Bruins Triumvirate Captures All-Star Game Crown in Florida

SUNRISE, Fla. - Jim Montgomery was looking for some advice.
Fortunately, as he stood behind the bench during his first career All-Star Game, he had his son Colin alongside offering up some coaching tips.
"It was special. To joke around with him on the bench and ask him what he was seeing. In the first game, he was like, 'I would switch up [David] Pastrnak's line. They're getting scored on right now," Montgomery said with a chuckle. "And we did. We made the switch and every line scored after that."

It is moments like that - and, of course, the Atlantic Division's All-Star title on Saturday afternoon at FLA Live Arena - that Montgomery will cherish for years to come.
"How privileged we are in the NHL," Montgomery said, "to be able to enjoy incredible moments like this with our families among the stars of the game."

Those stars included two of his own as Pastrnak and Linus Ullmark helped the Atlantic to victory with strong performances. Pastrnak picked up breakaway goals in both contests (9:47 of the second in Game 1 and 7:14 of the second in Game 2) and added an assist, while Ullmark stopped 10 of 13 shots across the two games, including a perfect 6-for-6 showing in the first half of the title game against the Central Division.
"We wanted to win right away," said Pastrnak, whose first goal came after he picked Alex Ovechkin's pocket in the D-zone and despite the Washington forward slinging his stick at him in jest in the neutral zone. "We were joking about it. We wanted to win. Obviously the first game is a little tougher. You sit around a little bit, long day. At the same time, you don't want to get hurt so you take it easy in the beginning but the second game you are warmed up and there isn't as much waiting around. You can speed up a little bit. When you get to the Finals, you try to win and make it special."
Montgomery came away thoroughly impressed by Ullmark's outing, which was no easy task with so much talent on the ice.
"Really hard to do," said Montgomery. "I was wondering if [a shutout in a 3-on-3 period has] ever been done before. It's awesome to watch. He's having an incredible year. And for him to come here and show why he's here is pretty special."
"It doesn't happen [in the All-Star Game]," added Pastrnak. "He does it all year, so it doesn't surprise me. There wasn't an answer for them. He had a special night."

Ullmark, of course, credited the defensive efforts - and compete level - of his Atlantic Division teammates.
"It was great fun," he said. "Guys were trying very hard. That's one of the reasons…they had sticks in the right lanes, all the right stuff. Almost was like a normal game which makes it a little easier to read but then you're lucky sometimes as well.
"There's a reason why they're the best players out there. They don't like to lose. It's all fun and games, but at the end of the day you still want to be a winner. That's one of the reasons…as a goalie we just try to stop pucks. We have to try our very best otherwise we would make fools out of ourselves."
The Boston backstop even picked up an assist in the first game when he corralled a puck in front of his crease and sent a lengthy saucer pass through the neutral zone to Montreal's Nick Suzuki who then finished off a give-and-go with Toronto's Mitch Marner to put the Atlantic up, 4-3, over the Metro Division at 7:55 of the first.
"I thought the one [defender] was gonna come at me but he kind of fanned off and guys were slow to get back like they are in 3-on-3's in these kind of situations," said Ullmark. "Wanted to get a good sauce on it and was lucky it bounced over the stick of the defender. Then they made a good play."

Like Montgomery, Ullmark said that he will look back on his first All-Star experience with plenty of fond memories.
"A lot of enjoyment," said Ullmark. "There's a lot of things going on, a lot of moving parts. But at the end of the day, it was a well-run thing by the League. For me, coming in here, I met a couple cool fellas, had some great conversations. Just get to know a couple other people around the league has been a lot of fun."