Montgomery still taking loss hard

Bruins coach Jim Montgomery was back in his office this past week.

He has reconsidered matchups he leaned into against the Panthers. He said he has been reading about body language, to better understand where his players’ heads are in pressure situations. He hasn’t gotten over the Bruins’ first-round flameout.

“It’s going to stay with me forever,” he said on the Raw Knuckles podcast with West Roxbury tough guy Chris Nilan. “I think we had the team to win it all.”

Montgomery said he wouldn’t have done anything different with Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci, whose usage down the stretch was “scientifically” calculated. He didn’t feel he was putting Jeremy Swayman in an impossible situation in Game 7.

“If you know Swayman, he has incredible swagger about him and a confidence,” Montgomery said. “Whether it’s Game 1 or Game 7, he’s going to get the job done.”

Whatever answers Montgomery has found — is finding — this summer will reveal themselves next season. Until then:

“It lingers with us,” Montgomery said. “We own it. We know we lost to a good team in Florida. They’re in the Final. But you’re up, 3-1. You find a way to close that out.

“We’ve got to move forward. What do we learn from this? Especially our young core players, that are going to be here a long time. How do we all grow from this and make sure that whatever happens in the regular season, the next time we get to playoffs, we own the moment like did for an incredible regular season?

“For whatever reason — and I’ve watched the games back — we didn’t play as fast as we did in the regular season. Those are things that are going to eat at me until we start playing again.”