The Boston Bruins have kicked off their 2023-24 NHL season with a victory. Boston defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 3-1 to begin what the team hopes is another successful season. Bruins fans are certainly happy with the win, but not everyone is impressed. In fact, head coach Jim Montgomery was anything but.

Montgomery spoke with reporters following the game in Boston. While the team's bench boss did note it was the first game, he still didn't hold back with his thoughts on what he saw on the ice.

“Very average. I didn’t think we grew our game, but it was 1st game of the year,” Montgomery said, via Bruins reporter Joe Haggerty. “When I think back to our first game of last year, the only thing I liked better last year was I thought we played faster. I didn’t think we played fast enough, consistently enough.”

Boston's first victory

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The Bruins actually had to play catch up a bit. Chicago got the scoring started when prized prospect Connor Bedard picked up his own rebound and scored on a wraparound. Boston did find the equalizer as forward Trent Frederic found the back of the net later in the first.

The Bruins took the lead in the second period. Boston gained control of the puck, and Milan Lucic carried it into the offensive zone. He found star sniper David Pastrnak, who picked his spot and fired a shot past Arvid Soderblom for the 2-1 lead. Pastrnak added an empty net goal to seal the win on Wednesday.

Montgomery may have wanted to see more, but it is only game one. Boston takes the ice once again on Saturday. The Bruins welcome the Nashville Predators to TD Garden following Nashville's season-opening loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday.