The Bruins are coming off two straight shutout victories, but coach Jim Montgomery doesn’t believe the team is out of the woods.

All the evidence you need to know is the fact that in the Bruins’ 2-0 win over the Seattle Kraken on Sunday, he took the shocking tactic of benching David Pastrnak, his $11.25 million annual contract. dollars and the 60-goal season. on his resume, for the entire third period after having a bad turnover at the end of the second period.

When Pastrnak came into the league as a teenager, former coach Claude Julien sometimes had to pull on his leash. Turnovers have always been part of the Pastrnak equation. This is how one accesses magic, which has generally counterbalanced the sometimes negative results of one’s quest for the stars.

It’s been a while now since Pastrnak, 28, last sat for an extended period, but in speaking with reporters on Monday, the superstar acknowledged his transgressions.

“Honestly, I have to be better,” Pastrnak said. “I take responsibility to be better. But at the same time, I’m just moving forward today and focusing on another game (Tuesday in Toronto) and yesterday was yesterday. I never look back. So yeah, I came in today and worked on my game.”

Pastrnak recognized the boo-boo that caused Montgomery to sit him down. He tried to force his way into the zone at the Seattle blue line on a power play, turned it over and nearly allowed a breakaway the other way, but it was stopped in time.

“It was a bad turnover,” he said. “I take responsibility for it. Responsibility, I guess, is the best word and, you know what, I just want to move forward. I don’t want to distract our team. The guys know how I feel about them here. It was a bad play. I take my responsibilities and I move forward.

When asked what he believes is Pastrnak’s current obstacle in finding his game, Montgomery placed the player’s issues within the overall team construction.

“I think it’s the same thing that bothers the whole team,” Montgomery said. “It’s a bit of chemistry. It’s a few people who enjoy their role on our team. It’s not so much for pasta. He knows what his role is. But if you look at how the season has gone, we’ve looked disjointed at times, but we’re starting to trend in the right direction. But a lot of it depends on these things.

And the chemistry with his new center player, Elias Lindholm, did not happen naturally. They were separated for one game, the disastrous 8-2 loss at Carolina, but over the weekend, Montgomery filled out the top line with Pastrnak, Lindholm and Brad Marchand. It’s better, but not really smooth.

“It certainly doesn’t help the current situation, but it’s still early. We hope this will break soon,” Pastrnak said. “We looked better. In the first half we spent some time in the zone O and we created a few chances, but they didn’t go in. Hopefully we’ll start clicking soon.

After Sunday’s win over Seattle, Charlie Coyle said Pastrnak remained a vocal leader when he was on the bench, which Montgomery appreciated.

“He was amazing, very vocal, calling out to the players in the last 15 seconds, talking about a team’s big win,” Montgomery said. “I’ve said it from the beginning and I’ve said it many times. I am truly fortunate to work with the leaders I work with. I’m very lucky. In other places you’ve seen it with coaches, it’s a big deal and I’m lucky with the accountability that exists in that culture and the leadership that I have to deal with because it allows me to hold everyone accountable.

Pastrnak saw this as part of his responsibility as team leader.

“Obviously you want to support the guys,” Pastrnak said. “They have to play a man short because of my mistake, so I just tried to support and stay in the game as much as possible and express myself.”

Toronto has been a panacea for the B’s over the years. We’ll see if the sight of the Maple Leaf brings Pastrnak out of his funk…

The cool Monty

Montgomery was asked about swirling speculation that the slow start put him on the hot seat. He said he relies on the tools that helped him in his well-documented struggle with alcoholism.

“The way I deal with it is there’s a big poem called ‘Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow’ and it represents a lot of what I believe in and our team’s process,” he said. declared. “You can only control the present and if you worry about the past and dwell on it, it causes anxiety, worry or contentment, depending on what you are thinking about. If you’re worried about the future, which you can’t control, then you’re really going to be anxious. This is where my mindset is going. And with the struggles I’ve had personally, this poem really reinforces what I need to worry about, which is the next 24 hours. And this is how I live my life.

After two shutouts, now is not the time to think that the team has turned a corner.

“I’m not there yet. I’m just being honest,” he said. “There are too many gaps in our game right now where we’re not a 60-minute team and we need to keep working on that. We’re better, but not where we should be…

Johnson signed, flowing lines

Finally, the Bruins signed Tyler Johnson. The veteran right tackle, who signed a one-year contract for $775,000 on Monday, came to training camp on a tryout contract and has been training with the B’s ever since. Now the question remains as to where he fits in the lineup.

On Monday, before the deal was announced, Montgomery said he liked the way his forward lines were coming together.

“The current configuration is pretty good. I see three lines that really develop chemistry. I see a fourth line starting to come in, (but) lacking a little bit of identity,” Montgomery said.

When asked which line is still missing an identity, he replied: “That’s up to you to find out.”

Pastrnak had chemistry issues with Lindholm, but we’re going to guess and say he won’t replace Pastrnak. He could take the Trent Frederic-Matt Poitras-Morgan Geekie line. Geekie has played more physical in the last two games, but he’s off to a slow start. Or it might be time for Poitras to attend a game. We will see…

Marchand and Coyle were given maintenance days on Monday.

Originally published: November 4, 2024 at 1:00 p.m. EST