BOSTON — The Florida Panthers await the winner of the Bruins-Maple Leafs series, but the Black and Gold know it shouldn’t overlook any opponent.
Boston is up 3-1 in its first-round series against Toronto and has a chance to close out the best-of-seven series Tuesday at TD Garden. The Bruins’ morning skate hinted there would be changes to the lineup with Mason Lohrei on the second power-play unit and Derek Forbort and Grzelcyk on the ice. Head coach Jim Montgomery explained why changes might or might not come in Game 5.
“You don’t want to change things just to change things, but if you think your team can get better because of matchups, because of history with players and where you think they might be best utilized to help the Bruins, that’s when you look at potentially making changes,” Montgomery said.
Montgomery went to his standard rhetoric when it came to the goalie rotation. Jeremy Swayman might close out the first round so Linus Ullmark can start the second round against Florida. There could be other changes made to prepare for what should be a tough series. But the Black and Gold were not entering Tuesday’s matchup with that mindset.
“Zero, to be honest. We’re focused on Toronto,” Montgomery said of how much focus there is on the Panthers.
Boston understands the Maple Leafs will enter Tuesday with high urgency and desperation, and Montgomery hopes the Bruins can match the energy the TD Garden crowd is expected to bring in Game 5.
