BREAKING: Jim Montogmery’s message clearly misses the mark and backfires

BOSTON — Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery emphasized the need for his team to focus on playing hockey and maintaining discipline ahead of their game against the Florida Panthers on Monday afternoon.

However, the message didn’t seem to stick as the Bruins racked up five penalties in the first period against their Atlantic Division rivals.

Former Bruin A.J. Greer delivered a hard hit to David Pastrnak along the boards, leaving Pastrnak with a bloodied lip. Pastrnak’s linemate, Pavel Zacha, reacted by engaging in a fight with Greer, marking only the second fight of Zacha’s career. His first fight had been against current teammate Nikita Zadorov back when Zacha played for the New Jersey Devils and Zadorov was with the Avalanche. Zacha lost both fights.

While Zacha and Greer were serving penalties for fighting, Charlie McAvoy committed a couple of cross-checks on Carter Verhaeghe. The Bruins paid for it, as Sam Reinhart scored his second goal of the season just six seconds into the Panthers’ power play.

The intensity escalated when Pastrnak was called for interference on Reinhart. Panthers defenseman Nate Schmidt sought to retaliate against Pastrnak, but before he could reach him, Brad Marchand leapt over Pastrnak and dropped the gloves to fight Schmidt.