Pick any and all synonyms for “anguished” and the Bruins brain trust was still feeling it on Tuesday, more than a week after the record-setting team was shockingly bounced from the playoffs in the first.

But in speaking to reporters at the Legends club in the Garden for the first time since that fateful Sunday night, it was clear that the harshest and most unenviable spotlight was on coach Jim Montgomery. At one point, CEO Charlie Jacobs praised the job of his management team – president Cam Neely and GM Don Sweeney – for the job they did in putting together the 65-win team, but the kudos did not extend to the coach. Maybe that was an oversight, but it felt telling.

Whether or not that puts Montgomery on the hot seat as soon as training camp opens in September with a roster to be named later, the coach willingly dove into the white heat that was waiting for him.

First up was his decision to stick with goalie Linus Ullmark until Game 7. Sweeney — who made a point of saying the failure was a collective effort — said that whatever physical issue was bothering the netminder, the management and coaching staff received daily medical reports on Ullmark and they were comfortable with letting him play, from a physical standpoint.

But regardless if he was physically capable of playing, Ullmark clearly was not playing at the Vezina-caliber level that he’d played at during the regular season. Was there regret in not going with Jeremy Swayman before he did?

“In hindsight, absolutely,” said Montgomery. “There’s an added mental grind in the playoffs and it takes a toll.. That’s what I learned through this grind. The expectations that were put on our team going into the playoffs, there’s a price you pay. Everyone does. And I think we are going to learn from this, everybody, players, especially me, I’m going to learn and I’m going to have to help the players push through, which I didn’t do this year.”

Throughout the year when both Ullmark and Swayman were on their way to winning the Jennings Trophy as the best goalie tandem, Montgomery was willing to give goalie coach Bob Essensa the credit for picking his goalie on a nightly basis. But he made it clear on Tuesday that, though the decision is made collectively, the buck stops with him.

“I make the final decision. I’m the one that picks the starter,” said Montgomery. “It’s not Goalie Bob’s decision, but I really rely on him heavily…We discuss this as a staff. I will talk in the playoffs even more with Sweens and Cam (Neely). And in the end, he wins Games 3 and 4, so you have two days off, you think Game 5’s going to go well. I personally spoke with Linus and he answered me a real honest question and took ownership of where he was at in Game 5. And what he relayed to me made me believe that you learn and 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.”

Montgomery took both a micro and macro overview of what he perceived as his failures.

“Specifically, in hindsight you can go back and look at everything,” said Montgomery. “But the two things that came to mind are, I’ve already talked about the toll on the goaltenders and going to Sway a little earlier. What game that is, that’s debatable and that’s hindsight. Not starting with my normal lines for Game 5. I have my logic with why it made sense, but it didn’t help us with our start, obviously. So that I learned from. And I think I could have switched the D pairings on who the matchups were with a little bit quicker. We were shutting down one line really well, we weren’t shutting down another line really well. We did for two games, but we didn’t for five. Those are things that really stick with me. But the number one thing is my job is to get players to elevate their games and I didn’t do that.”

While he may have regretted letting Ullmark talk his way into Game 6, he did not question his decision to let captain Patrice Bergeron, who had suffered a herniated disc in his back in the final regular season game, return to the lineup when he was medically cleared for Game 5. And he said Bergeron,who wound up struggling in the three games he played, didn’t give him much wiggle room.

“After Game 3 I called Patrice. We were in Florida and I said ‘I know you’re doing better. I’ve seen the video of your rehab skates. If we won Game 4, is it prudent for us to give you more time?’ He said, ‘What do you mean? And I said, ‘Do we not play you in Game 5.’ He said ‘Monty, I’m playing Game 5.,’” said Montgomery. “That was enough for me. You don’t keep Hall of Fame players out of the lineup.”….

Whether the Bruins learn from this catastrophic loss or not, it’s clear some of the players will be taking those lessons elsewhere. Sweeney said he’s got no timetable for which he needs to hear Bergeron’s or David Krejci’s plans, adding he’ll operate with contingencies in mind like he did last summer. But with overages and incoming salaries, the B’s have just about $5 million under the cap. That’s without Bergeron and Krejci or RFAs Swayman and Trent Frederic under contract.

Cap flexibility will be perhaps Sweeney’s No. 1 job this offseason, which means some players with considerable salaries will have to go.

“Our goal for this season was to put the absolute best roster together and try to take a real legitimate run. And we failed. No question. So we have to pay that forward a little bit,” said Sweeney. “That might mean we’re instituting younger players, that might mean roster changes we’d like to make. That might mean we’d like to sign (the three deadline acquisitions) or other unrestricted players. We have to address the two RFAs and Frederic and Swayman, which we will do. And roster changes are likely coming. We’re not going to be the same team. But our mandate internally is we have a really strong core of guys that hopefully will continue to grow, will take leadership responsibilities moving forward regardless of whether Patrice and David walk back through the door. Because they need to.”

Said Neely: “I think we can still be a competitive team, but there’s a lot of work to do this summer.”…

Jacobs was asked what his father Jeremy, the Chairman of the NHL Board of Governors, thought of the painful loss.

“Like all of us fans, he wants answers. He wants to understand ‘How could this possibly transpire?’ I feel, personally, the same way. I feel incredibly disappointed. We, in that regard, feel the same way,” said Jacobs. “On many levels, I feel accountable for the fan base here and responsibility to deliver the best club that we can for the people of Boston and New England. I do feel like our management pushed all the right buttons this year to deliver the best possible team we could for our fans.”…

Sweeney said that he’s got no impending decisions on his assistant coaches, it is still to be determined on whether they all return.