Bruins’ Montgomery unhappy about schedule: ‘We’re the home team’

Boston Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery isn’t pleased about a scheduling quirk that keeps his team in Toronto longer than expected.

Montgomery’s Bruins take on the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena for Game 3 of their first-round series and evidently, he’s not thrilled about an extra day on the road.

“I would have rather been here Thursday/Saturday, if I’m being honest,” Montgomery said Wednesday morning via The Athletic’s Chris Johnston. “I think we’re spending more time in Toronto than Toronto’s spending in Boston and we’re the home team.”

Toronto hosts Boston for Game 4 on Saturday, before the series shifts back to Boston on Tuesday for Game 5. If the series is extended to a sixth and seventh game, Toronto would host Game 6 on May 2, while Boston would be at home for Game 7 on May 4.

From our vantage point, it seems like a silly thing to be upset about. Boston already hosted its first two games, it’s in the past and while the unfriendly confines of playing in a hockey-mad market in Toronto may be irksome, we cannot be expected to believe that it’ll materially impact Montgomery and his staff.

It’s a strange talking point from Montgomery and though he almost certainly didn’t intend for it to come off this way, it feels like a preemptive excuse for his team, if they lose to the Maple Leafs. Montgomery was aware of what the schedule was well before the Bruins headed to Toronto and it hasn’t raised any meaningful issues through the opening two games of the series.

Montgomery is one of the NHL’s most transparent coaches — even if he won’t reveal which one of his two excellent goalies will take the net — and one of the league’s master tacticians. If he can’t handle an extra day in Toronto, he won’t find much sympathy in this corner of the internet.