The Bruins need a spark. Is firing Jim Montgomery the answer?

In Year 1, Jim Montgomery took a deep Bruins squad to a record-breaking regular season only to fall short in a bitter first-round loss to the Florida Panthers.

The following year, Montgomery got the most of a transitional roster without Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci. But without as deep of a roster, the Bruins had their shortcomings exposed again by the same Panthers bunch in the second round.

So it came as no surprise when Don Sweeney tried to position Montgomery for success in Year 3 after adding a top-six center in Elias Lindholm and a rugged defenseman in Nikita Zadorov as part of their busy off-season. Yet, it was easy to envision some growing pains with this year’s squad between the plethora of newcomers trying to find their footing and Jeremy Swayman’s late arrival.

What no one expected, however, was the extent of Boston’s early-season struggles.

Unlike their 8-1 start in 2022-23 and an 8-0-1 mark to begin the following year, the Bruins completed their first month of Montgomery’s third year with a 4-6-1 record. And right now, they’re showcasing no signs of turning a corner.

“We had a lot of success the last two years, and we were in first place in the league in Thanksgiving the last two years,” Montgomery told reporters following Thursday’s lopsided 8-2 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes. “We never achieved anything we wanted to.”

Frankly, entering a playoff spot by American Thanksgiving might go down as one of Montgomery’s better achievements of his three years in Boston. That is if he’s still behind the bench by then.

Amid another round of wholesale changes within his four forward regroups, the lethargic showing in Carolina on Halloween night exemplified Boston’s early-season struggles to a T.

The penalty trouble continued with five head-scratching minors, upping their league-leading total to 56. The usually stout shorthanded unit allowed a trio of power play markers. Even with a Brad Marchand tally, Boston’s power play, while scoring once, remained static and posed little to no threat of scoring.

For a team that possesses the eighth youngest roster in the league, the Bruins look anything but youthful. They’ve hardly showcased any physical edge after adding size in the off-season to counter heavier elite teams like the Panthers. More importantly, they look like a team skating in proverbial quicksand in every area of the ice, resulting in frequent stick fouls, sluggish checking and even slower puck movement.

In turn, the Bruins have become predictable every time they touch the puck.

“Definitely, we need to move our feet,” forward David Pastrnak told reporters postgame. “There’s been a lot of stick penalties…but honestly, we weren’t good enough 5-on-5 at all. They were all over us, and we have to be better.”

The desperate need for improvement starts at the top of Boston’s lineup.

Aside from the fourth line of Mark Kastelic, Johnny Beecher and Cole Koepke, which Montgomery broke up ahead of Thursday, the Bruins haven’t received the needed production from their forward core.

Pastrnak continues to produce at a point-per-game pace, with 10 points in 11 games. But the crafty Czech playmaker hasn’t been immune from the sloppy passing and head-scratching decision-making with the puck.

Marchand added his second goal of the year with his first-period equalizer in Carolina. His work ethic hasn’t been questioned, as he continues to draw penalties at a top-tier rate. But coming off groin, elbow and abdominal surgeries over the off-season, the second-year Boston captain hasn’t showcased as much explosiveness as in previous seasons.

Elias Lindholm, a one-time Selke finalist, hasn’t gelled at all with Pastrnak or Pavel Zacha in their initial stint together on Boston’s top line.

Zacha, who performed well in spurts to fill Bergeron’s massive void last year, only has one goal to his credit.

Charlie Coyle, who embarked on a career season after moving up to Boston’s top-six a year ago, didn’t tally a single 5v5 point in October.

Trent Frederic, who showcased strides in his offensive development during Montgomery’s first two years, began his contract season with an opening night tally but hasn’t scored since.

As a result, Montgomery has had to change his lineup throughout the first month of the year. He’s used about every line combination from the proverbial blender and received similar results each time he’s mixed and matched his four forward trios.

Frankly, he’s running out of options. With a little more cap space after Riley Tufte went unclaimed on waivers, the Bruins could sign veteran Tyler Johnson or recall Fabian Lysell from Providence in another attempt at a spark. Even for a solid two-way forward of Johnson’s caliber or a high-ranking prospect like Lysell, asking either to provide a lift without encountering any prior regular-season experience in Boston would be a tall order.

Indeed, Montgomery isn’t faultless in any of this. Given the recent efforts, it’s fair to question if his message isn’t resonating inside the dressing room.

Yet, Sweeney’s latest attempts at fixing holes left the Bruins in an early-season rut. With little trade options currently or potential in-house reinforcements outside of Johnson or Lysell, the tenth-year GM may have little choice but to move on with Montgomery sooner rather than later.

Conversely, letting Montgomery go would mark the third coaching firing in 10 years under Sweeney. Even with Sweeney’s close relationship with President Cam Neely, very few, if any, general managers across the league would survive a similar scenario. Given the current roster makeup and the previous seasons of shaky drafting, a failure to qualify for the postseason or even another early exit could put Sweeney on the hot seat.

In the interim, Montgomery’s status remains a top early-season storyline in his de facto lame-duck season.

Regardless, the first slow start of the Montgomery era isn’t sitting well with anyone in the organization. And Montgomery should at least have a little more leeway to help rectify the ongoing troubling trends.

A rematch with the lowly Flyers in Philadelphia on Saturday afternoon would mark a good starting point for a turnaround. But another loss similar to Tuesday’s setback on Causeway Street will only shorten Montgomery’s leash.

“Right now, we’re not happy. Nobody is happy with what’s going on,” Montgomery said to the media. “But we will get out of it, and we will be better. And hopefully, it becomes a better result come playoff time.”