Do Bruins regret playing Linus Ullmark, Patrice Bergeron despite injuries? Sweeney and Montgomery respond

BOSTON -- Hindsight was a common theme during Tuesday's end-of-season media availability for the people in charge of the Boston Bruins. Considering the team came up well short in its quest for a Stanley Cup, there will be countless second guesses after the failure to get out of the first round.

Yet while that list may be long, there are two that certainly stick out above the rest, and both involve players who were on the ice despite having injuries: Goaltender Linus Ullmark, and team captain Patrice Bergeron.

Ullmark went from having .938 save percentage and 1.89 goals-against average in the regular season to having an .896 save percentage and 3.33 GAA in the playoffs. He lost three games in the postseason after losing just seven games all season. He clearly wasn't the same goaltender, and head coach Jim Montgomery ultimately made the switch to Jeremy Swayman in Game 7. The move was too late.

Montgomery admitted that he wished he made that decision sooner, but he also detailed why he stuck with Ullmark in the first place.

"We win Games 3 and 4, you have two days off, you think Game 5 is going to go well," Montgomery said. "And I personally spoke with Linus and he answered me a real honest question and took ownership of where he was at in Game 5 [when he allowed four goals on 25 shots faced]. And what he relayed to me made me believe that you learn and you grow and he was ready to grow and lead us to a Game 6 win. And that, in the end, is what made me decide that he was our goaltender for Game 6."

General manager Don Sweeney pushed back on the Kevin Weekes report that Ullmark was playing with a "debilitating" injury, noting that Ullmark had something pop up late in the regular season that did not hamper him in the postseason.

"Linus was fully available to play," Sweeney said. "He had something that was going on very, very end of the season. But it had cleared up for him to be eligible to play. Had he not been, we certainly would've made a different decision. We felt very comfortable all year with the rotation we had and confidence in both goaltenders."

Sweeney did say that the description of a "debilitating and painful injury" applied more to Patrice Bergeron, who revealed after the Game 7 loss that he had suffered a herniated disc in his back in the Bruins' regular-season finale.

Bergeron was able to return to the ice in Game 5, when Montgomery separated him from longtime linemate Brad Marchand to start the game. Montgomery expressed that move as one of his chief regrets of the series, both in his postgame press conference after Game 7 and in front of the media on Tuesday.

But beyond that, with the Bruins going 0-3 after Bergeron's return, and with Bergeron not nearly looking like his normal self, the coach and the GM were asked if they gave any thought to resting Bergeron through the entire first round so that he would be able to return at full strength.

The answer, quite simply, was no.

Sweeney said that Bergeron was "categorically unavailable" for Games 1-4, but the player and the medical staff agreed that he was ready to return in Game 5.

And just like with Ullmark, Montgomery said he had a conversation with Bergeron that sealed the decision.

"I go, 'Well, do we not play you Game 5?' And he said, 'Monty, I'm playing Game 5.' That was enough for me to know. You don't keep Hall of Fame players out of the lineup," Montgomery said. "I think we're gonna trust our medical people when they give us the advice. I'm always gonna talk to the players. And I believe the players are honest with me. Of course they want to play, you know? And you're always analyzing what percentage he might be at, depending on the player. But when the decisions we make as Boston Bruins, we make them collectively. In the end, I gotta make that final decision -- which, I'm really comfortable with the decisions we made."