Boston head coach Jim Montgomery, who led the Bruins to the greatest regular season in NHL history but never got them past the second round of the playoffs, was fired Tuesday, a day after the below-.500 team lost to last-place Columbus to extend their losing streak to three games.
“Jim Montgomery is a very good NHL coach and an even better person,” general manager Don Sweeney said in a news release announcing the move. “Our team’s inconsistency and performance in the first 20 games of the 2024-25 season has been concerning and below how the Bruins want to reward our fans.”
Assistant Joe Sacco, who led the Colorado Avalanche to a 130-134-40 record from 2009-2014 and was a finalist for coach of the year in his first season, will lead the Bruins on an interim basis.
“I believe Joe Sacco has the coaching experience to bring the players and the team back to focusing on the consistent effort the NHL requires to have success,” Sweeney said. “We will continue to work to make the necessary adjustments to meet the standard and performance our supportive fans expect.”
Montgomery, 55, was fired 20 games into his third season in Boston and a day after a 5-1 loss to Columbus in which the Bruins allowed two short-handed goals. He leaves with an 8-9-3 record this season and a 180-84-33 mark in his career, which also included one-plus season in Dallas.
The Bruins finished with more than 100 points in each of Montgomery’s first two seasons, including a record-setting debut, when their 65 wins and 135 points were both the most in NHL history. But the team lost in the first round of the playoffs that year and advanced to only the second round last season.
The struggles carried over into the new season, with an opening night loss to Florida in which they fell behind 5-1 and an 8-2 loss to Carolina on Halloween. After the Monday night loss to Columbus in which the team was booed off the ice at home after falling behind 3-0 in the first period, Montgomery grew philosophical.
“Everyone goes through struggles. Whether in life, or your team,” he said. “That’s what life’s about. How do you pick yourself up? It’s not how hard you fall. It’s how quickly you pick yourself up.”
The Bruins’ best hope is the move kick-starts a roster with high-end talent that hasn’t been performing.
As a team, the Bruins have given up 21 more goals than they’ve allowed, third-worst in the NHL. All-star David Pastrnak managed no shots on Monday and his minus-4 is the lowest plus-minus of his career; Brad…
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