BOSTON — Since he was elevated to interim head coach of the Bruins after Jim Montgomery was fired on Tuesday, Joe Sacco has tried to avoid making himself the center of attention.
Some of it has been respect for Montgomery, who he not only respected but genuinely liked. Some of it was the need to keep the team — his team now — focused on getting better and digging themselves out of their 20-game hole.
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So he was a little subdued in his postgame press conference after his first win as the Bruins head coach. But it clearly meant something to him.
“It feels pretty good. I’m not going to lie to you,” he said. “To get our guys to get a win is even more important to feel better about themselves. How we went about the game tonight was a business-like approach. … A good all-around effort from our group tonight. We were looking for that. We were looking for the passion and the emotion from our club and we saw some of that tonight.”
The 55-year-old Medford native changed his gameday routine from when he was an assistant coach. He stayed at Warrior Arena after morning skate rather than going home before the game.
“I was just able to relax and kind of get my thoughts together,” he said. “I wanted to try to enjoy the day too because I knew this was the first one. I wanted to make sure I remembered it.”
Sacco is officially the interim head coach. Sometimes that means being the temporary guy while the team searches for a more permanent replacement. In Sacco’s case, it means he gets an audition, likely for the rest of the year. There’s no search going on. The Bruins are giving him a real chance to prove he should get the gig.
Sacco started that tryout with simple adjustments. He kept lines similar to the ones Montgomery utilized on Monday against Columbus, but instructed the group to shoot more rather than stress puck possession.
It’s become almost a hockey cliché that a team will play better or at least harder after their coach was fired. But the Bruins did exactly that. They outshot Utah, 31-21, and held on for a 1-0 win.
“It’s a good confidence thing knowing we can play the right way and it is in here,” Brad Marchand said. “You still hate the situation that had to arise for us to respond that way. … It was great for Joe to get his first win as a coach of this team. Very happy for him. He’s an incredible coach and a great guy. Definitely a nice night.”
It had been more than 11½ years since Sacco’s last win, which coincidentally came over the same franchise back when the Utah Hockey Club was still the Phoenix Coyotes. Matt Duchesne’s penalty shot goal gave the Avalanche a 5-4 shootout win in Glendale on April 26, 2013. Two days later Sacco was fired after four years leading Colorado.
Before Tuesday, Sacco had been a Bruins assistant for the last 10 years under Claude Julien, Bruce Cassidy and Montgomery and had hoped to someday get another shot as a head coach. That shot came on Thursday. Marchand marked the moment in the postgame.
Addressing the team, the Bruins captain first acknowledged goalie Joonas Korpisalo, who earned a shutout, but gave the game puck to his coach.
“Kopri, unbelievable game, but you only get your first win as the head coach of the Boston Bruins once,” Marchand said. He presented Sacco with the puck and a one-arm hug as the locker room cheered.
“Let’s go,” Sacco said. “Many more.”
He appreciated the response.
“The locker room had a good vibe. It was alive,” he said. “They guys did a good job tonight. We still have to continue to get better. But it was a good start.”
Follow MassLive sports columnist Matt Vautour on Twitter at @MattVautour424.
