HC Jim Montgomery doesn't mince his words about Boston Bruins' struggling PK, 5-on-5 play in 5-2 loss to Stars 

Coach Jim Montogomery didn't hold back when discussing the Boston Bruins' struggling penalty kill and 5-on-5 play after their 5-2 loss to the Dallas Stars on Thursday.

He highlighted major issues, mentioning that penalties and turnovers are problematic for the team and areas that need improvement. On a positive note, Montgomery acknowledged that some line combinations showed promise, with both Charlie Coyle and Pavel Zacha generating offense.

"The penalties and the turnovers are very problematic when you're looking at where we need to really improve," Montgomery said. "When you look at the positives, some of the new line combinations – I thought the Coyle line generated offense for us, I thought the Zacha line generated offense for us."

The second period was action-packed with goals during power plays, with four in total. The Bruins managed to find the back of the net once but conceded three times in return.

Montgomery noted that the players weren't working cohesively and pointed out that the Stars players were able to find open players in the slot, which is unusual for their penalty kill.

"Our sticks, and not four guys not working cohesively. They were able to find people alone all in the slot. That usually doesn't happen to our PK when we're on top of our game," Montgomery added.

This was the third straight defeat for the Bruins (3-4-1), who are seventh in the Atlantic Division with seven points in eight games.

How Dallas Stars downed Boston Bruins

On Thursday, the Boston Bruins hosted the Dallas Stars at TD Garden, where the Stars secured a convincing 5-2 victory, marking their sixth win of the season.

David Pastrnak opened the scoring for the Bruins, putting them ahead 1-0 at 11:57 of the first period. The Stars quickly responded with Matt Duchene's equalizer at 16:20. Jason Robertson then gave the visitors a 2-1 lead just 31 seconds into the second period.

Logan Stankoven increased the Stars' advantage to 3-1 with a power-play goal, and Tyler Seguin followed up with another goal at 8:59, extending the lead to 4-1. The Bruins fought back, with Justin Brazeau scoring on the powerplay at 10:41 to narrow the gap to 4-2.

However, Roope Hintz's goal with less than three minutes left sealed the win for the Stars on the road.

The Bruins face the Toronto Maple Leafs next on Saturday. The puck drops at 7:00 p.m. ET. Meanwhile, the Stars host the Chicago Blackhawks at American Airlines Center the same day.