Taking the Time: Montgomery said earlier this week that there was no change in the status of Taylor Hall or Nick Foligno, both of whom are expected to miss extended periods of time with lower-body injuries.
"They both feel really good, but they are at a place where they can't even be thought about being players and there is no real update," said Montgomery. "We haven't gotten any feedback from the second opinion [on Hall] yet."
Feeling Welcome: Montgomery had high praise for Bergeron when it comes to helping assimilate newcomers - like Orlov, Garnet Hathaway, and Tyler Bertuzzi - into the dressing room and the lineup this late in the season.
"When your captain is Patrice Bergeron, people get acclimated real quick - to what the culture is and why it's special to be here, more importantly," said Montgomery. "Under Patrice Bergeron there's a bunch of assistant captains that are great as well, that understand that Spoked-B matters more than anything and that's what we're driving towards.
"It's more than just leading by example. He sets the example - we practice like champions every day because of him and others…they compete. There's a professionalism to what we do on the ice…but more importantly, being around Patrice - Patrice's awareness of other people and being empathetic, whether they're going good or whether they're not going good, he sees it, he addresses it, he communicates with them.
"The best example is, I've met with several players because your job as a coach is to look and be aware of those things and you've got to pick guys up or hold them accountable, whatever the case may be and a lot of times, I'll be ing a player in my office this year and [ask them], 'How you doing, man?' And they'll be like, 'Well, Patrice talked to me. I'm in a better place.'"
Opposing View: The Bruins will meet the Edmonton Oilers for the second time in 10 days when Connor McDavid and Co. visit TD Garden on Thursday night. As such, Boston knows well the challenge of containing the Oilers' high-powered attack, headlined by McDavid, who scored two goals in the B's 3-2 win at Rogers Place on Feb. 27.
"I think I said this a week ago, you don't know if you can stop it, you just try to slow it down any way you can," said Edmonton native Jake DeBrusk. "There's different ways to try to do it. Honestly, it's puck management. If we have the puck and he doesn't, things are better for us. It comes down to as simple as that and just being in the right spot…speed, that's the biggest thing. I think that's the thing every single team has to key on."
