by BOSTON – The Bruins (10-2-0) will be back on home ice Monday night as they attempt to recover from their second loss of the season with a matchup against the St. Louis Blues (3-6-0) at TD Garden . Boston’s seven-game winning streak ended in a 2-1 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday.
“You don’t want to lose two in a row,” he said Brad Marchand. “That’s something we’ve always tried to preach here, about not compounding losses. But they are a great team. They’ve lost some and know how to bounce back. You have a lot of great characters in this space. It’s going to be like the last game – everyone will be ready for us with our record and the team we have, especially when you face a team that didn’t start as expected.
“They will do their best and we expect that. We have to make sure we bring our A game tonight and we can’t play as sloppily as we did last game and just go back to playing as we can. It should be a good game.”
Captain of the Bruins Patrice Bergeron added that the team needs to move forward and focus on the task at hand, while admitting that the situation with Mitchell Miller distracted the team over the weekend.
“Yeah, obviously we had to deal with that,” Bergeron said. “And in a way it was [a distraction] for a few days. But I think we can now focus on the important things of the game again.
“And I think it was important to take the time … I’m not downplaying anything, but at the same time I feel like we can turn the page and kind of move on.”
Additional pre-game notes from coach Jim Montgomery:
- Montgomery said that CraigSmith will return to the lineup after missing the last three games with an upper-body injury. The winger plays the right touchline along on the fourth line Trento Frederic and Thomas Nasek. AJ Greer will be a healthy scratch, while Jakub Lauko was assigned to Providence on Monday afternoon.
- Nick Folignowill, meanwhile, toast to play left wing alongside Charlie Coyle and Paul Zacha. “He played really well,” Montgomery said of Foligno. “This is just a situational thing considering who we’re playing against and how I think their ranks will develop. It’s not like he’s moving from the third row to the fourth row – I see both our third and fourth rows as extremely valuable. I just like the matchup, I want to use it.”
- Linus Ullmark will once again start in goal, with Montgomery adding that he has the giving in mind Keith Kinkaid a start “against a Western Conference opponent,” likely the Canucks this Sunday at the second end of the B back. “I thought [Ullmark] was really good in Toronto,” Montgomery said when asked if Ullmark’s energy levels were still high. “I thought he handled the puck and rebounds well. Gave us an opportunity to come back in the third period and had opportunities to tie it. He’s doing his job. He seems really confident at the top of his crease.”
- Montgomery said there will be no additional motivation Monday night despite spending the past two years as an assistant coach at St. Louis under Craig Berube. “I don’t think it’s a personal motivation,” he said. “It’s a bit excited to see these guys. For me, they’ve been a big part of my development as a professional. I’m very grateful to the St. Louis Blues and everyone in that dressing room and the coaches and management.”
- Montgomery also offered his condolences to the family of the former Bruins forward Peter McNab, who passed away on Sunday at the age of 70. “He was a great Bruin,” Montgomery said. “I remember him as a fan in the ’70s. I know from the mid-’70s to the late ’70s he was part of the Bruins teams that were really good me.” met him as a person at the University of Denver and spent a lot of time with him. My thoughts and prayers go out to the McNab family.”
Video: Montgomery Addresses Media Ahead of BOS vs. STL
Bruins president Cam Neely, captain Patrice Bergeron and assistant captain Brad Marchand addressed Mitchell Miller’s situation after Monday morning’s skate. Their media availabilities are listed below:
Video: Neely meets with the media on Monday morning at the WIA
Video: Bergeron meets with the media at the WIA on Monday
Video: Marchand meets with the media on Monday at the WIA
The planned line-up for Monday
FORWARD
Brad Marchand Patrice Bergeron Jake DeBrusk
Taylor Hall – David Krejci – To David Pastr
Nick Foligno, Charlie Coyle, Pavel Zacha
Trent Frederic – Tomas Nosek – Craig Smith
DEFENDER
Hampus Lindholm – Connor Clifton
Matt Grzelcyk – Brandon Carlo
Jakub Zboril – Mike Reilly
GOALKEEPER
Linus Ullmark
Keith Kinkaid
#Good #Bruins #Blues
