Can Jim Montgomery unlock the Blues offense? His history says yes

NEWARK, NJ — The St. Louis Blues entered their game against him New York Rangers Monday night – their first under new coach Jim Montgomery – with an offense that ranked 30th in NHL with 2.36 goals per game.

Jake Neighbors he led the Blues with seven goals. Around the NHL, just Anaheim Ducks and Calgary Flames didn’t have a player with more than seven.

With two goals or less in 13 of their 22 games, concerns about the Blues’ lack of goals have been justified.

They are still guaranteed.

But Blues players were also adamant before Monday’s game that the offense would come under Montgomery, and then backed it up with a 5-2 win over the Rangers. So there is reason to wonder if this might be the case.

“There’s a lot more offense in this room than what we’ve shown this year,” Capt Brayden Schenn said Monday before the game. “We have good players in this room. We’ve got guys that have had multiple 30-goal seasons, 20-goal seasons, and right now we’re dry from top to bottom. But we feel like just by showing us a few things and changing a few things, they’re going to help us play the puck more, keep some possession and just play more aggressively.”

It’s just one game, and it was against a Rangers team that gives up the second-most shots in the NHL, but the Blues’ season-high 43 shots on net and four goals against – since Zack Bolduc (2), Pavel Buchnevici and Schenn—it was impressive.

Before Monday, per Natural Stats Trickthe Blues were 20th in the league in five-on-five goals (38), which may have been due to the fact that they were 22nd in shots per 60 minutes (26.7).

Certainly, their fans weren’t the only ones who shouted “Shoot!” during the games.

“I think we’re trying to put the puck in the net,” Blues general manager Doug Armstrong said after announcing Montgomery’s hiring on Sunday. “To put the puck in the net, it has to be perfect and it’s a not-perfect game.

“I think we’ve got to get more pucks to the net and we’ve got to go to tougher areas and accept what the reward is for the penalty of going to those areas. That’s Monty’s job, to find out how to change the attack to score goals.”

The challenge was accepted by Montgomery, who spent the past 2 1/2 seasons with Boston Bruins. In 2022-23, they were second in the league with 3.67 goals per game, and in ’23-24, 13th (3.21).

Montgomery may not have followed the Blues closely during that time, but he thinks he has an idea of ​​what he’s working with.

“I read the offensive struggles of this team,” he said. “To me, this is an offense-minded team and it just shows you how hard it is to score. We need to get the details and be in the right areas, (including) the hard areas, to be able to score more. But we have the ability to score goals.”

There are two factors that Montgomery should benefit from as the club looks for more production.

First, when Montgomery was an assistant coach with the Blues for two seasons (2020-21 and 21-22), he worked with some of the team’s best offensive players, some of whom are still on the roster. In the second season, Robert Thomas (20 goals, 77 points), Jordan Kyrou (27 goals, 75 points) and Buchnevich (30 goals, 76 points) all had career years (up to that point).

“A lot of us give him a lot of credit for making big strides — me, Rousy, Buchy,” Thomas said. “It showed us times when we can be more opportunistic and make more risky plays and times when you have to make the right plays. It’s something really important, finding a balance, especially for boys who like to create. It was very helpful for me and someone I really relied on a few years ago.”

Second, after Montgomery left St. Louis, gained invaluable experience coaching Bruins stars such as David Pastrnak, Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron. In 2022-23, Pastrnak had a career-high 61 goals and 113 points, followed in 23-24 with a 110-point season.

“He’s done that in the past,” Armstrong said. “The reality is that there are difference makers on every team, and the nights that aren’t a difference, those are the nights you don’t win. Hopefully it can unlock some things and maximize their talents and take them to areas where we think they can go. He did it with the guys in Boston and he’s going to do it here.”

Indeed, Montgomery admitted that having that history with those players will give him even more credibility with the Blues.

“No question, because the guys from Boston are such well-respected players,” he said. “It won’t be a comparison thing. It will be: “This is what I learned from them and this is what I can share with you.” It’s something that has made me better and I will make it part of our fabric here to make things better for our culture and to meet our standards of excellence.”

But as Schenn said, Montgomery believes in balancing that standard with the understanding that players have talents that shouldn’t be stifled.

“He’s detailed and structured, but at the same time he lets his guys play hockey,” he said. “He wants his creative guys to be creative and he wants his hard-playing guys to be aggressive. He doesn’t want everyone to play the same way. He doesn’t want everyone to be robotic there. That was kind of his message with us: “I’m going to hold you accountable for the things I want, but at the same time you have to go out there and make plays.”

And how does he convey that message?

Monday with Bolduc came in the form of a discussion after the morning skate.

“I said, ‘You have to look at the net, and if you don’t like your options, that’s on you,'” Montgomery said. “‘But I want you to have a ‘break up’ attitude.”

Bolduc stopped seven shots on goal scoring the first two goals of the season.

Or Montgomery’s coaching may come in the form of a text message.

“I’ll have the text threads,” he said. “It could just be a captains text or there could be a whole team (thread). If I see something when I’m sitting at home reading – and I like to do TikTok – that connects to our group, I’ll send it in a message. When something connects with me emotionally, I’ll share it and that lets the players know I’m thinking of them.”

Thomas remembers those threads from a few years ago.

“He used to send me a lot of motivational stuff and mindset stuff,” he said. “I don’t have TikTok and I can’t follow them anymore, but it was a really great part of our relationship.”

Kyrou said whatever Montgomery is doing seems to be working, as evidenced by Monday’s performance.

“I thought we played a solid game,” Kyrou said. “We took a lot of shots, had a lot of A-grade chances, a lot of rush plays, a lot of O-zone plays. We were moving the puck and connecting pretty well. We certainly have the players to do it and yesterday was a good start.”

(Photo: Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)