Takeaways: Bruins attitudes need a ‘healthier direction’

Brad Marchand isn’t the only Bruin who felt Jim Montgomery’s wrath.

Amid another night of turnover issues, penalty problems and the lack of attention to detail, the third-year Boston bench boss delivered another heated message to his club during a TV timeout.

Whatever message Montgomery tried to deliver after he watched David Pastrnak commit his second penalty of the middle frame didn’t appear to resonate with the rest of the club. The Bruins relinquished their third power-play goal coming out of the break as former teammate Tyler Seguin netted his fourth goal of the season at 8:59 of the second.

The Bruins did generate a handful of quality looks on Casey Desmith.

But for every spurt ranging from Matthew Poitras connecting with Pastrnak for the game’s first tally and Justin Brazeau finishing Trent Frederic’s wraparound feed, the Bruins countered with more ill-timed stick fouls in the attacking end. And for every save Jeremy Swayman made came another round of blown coverages on the penalty kill.

As a result, Thursday’s 5-2 setback dropped the Bruins to 3-4-1. Here are a few takeaways as the B’s embark on their worst eight-game season-opening stretch since going 3-5 to start the 2011-12 campaign.

Montgomery wants a healthier attitude from his club

Sometimes a results-oriented business can lead to focusing too much on wins and losses over the process of a long season. Montgomery feels the Bruins are falling into that trap after the first eight games of the new year.

Indeed, the Bruins don’t look like a confident bunch. After all, it’s hard to generate such a vibe whenever they play from behind because of ill-timed turnovers and penalty problems.

In turn, the Bruins continue to look for instant gratification instead of playing to their identity. And their focus right now isn’t where it needs to be, according to Montgomery.

“Our attitudes need to go in a better and healthier direction…” Montgomery said… “as in try to control what you can control, which is trying to excel in your role. Our attitudes are not in the moment. They’re on the results. And when your attitude is on the results, you tend to take too many penalties because you get frustrated quickly, and you turn over the puck a lot because you don’t want to work for the offense. You want results right away. That attitude of not willing to work for what we want to get to get to our team game is giving us troubles right now.”

Are there frustrations? Of course. But they aren’t mounting. Not yet, anyway.

Indeed, the Bruins desperately need a spark to jolt their struggling offense. Montgomery’s attempts at maneuvering his lineup haven’t produced results, prompting a good chunk of the fanbase to suggest signing Tyler Johnson or promoting Fabian Lysell from Providence.

Yet, the Bruins knew they’d enter the season as a work in progress after enduring more roster turnover in the off-season. Even so, Marchand believes they can correct the plethora of mistakes in due time.

“A lot of the mistakes that we’re making and the reasons that we’re losing is because of our lack of respect for the game and consistency and details. Those are things you can fix,” Marchand said after his two-penalty night. “When you lack effort and guys do not care, that’s a whole different issue, and that’s not what we have.”

The Bruins are in unfamiliar early-season territory.

With a loaded roster, the Bruins compiled a 9-1 record through the first month of the Montgomery era en route to a record-breaking regular season.

A year later, amid a transitional season, Montgomery’s club began the first month of the post-Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci era at 8-0-1.

Of course, the scrappy Florida Panthers derailed Boston’s Cup hopes. The first year came with a shocking end, while the following season produced a far less surprising result.

Right now, the Bruins aren’t anywhere close to joining the Panthers or Stars among the NHL elite. In fact, they’re entering an unfamiliar early-season territory under Montgomery.

Through camp injuries to newcomers Elias Lindholm and Max Jones or Swayman’s late arrival after inking his $66 million extension, the Bruins dealt with several moving parts. In that regard, they’re playing a bit of catchup in developing chemistry with one another.

The transition doesn’t relieve them of turnover or penalty problems. Nor does it excuse them from their sluggish breakouts, slow-moving power play or defensive breakdowns.

The early struggles do provide them with one reminder: the season doesn’t end in October. But the Bruins need to rectify their concerning trend of playing catchup hockey sooner rather than later.

“This is a bit of new territory to have this happening to us early in the year,” defenseman Charlie McAvoy said. “These last few years, we were just gangbusters, but I think a little bit of our attitude is it hasn’t won us anything being the best team in October.”

Are the Bruins closer to a breakthrough than we think?

The penalties and turnovers once again put the Bruins in a tough spot. But their engagement level between the final two games of their road trip in Utah and Nashville and Thursday’s outing improved.

While it wasn’t necessarily a night-and-day comparison, the Bruins looked a tad more assertive getting pucks into high-danger areas. Even in another night of sloppy passing, they generated multiple quality looks on DeSmith behind Brazeau’s net-front play and Pastrnak’s creativity.

“It just feels like we’re close,” McAvoy said. “These last couple of games, we’re getting these Grade A looks. The power play is getting these looks. We’re getting down low. We’re getting to the net. We’re one play away on a lot of these [chances].”

So close, but still far away.

With the amount of time they’ve spent on the penalty kill, the Bruins hardly established any flow during 5v5 play. The PK units continue to get taxed, forcing Montgomery to adjust his lineup following every shorthanded situation.

Perhaps the Bruins will finally find the back of the net more consistently if they can limit their miscues and establish more chances at 5v5. Yet, amid another serving of humble pie, the early-season adversity isn’t necessarily the worst development.

“This is a hard league. It’s going to humble you pretty quick,” Marchand added. “If any team thinks they’re just going to roll through, then they’ve got another thing coming. It’s a great opportunity for us to take advantage of it and be better and go through that process of simplifying [our play]. We’ll be alright.”