Jim Montgomery's Firing and the Bruins' Path to Recovery

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Jim Montgomery's firing from the Bruins has sent shockwaves through the team. The players are now faced with the challenge of turning things around and getting back to their winning ways. With 62 games remaining, there is still time for a comeback, but it won't be easy.

The Bruins' Struggle and the Road to Redemption

The Impact on the Bruins Players

Jim Montgomery's firing is a clear reflection on the Bruin players. They know it and, on Wednesday, they performed the appropriate self-flagellation. Captain Brad Marchand, in particular, has been vocal about the team's need to improve. He stressed that it's going to be a long process to get back to their old standard.Marchand's play has been up and down, but his voice in the room has been steady. When asked how they can get back to making the Bruins a "hard out" again, he delivered a detailed soliloquy on the state of the team and where it needs to go from here."It's completely a mindset. It's very hard to play that way every night and to practice that way every day and prepare that way. And there's a reason why there's only a few teams in the league that can consistently have success, because you need to live and breathe it every day, year after year," said Marchand.

The Leadership Question

When a team has fallen off as much as this one has, the leadership comes into question. GM Don Sweeney mentioned that he had to have a chat with Marchand about taking a bad penalty against Calgary. Marchand acknowledged that he and his fellow letter-wearers need to set the tone.Pastrnak enjoyed his two most productive seasons under Montgomery but had drawn the coach's ire earlier this year for a bad turnover. Montgomery benched him for the entire third period.New Bruins head coach Joe Sacco spoke Wednesday, one day after the team fired head coach Jim Montgomery.For us as players, it's a tough day. You obviously feel a part of guilt. Monty is a heck of a coach. He taught me and the others a heck of a lot," said Pastrnak.

The Road Ahead

McAvoy struck an optimistic tone. "I think we have everything we need in this room. I haven't wavered in that belief at all," said McAvoy. "You just have to get back to the simplest things, the foundation of what we are. Working and competing. That's it. There's too much skill, there's too much talent in this room where that won't click and come together at some point. But you can't see the skill, you can't see the plays if we're not working, if we're not being the best that we can be at our ground level."Sweeney said that he had made a contract offer to Montgomery before the season but a deal didn't get done. Having a coach in the last year of a contract is not optimal but Sweeney had no regrets."There's no second-guessing. I was in extension talks and there were contract offers," he said. "There's two sides to every negotiation and they have to make those decisions accordingly. We have to read and react as a result of that. That doesn't mean it doesn't come to fruition at some point in time. It's not like we shut things down. But at the end of the day, performance is part of this."Sweeney also said that he'll possibly bring in another assistant coach now that the staff is down a man. Jeff Viel was brought up from Providence on Monday to inject some life into the lineup. He did what was asked of him but was sent back to Providence after practicing with the team on Wednesday.There is still hope for the Bruins. With the right mindset and hard work, they can turn things around and get back to being a dominant force in the NHL.