Bruins’ Jim Montgomery Trying To Instill ‘Shot-First Mindset’
If you sit high in the rafters of TD Garden, no matter the event, you can hear echoes of one oft-used phrase.
“Shooooooooooooot!”
It’s the rallying cry of many drunken fans, excitable teenagers and dads trying to teach their sons and daughters about the game of hockey.
It’s also something Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery is trying to instill in his team. He wants them to have a shot-first mentality.
Boston routinely has been exceptional on the power play, and it’s been no different this season. The Bruins have scored on 28.38% of power-play opportunities this season, the eighth-best mark in the NHL.
The B’s finished 0-for-3 on the man advantage in Thursday’s loss to the New York Rangers, however.
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“I think the tough thing, mentally, is to not get frustrated,” Montgomery said Friday, per team-provided video. ” … They’re used to having success, so when things continue to not have successful outcomes, you tend to get impatient. We’ve been trying to be less impatient, but always have a shot-first mindset.
“I still don’t think we have a shot-first mindset out there enough.”
The Bruins’ first goal Thursday came just seconds after a power-play opportunity expired, so the 0fer is a tad misleading. Boston is just 7-for-27 in March, though, which influenced a few changes for Montgomery.
Justin Brazeau was added to the second power-play unit and has excelled by scoring a pair of goals. He’s essentially replaced James van Riemsdyk, while Jake DeBrusk, Morgan Geekie and Pavel Zacha have rotated between the two units.
It’s inevitable that Boston will deal with slow periods, but one way of getting out of them just might be having a shot-first mentality. It’s what Montgomery’s looking for, anyway.