BOSTON — One of the Bruins’ points of emphasis for 2016-17 is re-establishing TD Garden as an unpleasant place for opponents to visit. They’ve made marginal improvement so far, winning six of 11 after coming out on top in only 17 of 40 games at the Garden last year.
If the B’s are to extend a season-best four-game points streak (3-0-1) with a third straight home win on Monday night, they’ll have to do it against a team that’s not all that unhappy about being on the road these days.
The Bruins host the Florida Panthers, who bewildered many across the NHL one week ago Sunday night by firing head coach Gerard Gallant after he’d piloted the team to a franchise-record 103 points and a playoffs appearance last year after falling short for three seasons. The cord was cut after a 3-2 road loss to the Hurricanes in the first game of a six-game trip, and players have been regrouping ever since.
“Long trip, and we’ve had some changes around here,” said former Bruins winger Shawn Thornton. “We’re learning a couple of new things.”
Direction now comes from Tom Rowe, 60, a long-time AHL coach and former NHL assistant who was named general manager last summer. Prior to that promotion, he had coached the Panthers’ AHL affiliate in Portland, Maine, for three years. Many outside the Florida fraternity now believe Gallant was doomed and Rowe destined to become coach after an offseason of front-office changes under fourth-year owner Vincent Viola.
Rowe is aware of the perception, aware that iconic "Hockey Night in Canada" commentator (and one-time B’s coach) Don Cherry called Gallant’s dismissal “the worst firing in the history of the world,” and determined not to let things like that distract him from his new duties and Monday night’s homecoming: Rowe is a native of Lynn, Mass.
“It wasn’t planned,” he said after Sunday’s practice at the Garden. “I think a lot of people thought it was, which is a bunch of garbage.
“I came here to help in the front office, then this happened. When it was proposed to me, I said, ‘If this is what you want me to do, that’s what I’ll do.’ ”