Bruins ‘Need To Better’ Against Maple Leafs In Game 3

The Bruins and Maple Leafs meet in a pivotal Game 3 of their opening-round series at Scotiabank Arena on Wednesday night. The two sides split the first two games in Boston.

Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery expects the Black and Gold to improve their game and regain the series lead.

“We’re not creating enough, we’re not attacking inside the dots. We need to be better offensively as an entire group,” Mongtomery told reporters after morning skate, per team-provided video.

Montgomery added: “I said it last game, I thought Toronto got significantly better. We just marginally did. (We) need to be better.”

Boston experienced a lot more adversity this season than it did during its record-setting season last year, and Montgomery believes that can only help the Bruins bounce back from the Game 2 loss.

“We’ve had to do it a lot this year because we had stretches where we weren’t very good,” Montgomery said. “I think that’s helped us. I think our resolve, our resiliency is better (this season).”

Toronto may get reinforcements for Game 3 with William Nylander skating in the morning with the team. Even though Leafs bench boss Sheldon Keefe didn’t guarantee Nylander would be in the lineup, Montgomery doesn’t anticipate changing the Bruins’ game plan if he does slot in his normal spot on the second line alongside Tyler Bertuzzi and Max Domi.

“I would say I’m hoping he’s not playing again tonight,” Montgomery joked.

One challenge the Bruins will face is the Leafs having last change. Keefe undoubtedly will want to try and create mismatches with the Auston Matthews line. Montgomery didn’t let on that he was overly concerned.

“We’re deep on defense,” Montgomery said. “We got four guys, we should be able to get two of those four out there.”

Puck drop for the Bruins-Leafs Game 3 tilt is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET, and you can watch the game on NESN, following an hour of pregame coverage.