Montgomery laments stagnant offense: 'Can't win every game 2-1'

Boston Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery pointed to a lack of offense as the primary reason the Florida Panthers eliminated his club Friday night.

"I didn't sense frustration, but a lack of our ability to score in the playoffs in general. You can't win every game 2-1," Montgomery said after the Game 6 loss, per NBC Sports Boston.

"We didn't finish. Outside of Game 1, did we score more than two goals?"

Boston opened the second-round series with a 5-1 victory but failed to score more than two goals in each of the next five games - four of those losses. The Bruins were also limited to two goals or less in the final three contests of their first-round matchup with the Toronto Maple Leafs but advanced to face Florida with a 2-1 overtime victory in Game 7.

The Bruins finished the regular season ranked 14th in the NHL with 3.21 goals per contest, a mark that fell to 2.38 in 13 playoff games this spring.

However, Montgomery conceded other reasons than a lack of goals for why the Panthers got the best of his squad.

"It's not the only thing, there's several other elements of the series," Montgomery said. "The territorial zone time they had over us, it has compounding effects."

The Panthers have eliminated the Bruins in back-to-back playoffs. In 2023, Florida ended Boston's historically successful season by erasing a 3-1 series deficit in the first round.