'That's a thing?': Marchand backs Montgomery after bench scolding
Boston Bruins captain Brad Marchand was surprised to learn that his on-bench scolding by coach Jim Montgomery during Saturday's clash against Utah was a hot topic on social media.
"That's a thing?" Marchand said Thursday. "People are very sensitive these days. It's unfortunate how coaches are scrutinized over things like that. There's a lack of unaccountability nowadays because people can't handle the heat."
The moment occurred in the third period of Boston's 2-1 overtime loss in Salt Lake City. Marchand committed a turnover that led to a Utah goal, although the tally was called off because it was offside.
After the sequence, a frustrated Montgomery yelled at Marchand and gave the veteran forward a nudge from behind.
"You make a mistake like that, you deserve to hear about it," Marchand said. "I'm glad that he said something about it. If he didn't, we would have a much bigger issue. The fact that that's something that we're talking about is disappointing, but that's the way things are today."
He added, "Nobody's absolved from that. ... I should be held accountable in that situation, and I'm glad that he did."
Montgomery said he and Marchand didn't need to discuss the interaction postgame.
"Him and I are both emotional people," he explained Thursday. "I'm not ecstatic with myself about it, but I don't think about it afterward, and neither does he. He's a pro. He's a great player who does so many good things for us, and he has high expectations as well.
"For us, that's over and done with."
The Bruins are more interested in getting back into the win column following Tuesday's 4-0 shutout against the Nashville Predators, their second straight defeat.
Boston's offense has struggled to find its legs en route to a 3-3-1 start. A sizeable chunk of the Bruins' firepower has come from their stellar fourth line of Cole Koepke, John Beecher, and Mark Kastelic, who've scored one-third of the team's 21 goals this season.
Beantown also ranks near the bottom-third of the league in goals (2.96), shots (26.91), scoring chances (25.08), and shot attempts (52.41) generated per 60 minutes at all strengths, per Natural Stat Trick.
In an attempt to address the problem, Montgomery has moved Koepke to the third line with Charlie Coyle and Trent Frederic, both of whom have just one goal on the campaign.
"I'm a process-oriented coach," he said. "There's certain things that drive results, and our process isn't really good right now. ... We've given up too many odd-man rushes, and most of them are derived from turnovers. That's not us being patient with our offensive game. And then we're taking too many penalties.
"All those things are part of our process that lead to our results, and our results are grade-A chances. We're not hitting our numbers there right now."
The Bruins take on the Dallas Stars on Thursday at 7 p.m. ET.