Unless you haven’t been on social media over the last 24 hours, you have surely seen that Boston Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery has become a viral GIF star.
Midway through the second period (12:25) of the Bruins’ gutsy 2-1 Game 5 win, Mason Lohrei was called for hooking Florida Panthers forward Eetu Luostarinen. Panthers forward Anton Lundell had already been sent to the sin bin for embellishment—along with Morgan Geekie (cross-checking)—but the Panthers continued trying to sell themselves into power plays, as Luostarinen showed here:
Montgomery wasn’t pleased by the constant theatrics from the Panthers and proceeded to mimic a diver hilariously while screaming at the officials.
Montgomery was asked about his demonstrative actions on the bench in his postgame presser.
“Well, I just think the embellishments are going up,” Montgomery pointed out.
“Players are getting better and better at grabbing their heads, snapping their heads back, getting hooked, going with the hook, and jumping back. Used to be when I was growing up, Billy Barber was the guy that was known the best for it, and [he] drew a lot of penalties because of it. And I just think it makes it hard on the refs, you know? Because you don’t know if a guy was really high-stuck or if he’s just trying to get a call.”
The Boston Bruins went on to kill that Lohrei penalty and maintain their 2-1 lead after Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy scored the eventual game-winner at 10:25 of the middle frame. They would also kill off two more power plays for the Panthers that came compliments of a McAvoy roughing penalty 1:23 into the third period and a whopping sixth too-many-men-on-the-ice penalty in this 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs at 11:28 of the final frame. The penalty kill wound up going 0-for-3.
The Bruins will host the Florida Panthers in Game 6 on Friday.
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