ST. LOUIS -- The first order of business for Jim Montgomery as coach of the St. Louis Blues after being hired Sunday is to fix a struggling offense.
The Blues (9-12-1) are 30th in the NHL in goals per game (2.36), 29th in shots per game (26.2) and 25th in power-play efficiency (16.7 percent). A 3-1 loss at the New York Islanders on Saturday marked the 13th time in 22 games they’ve scored two or fewer goals, and the seventh they’ve scored one or none.
Five days after he was fired by the Boston Bruins, Montgomery is back in the mix. He replaces Drew Bannister, who was fired by St. Louis on Sunday after 76 games (39-31-6).
"We scored a power-play goal last night, but you have to get your power play back up and running, at least at the NHL average point," general manager Doug Armstrong said Sunday. "That adds a half a goal a game, or a goal a game.
"I personally think that we have to play more in front of the net. I think we have to get pucks more to the net. That's 'Monty's’ job -- to find out how to tweak the offense to score goals. But doing a lot of scouting this year, I realized where a lot of goals are scored from, and I believe myself that we try and pass the puck into the net. To pass the puck into the net, it has to be perfect, and it's a game of not perfect, so I think we have to get more pucks at the net and have to go into harder areas and embrace what the reward is for the punishment of going into those areas.
“I think directing more pucks at the net and going into the harder areas is going to be important for any team to have success in today's NHL."
Montgomery, who was fired by Boston on Tuesday after an 8-9-3 start and signed a five-year contract with St. Louis, already has a leg up with some players on the roster; he was an assistant here under Craig Berube from 2020-22. Montgomery has also been coach of the Dallas Stars, serving the 2018-19 season and part of 2019-20, going 60-43-10 in 114 games. His NHL career record is 180-84-33 in 297 games.
"Having that relationship with the top players is certainly a benefit for the coach," Armstrong said. "I think the top players also respond to coaching, and his job is to get the best out of them. He's done that in the past. He's done it with players in Dallas. They had an excellent team there. He's done it with the guys in Boston, he'll do it here.
“The reality is when you look around the League, there are difference-makers on every team and the nights they're not a difference, those are the nights you don't win."
Armstrong feels Montgomery, 55, can push the Blues through their transition period of the present while also having a vision for the future. The hope that he can jumpstart the offense begins at the New York Rangers on Monday (7 p.m. ET; FDSNMW, MSG).
“We score two goals a game,” forward Pavel Buchnevich said after the loss Saturday. “We can't win the games like that. Our goalies have to stop 50 shots every game; [it’s] impossible. Our team has good players and we're (not) scoring. We've got to figure out offense. Offense is our biggest issue.
“Impossible to win with one and two goals. Just impossible.”
Montgomery was 120-41-23 in two-plus seasons with the Bruins and led them to the best single-season record in NHL history (65-12-5) in 2022-23, when they averaged 3.67 goals per game. Mongomery won the Jack Adams Award voted as the League’s top coach.
The Blues are confident they have their man.
"He certainly has a very positive demeanor, works well with the top players in the organizations that he's been with, has the ability from what he's done," Armstrong said. "… He understands and works well with younger players. Then, you fast forward to [Patrice] Bergeron and that group that he worked with in Boston … I think he's got a wealth of experience.
“He's at the prime of his coaching career now, and we're the benefactors of that. I think he's the full package, or at least we hope he's the full package."
