Jim Montgomery bluntly criticizes the Bruins after their loss to the Panthers

The Bruins didn't play their best in their regular season opener on Tuesday night. Far from it.

Boston suffered a 6-4 loss to Florida at Amerant Bank Arena, but the final result did not reflect the team's competitiveness. The Panthers outscored the Bruins, leading 4-1 at the first intermission and extending their lead to four midway through the second period.

Jim Montgomery acknowledged that the B's “weren't good in so many areas” in their highly anticipated game against the defending Stanley Cup champions. After the final signal, the head coach pointed out a number of these deficiencies.

More Bruins

Joonas Korpisalo reacts to Bruins goaltending by Sam Bennett

by Greg Dudek
3 min reading

Bruins' Trent Frederic calls out Matthew Tkachuk for 'disrespectful' behavior

by Greg Dudek
3 min reading

“Their execution was really good. Our execution was really bad,” Montgomery told reporters in a video provided by the team. “I can't say exactly why we looked slow, but we looked slow the whole game – not just the first ten minutes in my opinion.”

Montgomery added: “Could have reloaded better. Could have been better with an F3 on the strong side. Should have read the rush better.”

The 2023 Jack Adams Award winner also defended goaltender Joonas Korpisalo, who endured a tough Bruins debut while Jeremy Swayman watched from the bench.

Boston will look to bounce back and secure its first win of the season on Thursday night when it hosts the rival Montreal Canadiens. NESN will broadcast full coverage of the Bruins' home opener starting at 6:00 p.m. ET.