Felger: Is Jim Montgomery almost done as Boston Bruins head coach?
Boston Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery was seen screaming at captain Brad Marchand on the bench on Saturday night in Utah. On Wednesday’s Felger and Mazz, Felger seems to think that Montgomery’s days as head coach of the Bruins are numbered.
Felger: Jim Montgomery shoved his captain on the bench like in anger…seriously. So on Saturday night the Bruins gave up what they thought was a game tying goal in the third period. It was brought back on replay, but afterwards Jim Montgomery was seen on the bench reaming Brad Marchand to the point where he went down there and gave him a shove in the back. And not like a love tap. Not like a like a shove.
Felger: OK, here we are with the Bruins..they don’t give up the lead on that goal in Utah but they give it up on another goal and then lose in overtime because they go shorthanded on a horrible David Pastrnak penalty. So then after that, they lose Saturday in Utah, apparently Montgomery gives them a day off and then has a real hard practice or puts them through their paces or whatever. Like really gets after them in a practice where they don’t even really practice that well. And then he really mixes up his lines. So just sort of add all this together: he shoves Marchand on the bench, they lose in overtime, he calls them out, practices them hard, changes up the lineup and then last night goes into Nashville against the worst team in the league, the only winless team left in the National Hockey League and they get shut out. So whatever buttons Montgomery was pushing, literally or figuratively, not only didn’t work, it feels like it went in the other direction. They were ignored. Jim Montgomery does not have a contract. He’s in a walk year and he’s about to walk the plank. He’s done. Finished. It’s over.