an attempt to spark his group that was in a tailspin. The NESN cameras caught the coach and goalie having what seemed like a contentious, if temporary, dialog about it.
But on Wednesday, Montgomery and Swayman talked it out and all is sweet between the 2 former Maine Black Bears.
“I had a good meeting with him this morning,” mentioned Montgomery. “Sway’s a competitor. Our goaltenders are our number one reason why we’re (14-4-3). And the number two reason is distant (from the goalies). I gave him my thoughts. I always trust my gut behind the bench and my gut said the team needed a a spark and that was the way to get it. In New York, my gut told me to call timeout. My gut told me to pull the goalie with seven and a half minutes (in the third period in Columbus). I don’t like living with regret and sometimes I make bad decisions. And I’ve got to own up to those as well and I do that with my conversation with the players if it’s the case. But I’m going to go back with Swayman (Thursday night against the San Jose Sharks).”
Asked if he thought this was a type of dangerous choices and he was second-guessing it, Montgomery mentioned with a chuckle, “No. That’s for you guys.”
Swayman was again to his traditional cheery self when assembly with reporters within the Warrior Ice Arena dressing room on Wednesday. He understood what Montgomery was making an attempt to do.
“We had a great conversation about it today,”mentioned Swayman. “He’s our head coach and we’re going to trust everything that he’s going to do. I thought we did get the jump a little bit. Whatever it takes for the team to win. I know I’m going to take the positives and roll with it like I always do.”
The first purpose Swayman allowed was a foul angle shot that he ought to have had, arguably the primary time that’s occurred all 12 months. The second was on a display screen shot on a play through which Pavel Zacha made a mistake of going to the bench, whereas the groups had been on the second interval lengthy change, after his stick broke.
With Swayman’s physique of labor this 12 months, one might perceive why he may not have been in a position to perceive the fast hook within the warmth of the second.
“I want to finish every game I start,” mentioned Swayman. “That’s an edge that I know I play with and it’s one of MO’s. They all trust in me that I’m going to battle no matter what. That’s something that I’m going to carry forward for the rest of m career, today and tomorrow. That’s something where I’ve got to look at the film — I did today again — make some changes and move forward.”
Swayman did say he was searching for solutions when he got here out of the sport, however he wasn’t being confrontational.
“Of course, I want to be in the game no matter what,” mentioned Swayman. “It wasn’t a jawing back or anything like that. It was just a communication thing. We talked about it and we’re completely good.”
After seeing lower than two intervals of labor on Monday, he was completely happy to get the following begin.
“I’m definitely excited to get another whack at it,” mentioned Swwayman. “It’s a long season and we roll day-by-day. Yesterday’s in the past. That’s what our culture is, that’s what our mindset is. We’ve got two points on the line and that’s all we care about.”….
Montgomery blended up his prime six forwards in apply, placing rookie Matt Poitras between Brad Marchand and Danton Heinen whereas Zacha centered David Pastrnak and Jake DeBrusk. The third line (James van Riemsdyk-Charlie Coyle-Trent Frederic) and fourth line (Jakub Lauko-John Beecher-Morgan Geekie) remained the identical.
“I left the lines together for a good stretch there and we’re just not seeing good enough results. The Coyle s playing big and heavy and playing to their identity. I didn’t think the other lines had an identity,” mentioned Montgomery.
The Marchand-Zacha-Pastrnak clicked at first however has not been good at both ends of the ice within the three-game slide.
“I think a lot of it is puck management with those three,” mentioned Montgomery….
Montgomery seemed on the failure of his checking recreation as a contributing issue to the present three-game slide they’re on. He’s been OK with the forecheck, however every little thing from the offensive zone hash marks all the way in which again to the purpose line wants loads of work. And it’s not a lot about being bodily, thought there’s that, too, however merely taking away time and area from opponents, mentioned Montgomery.
Montgomery knew that some adversity was coming with the way in which his group had been taking part in.
“We’re hoping to grow out of this. It’s called moving forward,” mentioned Montgomery. “In a lot of ways we welcome this kind of adversity. We knew it was going to come. We knew we weren’t a 14-1-3 team. That’s’ just being honest. And we’re also not a team that gives up 17 goals in three games. We’ve got to get back to who we are and we’ve got to continue to grow as a team throughout the year.”
The B’s will tackle a Sharks group that’s not a lot he laughing inventory it was to start out the season. They’ve scored wins over Vancouver and Washington just lately.
“We know there’s a lot of things we’ve got to be better at,” mentioned McAvoy. “One game’s not going to shoot us to the top of the league in all sorts of respective categories, but we’ve got to build it one game at a time.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com