3 Bruins' Discouraging & Concerning October Takeaways

The month of October was nothing but a disaster for the Boston Bruins. There is simply no other way to put it. They finished the month at 4-7-1 and in last place in the Atlantic Division. There have many nights where they look lifeless and non-competitive. Not what fans had hoped when the puck was dropped on the 2024-25 season in South Florida.

With the calendar changing from October to November, things can only go up from here, right? You hope so. The month begins with a second game in four days against the Philadelphia Flyers, this time on the road after a dreadful 2-0 loss at the TD Garden on Tuesday night. As a new month begins, here are three takeaways from October for the Bruins.

Bruins best line is their fourth line

How bad are things? Boston’s best line has been their fourth line, which has kept them in games. Mark Kastelic, Cole Koepke, and John Beecher have done what a fourth line is supposed to do, they have brought energy and even supplied production.

The other three lines have struggled and show no signs of coming to life. David Pastrnak has six goals, but after that, other than the fourth line, everyone has had difficulty in all three zones. Turnovers, lack of high-danger scoring chances, and overall 5-on-5 play have been difficult to watch if we’re being honest. 

Bruins power play is a major concern

One area that the Bruins have always prided themselves is with their special teams. Their power play has been a disappointment. They have failed to score on multiple 5-on-3s and as has been an issue in the past, zone entries, winning board battles and getting to where they want to have not worked out too well.

The Bruins will enter Saturday afternoon's game against the Philadelphia Flyers with the 25th-ranked power play in the league. That is not a spot that they are used to being at and if things don't turn around soon, they could find themselves even lower.

Nothing has worked for Jim Montgomery

You get the feeling that the seat for head coach Jim Montgomery is getting warmer by the day. Just when you think it can't get any worse, it does. Two weeks ago on a west coast trip, Montgomery hammered the panic button and shuffled his lines around and it didn't work.

It seems like the lines change on a daily basis with no success. The same thing can be said for the defensive pairings as well. You get the feeling that the line shuffling by Montgomery is a panic move to get his team going and it doesn't. How much more time does he have might start being the bigger question if things don't turn around and turn around fast?