Former Boston Bruins coach Jim Montgomery returned to the TD Garden with the St. Louis Blues. He was fired last November and a week later was hired by the Blues. It's very rare that an NHL coach is fired in-season like that and then finds a new home so quickly. After the morning skate, Montgomery spoke about his return to Boston with the media ahead of the Black and Gold's 5-2 victory.
"Any time teams fail, it's not just one person,'' said Montgomery. "It's impossible. Everybody had a hand in the great success we had my first season (in Boston), and everybody had a hand in why we failed last season. I would say the same thing [this year] in St. Louis."
Montgomery led the greatest season in NHL history, only to lead the greatest playoff collapse in terms of seeds in NHL history. If there is one thing that we found out about him, it's that he is never afraid to throw people under the bus. Just ask Jeremy Swayman; in his last game, he played for Montgomery.
Viktor Arvidsson achieves two milestones
It was a memorable night for first-year Bruins forward on Thursday night. With the Bruins clinging to a 2-1 second-period lead, he ripped a slap shot from the right wall past Jordan Binnington to double the Boston lead. It was his 200th career point.
A 7️⃣1️⃣ SNIPE 🎯 pic.twitter.com/qo8tVIG4pV
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) December 5, 2025
He wasn't done. Later in the period, he picked up an assist for Pavel Zacha's first goal of the period to make it 4-1, which was his 200th career assist. Talk about a memorable night. Two career milestones, a goal, and a victory.
Charlie McAvoy takes part in practice
For the first time in almost three weeks, Charlie McAvoy was on the ice for the morning skate with his teammates. He was wearing a red non-contact jersey, but it was a good sight to see him out there. Head coach Marco Sturm said it's going to be a bit before he even considers playing in a game.
The first step back for Mac 💪 pic.twitter.com/Pi7dz1UY7b
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) December 4, 2025
“We will see how he is next week. There is no timeline,” Sturm said. “I saw him for the first time, I don’t know, three or four days ago, and automatically, it puts a smile on your face…We call him family, we call him a brother – to see him hurt like that in Montreal and to see him back like this with a smile, he’s all happy and excited. That for sure helps for our guys here.”
McAvoy has been out since Nov. 15, when he took a puck to the face against the Montreal Canadiens. It feels like it'll be a bit before he returns to the lineup.