Boston Bruins coach Jim Montgomery sends clear message to GM Don Sweeney after Game 6 loss to Panthers

For the second straight season, the Boston Bruins were not able to get by the Florida Panthers in the playoffs. In all honesty, the Panthers are the better team and they clinched the series Friday night with a 2-1 win in Game 6 in such a fitting way to end the Black and Gold's season.

With the game tied 1-1, Gustav Forsling collected a rebound to the left of Jeremy Swayman and was able to sneak a shot by Parker Wortherspoon and Swayman with 1:33 left in the third period for the 2-1 win.

The Bruins had their chances throughout the game to add to their lead after Pavel Zacha gave them a 1-0 lead late in the first period but couldn't and in the overall picture of the six games in this series and even in their previous series against the Toronto Maple Leafs, the lack of scoring cost them. The only reason they were where they were Friday night was because of Swayman.

Head coach Jim Montgomery said after the game that his team simply didn't score enough to advance and knows that needs to change going into 2024-25.

Jim Montgomery sends GM Don Sweeney clear message after Game 6 loss

After the loss, Montgomery met with the media and spoke about many topics and one thing that stuck out was his comment about winning low-scoring games.

"I didn't sense frustration. But the lack of our ability to score in the playoffs in general, you can't win every game 2-1."

Jim Montgomery

He is 100% correct. Boston had several chances to build on the lead in Game 6 from a David Pastrnak breakaway early in the second period and a golden chance in the slot for Justin Brazeau where Sergei Bobrovsky made big saves.

In Game 1, they scored five goals in a win, but they followed that with games where they scored one goal, two goals, two goals, two goals, and one goal. I don't care how good your goaltending is, you're not advancing very far in the Stanley Cup Playoffs with totals like that. During the regular season, the lack of goal-scoring at times went unnoticed, but in the playoffs where the margin is thin, it caught up with them.

A true No. 1 center should be at the top of the offseason to-do list for Sweeney, but not too far behind is getting some top-six scoring. That what was the difference in the series and the season and Montgomery knows it and sent the message to Sweeney. There is a lot of cap space available this summer and it will be used to address many needs they will have.