One day after a 5-1 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets at the TD Garden Monday night, the Boston Bruins fired Jim Montgomery as their head coach. He was replaced on an interim basis by Joe Sacco and he’ll be tasked with turning the club around in 2024-25 for the time being.
Wednesday he conducted his first on-ice practice in charge of the Black and Gold. Following the workout at Warrior Ice Arena, it was the first chance that the media got to talk to the players following Montgomery’s dismissal. One player who spoke to the media was David Pastrnak and the Bruins top goal-scorer had a message for both him and his teammates.
David Pastrnak sends a message to the locker room
The Bruins have underperformed this season, there’s no denying it. Even the players like Elias Lindholm admitted it earlier this week. When a coach gets fired, it is usually the first domino to fall before more changes are made. Pastrnak has been around long enough to understand that one of the reasons Montgomery was let go was because of the way he and his teammates were playing. After practice, he had a message going forward for the room he was in.
“The pride to wear this jersey has to go higher,’’ Pastrnak said.
You hear all the time about culture when it comes to the Boston Bruins, but now that culture is being put to the test. There has been no consistency with them so far this season expect, for one thing, inconsistency. Nothing has gone in the right direction and the record shows it.
Truth be told, Boston is lucky to be within striking distance of a postseason berth, for now, and now Sacco is tabbed with the job of turning things around and turning it around quickly. It appears that some players are taking it for granted to wear the Spoked-B and Pastrnak is sending a loud and clear message to the rest of his teammates.