There are times during a season when a coach needs to deliver some sort of speech to his team. It could be on the bench or in the locker room. It could be pregame or midgame. It could be a positive pick-me-up or a fiery teardown.
Then there are times when what is needed from the coach is for him to shut up and recognize that his voice is not the one that’s needed for the situation at hand.
The second intermission of Monday’s Winter Classic at Fenway Park was the latter, and Bruins coach Jim Montgomery knew it.
His team was trailing 1-0 at the time, was spending too much time in its own zone, and was struggling to generate much of anything in the way of scoring chances. Montgomery acknowledged after the game that he was “getting a little negative.” It would have been understandable if he felt the need to try to wake his team up.
But then a couple of the Bruins’ team leaders spoke up. First, captain Patrice Bergeron told Montgomery that the team would be “all right.” Then Nick Foligno -- a former captain in Columbus and a current leader in Boston regardless of whether he wears a letter -- asked if he could have the locker room between periods.
And in that moment, Montgomery knew what he had to do to get the Bruins going: Step back, and let his leaders take control. The coach offered a couple quick reminders about getting to “middle ice” and going hard on the forecheck. He also shuffled his lines a little bit, which turned out to be a good move as well. But the rest was up to Foligno.
“At the end of the second, Foligno asked me if he could have the room,” Montgomery said. “I said, ‘Yes you can.’ … I was getting a little negative and Bergy was like, ‘We’re gonna be all right.’ It was another way for us to communicate, to be like, these guys got it. I can shut up behind the bench.”
Jake DeBrusk, who led the Bruins’ comeback win over the Penguins with a pair of third-period goals, shared some of Foligno’s message after the game.
“This is an event and it's a dream come true, and we don't want to waste it,” DeBrusk said of Foligno’s speech. “You don't want to come after a game like tonight and think that you could have done more or wish you would have done something, because you never know -- it's very rare if you get another chance to do it. I think it was more just along the message that we know what we can do together as a group, we're the best third period team in the league, and let's go prove it.”
Montgomery could have delivered a nearly identical message. We’re not talking about the Gettysburg Address here. But he knew it would be more meaningful coming from a player.
It’s not the first time this season that Montgomery has turned the room over to a veteran. Back on Dec. 17, with the Bruins playing poorly against the lowly Columbus Blue Jackets, Montgomery told Bergeron late in the second period, “It’s your dressing room.” Whatever Bergeron said hit the mark, because the Bruins scored twice in the third to finally pull away in a game that had been closer than it should’ve been.
It may seem odd to give Montgomery credit for this. I mean, isn’t he basically just having players do his job? Aren’t Bergeron and Foligno the ones who deserve credit?
Yes, of course they do. Bruins fans have known for a long time how great of a leader Bergeron is, and they’ve learned pretty quickly what Foligno brings in that respect as well.
But part of Montgomery’s job is to have a good enough relationship with those guys that he understands when it’s the right time for him to be the one speaking and when it’s the right time to step back and let those guys take over.
It appears Montgomery has done a pretty good job of finding that balance in just six months on the job, and just three months of games. Communication was considered one of Montgomery’s biggest strengths when he was hired, but communication doesn’t always mean doing the talking yourself.
It also means listening, getting to know your players, and building two-way trust. On Monday, Montgomery trusting and listening to his players helped the Bruins get a win they’ll all remember for the rest of their lives.
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