Montgomery blames self as Bruins now in 2-1 hole
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Greg Wyshynski, ESPN
BOSTON — Coach Jim Montgomery took responsibility for the Boston Bruins falling in a 2-1 series hole to the Florida Panthers after a 6-2 Game 3 loss Friday night at TD Garden.
“Our execution in the last two games has just not been good enough and that’s my fault. I’ve got to be better,” Montgomery said.
In particular, the coach accepted blame for the Bruins’ sluggish start in Game 3 that saw them outshot 13-3 in the first period and 24-8 by the time the Panthers had built a 3-0 lead in the second. It was a start that quieted a raucous Boston crowd.
“We’ve had a couple of games where we started slow,” Montgomery said. “We haven’t generated much offense. I have to give the players a better plan. Florida was significantly better than us. I’ve got to come up with a better game plan.”
The Bruins didn’t show any life until the third period, when center Jakub Lauko scored to cut the deficit to 4-1 and break a streak of 10 straight Panthers goals in the series. Boston got to within 4-2, but the Florida defense and goalie Sergei Bobrovsky (15 saves) stopped the comeback.
Boston’s late-game rally came after it lost captain Brad Marchand to an upper-body injury. Marchand skated eight shifts in the first period and seven in the second, amassing 10:51 in ice time before departing for good. He didn’t register a shot on goal.
Montgomery said the Bruins will know more about their captain’s status Saturday. But he said Marchand’s absence might have served as inspiration for his players in the third period.
“I thought we rallied because of our captain,” he said. “I thought our players all elevated their games and we started competing like Brad Marchand would have.”
Defenseman Brandon Carlo said that winger David Pastrnak, defenseman Charlie McAvoy and winger Pat Maroon were more vocal than usual in the third period to make up for Marchand’s absence.
“I think we did a good job of generating some stuff, and that’s a key that they brought to the game for us,” he said.
The Panthers took over with the power play. Boston rookie defenseman Mason Lohrei was whistled for a double minor for high sticking at 14:37 of the second period. Vladimir Tarasenko and Carter Verhaeghe scored on the ensuring power plays to make it 3-0.
Just 3:09 into the third period, defenseman Brandon Montour beat Jeremy Swayman (27 saves) for another power-play goal to make it 4-0. The Panthers were 4-for-6 with the man advantage.
“I think they made adjustments. They have lots of really good players. But I still have confidence in our penalty kill,” said forward Jake DeBrusk, one of Boston’s penalty killers. “Honestly, we’ve got to stay out of the [penalty] box. No matter what we think of the refs or what’s going on.”
But DeBrusk didn’t believe the Game 3 loss fell on his coach, no matter how much blame Montgomery shouldered.
“I think that it goes both ways. We’re the ones that are out there. We’re the ones that are playing the game. He can put any plan that he thinks it’s going to help us out, but we’ve got to execute,” DeBrusk said. “It’s about making the right one or making the right decisions and obviously we didn’t do that. Against a team like that, you have to play a pretty perfect game. And the last two games you’ve seen what happens when we don’t.”
Game 4 is Sunday night in Boston.
Montgomery, who said it’s back to the drawing board to find a way to knot the series, again pinned the loss on himself.
“It’s too early to be able to talk about changes,” he said. “We got to do our due diligence and look at the game again and see who is executing and who’s playing with the effort. But it’s not good enough. We didn’t play well enough. That’s why I take the responsibility.”
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Pete Thamel, Senior College Sports Insider
UConn football coach Jim Mora has agreed to a new contract that includes two additional years that will take him through the 2028 season, the school announced Saturday.
The deal includes a raise to an average of $2.5 million annually over the course of the deal. He made $1.81 million in base salary in 2024, and the new deal will increase that base to $2.1 million in 2025.
Mora’s deal comes after he revived UConn football in his first three years at the school. He took over a program that went 1-11 in the year before his arrival and has led it to two bowl games in three years.
That includes an 8-4 regular season in 2024, which earned UConn a spot in the Wasabi Fenway Bowl against North Carolina on Saturday.
“Three years ago, I tasked Jim Mora with the challenge of leading our football team back to success and through his experience, energy and leadership he has done just that,” UConn athletic director David Benedict said in a statement. “He has taken our program to post season bowl games twice and just guided our team to one of the best seasons in UConn football history, building a momentum to keep this program moving forward. I look forward to his leadership of our football team in the years ahead.”
If Mora leads UConn to a win over North Carolina, it will mark the Huskies’ first nine-win season since 2007 and just the third nine-win season in school history. UConn went to the Myrtle Beach Bowl in Mora’s first year in 2022, the school’s first bowl game since Bob Diaco led the Huskies to the St. Petersburg Bowl in 2015.
Mora is a veteran coach who had two stints in the NFL with the Atlanta Falcons and Seattle Seahawks. He is in his ninth season as a college head coach, as he took the UCLA job in 2012 and had a successful stint there that included a pair of 10-win seasons. UCLA hasn’t won 10 games in a season since Mora left.
He mentioned at the Fenway Bowl news conference Friday that UConn went undefeated against Group of 5 teams this season, with its losses against Maryland, Duke, Wake Forest and Syracuse.
The 8-0 record against teams outside the power leagues, Mora noted, made UConn one of three Group of 5 teams to go undefeated against Group of 5 competition. He said that was a sign of UConn’s growth as a program.
“For this program, we want to start not just competing with but beating Power 4 teams,” Mora said, “and making the statement that we are becoming very relevant again on the football field.”
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Adam Rittenberg, ESPN Senior Writer
Georgia quarterback Carson Beck, who underwent surgery earlier this week to repair the ulnar collateral ligament in his right, throwing elbow, declared for the 2025 NFL draft Saturday.
In a social media post, Beck thanked his Georgia teammates and coaches, calling his time with the program “an incredible journey” and writing that he will be around to support the Bulldogs during their College Football Playoff run, which begins Wednesday against No. 7 seed Notre Dame in a quarterfinal matchup at the Allstate Sugar Bowl in New Orleans.
Beck injured his elbow on the final play of the first half against Texas in the SEC championship game Dec. 7. Renowned orthopedic surgeon Dr. Neal ElAttrache performed Beck’s surgery Monday in Los Angeles. Beck is expected to make a full recovery, according to the school, and he will resume throwing in the spring.
The 6-foot-4, 220-pound quarterback is in his fifth year at Georgia, but he had another year of eligibility because of the COVID year in 2020 and appeared in only three games in 2021.
Beck, a native of Jacksonville, Florida, went 24-3 as Georgia’s starter the past two seasons. He entered the fall as one of the top NFL prospects at quarterback. ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. listed Beck and Colorado‘s Shedeur Sanders as the top quarterbacks for the 2025 draft entering the season. Kiper’s latest Big Board lists Beck as the No. 4 draft-eligible quarterback prospect, behind Sanders, Miami‘s Cam Ward and Alabama‘s Jalen Milroe.
Beck did not match his 2023 numbers this fall but still finished with 3,485 passing yards, 28 touchdowns and 12 interceptions, 11 of which he threw during a five-game midseason stretch. He had 7,426 passing yards and 52 touchdowns over the past two seasons for Georgia, and he was a two-time finalist for the Manning Award and was a second-team All-SEC selection in 2023.
Redshirt sophomore Gunner Stockton replaced Beck in the SEC title game, which Georgia won 22-19 in overtime, and will start against Notre Dame.
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