A fully stocked Bruins roster (seriously, everyone’s back from injury) took on an injury-depleted Red Wings team at the Garden last night. Yes, this was the first time the Bruins are injury-free™ for the season. Both Millers returned to game action; Kevan has been out since he was concussed in the game against the Flyers January 14th; Colin Miller suffered a knee injury against the Blues on January 10th.
First:
Kevan Miller started off the scoring under 4 minutes into the period. Yes, Kevan not Colin. It was his first of the season and his first in 42 games.
Welcome back Kevan Miller 👊🏻 #YSMSExclusive pic.twitter.com/SHyVF1ef5B
— Your Sports Store (@yoursportsstore) January 25, 2017
Of course, Detroit has to ruin things. Andreas Athanasiou scored on a breakaway. It was the first SOG by the Wings.
The Red Wings just scored on their first shot on goal, a breakaway by Athanasiou.
— Amalie Benjamin (@AmalieBenjamin) January 25, 2017
Leave it to Brad to save the day. After Detroit’s Jonathan Ericsson took a penalty for playing the puck with a broken stick (it was going to be a breakaway), the Bruins found themselves on the power play. Spooner was instrumental in moving the puck around and Brad Marchand scored. His mom was proud because that moms trip is still a thing that’s happening.
MAMA MARCHAND LOVES IT pic.twitter.com/Fw7w86U6Kq
— Marina Molnar (@mkmolnar) January 25, 2017
Bruins lead 2-1.
Second:
Mike Green scores for the Wings at 6:25.
Kevan Miller giveth. And Kevan Miller taketh away.
— Ryan Johnston (@Johnston985) January 25, 2017
It’s getting worse. Brandon Carlo is confronted with a situation plays it wrong and Tuukka lets a soft one in from Tomas Tatar.
Red Wings lead 3-2.
Third:
Brad ties it up with his second goal of the night at 8:20. Detroit challenges it on goaltender interference. They lose their timeout. Game is tied, 3-3.
No other scores but plenty of scary moments during the remainder of the period.
OT:
For the most part the Bruins deployed only two defensemen during the 3-on-3, Krug and Carlo, while using 3 different sets of forwards (Krejci and Pasta, Brad and Bergy, Nash and Spooner). Spooner made a key poke in the defensive zone to prevent a goal. At 4:13 David Pastrnak nets one for the first time in 18 games and it’s the OT winner.
Pastrnak OT winner pic.twitter.com/yriFYAURQY
— GIF Grand Maester (@myregularface) January 25, 2017
Tuukka: thank you for not making me go to a shootout pic.twitter.com/24yoK8Cy7H
— GIF Grand Maester (@myregularface) January 25, 2017
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I didn’t take much notice of the trip at the time.
Stupid pointless play from him and frankly he deserves a suspension for it if only because it was SO unnecessary
I admit the win last night was much needed and makes me feel temporarily happy, more than it should. That doesn’t mean I’m optimistic about this team and their chances.
It was very encouraging that they had a +1 goal difference in the third, which is when they’ve run out of gas in recent games.
But, yeah, the Wings aren’t a good team, especially without Vanek and Larkin
My rec team still lost.
I’m devastated.
Fire the coach!
So, Shattenkirk. 27 years old. $5.2 million. No idea what’s left on his contract. And, I think everyone would like to get out of St Louis right now. If you add him, can this team make any kind of playoff run?
Plus, I don’t think the Bruins are just “one guy away.” I’d rather us hold on to what cap room we have and continue to develop our talent pool. Lots of awesome stuff happening prospect-wise.
Last year of a 4yr, 17M deal. His price will be enormous given his relatively low cost and pending FA status.
Thanks, good info. I agree good things are happening and the future looks bright. Looking forward to seeing some of the prospects – and I don’t want to see them tearing it up in another uniform.
I’d have to assume that a big prospect would go back for that sort of trade. With Shatty being a righty, the Bruins could also possibly send Killer or Quaider back. A right side of Carlo/Shattenkirk/McAvoy would be devastating.
If the Bruins take him, they have to sign him, or they are just wasting the assets they trade away for him. And signing him will mean $$$. It would be also key to move a contract out (real or pending) as part of the transaction so they don’t have to immediately dump another player for cap reasons.
Dont forget expansion. If we signed him, how would that effect our expected potential protected players list?
Thinking about cap space – isn’t Pasta’s contract up for renewal this offseason?
How much do you reckon we need to offer him?
I once said he would get a Tarasenko contract, but I don’t see the AAV being that high now.
He’ll be UFA at the end of the year. His cap hit is also only 4.25
I’d love to see us pick him up, but the cost is scary to think of.
Good morning, friends. That Pasta OT winner made me all marinara inside. Just saucy.
Glad they pulled that off in the end; it looked like it might slip away.
Well waking up and seeing that the Bruins won is certainly a better way to wake up in the morning. KEEP DOING THAT!
That Pasta goal was a beauty. Just hung out in space and blasted it. Confused how that one was reviewed when Detroit had already used their challenge… didn’t think there were any automatic reviews like in NFL.
Yup, automatic in O/T. Not sure about the last two minutes.
Interesting. Makes some sense, though if it becomes automatic then the challenge should be removed from the coaches, similar to how the NFL handles the final two minutes of games.
Good Morning, friends!
A good win! Coming from behind at home, where they have trouble getting it done.
Has Beleskey injected some energy? Maybe.
IMO, they didn’t play that much better, but they forced a momentum change their way at the right time. It’s been the opponent doing that during the slide. Probably not much has changed and they will continue to drive us Krejci!
Had a cuppa joe, switching to tea now. Trying to move away from coffee. Trouble is, no other hot morning drink compares to coffee.
And not one of those teams is Toronto. What bizzaro world do we live in!?
Toronto is a team I’m keeping an eye on. They might actually be getting their shit together.
I’m predicting Toronto will COMFORTABLY make the playoffs by finishing second in the Atlantic, having finished last of all last year.
And given how accurate my predictions usually are, that should have safely doomed them to non-playoffdom …
Jinxing a team in that way only works if you truly believe that they will make the playoffs.
Great, now you have a whole city mad at you!
And not one of those teams is Toronto
WEIRD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Morning everyone
– I thought the Bs comfortably outplayed them most of the game. As a non-player, I deemed Miller’s deflection past Tuukka as “unlucky”, but I’m happy to be argued down on that one by those who know better.
– Agreed, totally
– That’s just a ridiculous way to run a business
– Is it Mr Plow or the Plow King?
– eight minutes to go
Statistically speaking, the Bruins have done that all season. Their CF% leads the league at 55.6%. (Second place (LAK) comes in 1.3% behind at 54.3%.) So, they’re comfortably domination possession most of the time. But they come in second-to-last in PDO (aka “puck luck”), mostly courtesy of a worst-in-the-league shooting percentage. If their luck can turn around & their shots start going in at a more “normal” rate, they should start kicking some serious ass.
I have to wonder how much of their CF lead is thanks to poor quality shots. I know it’s an analytics bugaboo but there is some validity to it… taking lots of bad shots vs taking fewer but better shots. Not saying it’s entirely to blame, just wondering if it plays a role in their apparent dominance.
Would explain both high CF and low shot percentage…
To take shots – even bad ones – you’ve got to have possession. And to take as many shot as the Bruins have this season, you’ve got to have a lot of possession.
This is true, but that doesn’t change the question of shot quality and therefore time of possession. A shot from the point counts the same as a shot from the slot/crease despite the latter typically being more dangerous and requiring more possession.
I’d be curious to compare a heat chart for their shots compared to what they allow or what another comparable team puts up
In (eye-test) time of possession, the Bs have totally dominated this season, so I think the CF numbers are legit. And their shots are going on net, but they are often not getting second chances. Every time I read a Ryan Lambert article, he mentions how the Bs should be doing well because of their xGF – which is derived from the heat maps – so I think it’s gotta be something deeper.
My observation is this: when they crowd the net/slot they get the chance to toss in a puck when the opponents are still recovering from the previous shot, and they get points (duh). When they don’t (which is more often than not) they bounce a lot of shots off a Goalie who is ready for them. I think it hurts their PDO, but it isn’t ‘puck luck’, it’s a weakness of their offensive zone strategy. They need snipers to make it work that way, and that’s not really how the team is built.
It also hurts Tuukka – he has always been a guy who doesn’t find his stride until he takes a few shots. If the first few shots he takes are dangerous ones, he’s prone to letting one in early. Since the skaters spend much of the 1st period on the other side of the rink, he doesn’t get into his groove.
Kinda like last night, giving up a goal on their first shot midway through the period after Boston already had 10-12 shots.
You could well be right, I’m just spitballing here really. Trying to justify the disparity between CF and shot percentage.
This is a good point. If the Bruins have an early “bend but don’t break” type situation and Rask has 4-5 saves before the 5 minute mark he’s generally pretty sharp the entire game, but if you get into the 8-10 minute range and he’s only got 1 or 2 saves, he doesn’t play nearly as well.
I thought about that, but do you think they take a lot of bad shots?
Some of the D men have an annoying tendency to take shots that have no chance of making it to the goalie, which would contribute to the CF. Chara’s shots very rarely don’t make it all the way to the goalie or the back boards – the others should be a bit more selective with their shots.
I think a big part of that PDO number is that they take a lot of shots, and a lot of those shots generate rebounds but we are very bad at tucking them away.
It was great to see two of yesterday’s goals come from second- or third-chance opportunities after a shot which they haven’t been doing enough of.
Hopefully they can start doing that against better teams.
I should have scrolled down to see ^^this^^ … this is exactly the sort of thing I’m thinking about above.
Look on the bright side… at least the plow guy didn’t come anyways for the inch of snow and waste your money!
True.
Carlo and Krug are the only D with the speed AND defensive ability (Colin MIller [I”m a Chiller fan, but a bit of work still to do there, eh?]) to play 3 on 3.
I haven’t even shoveled yet. It’s so low (and frozen to the pavement) that I’m just hoping it will melt.
Quality: where you’re either not fast enough or not accurate enough. Can’t please anyone.
Quality does get the absolute shaft, they are over worked & understaffed to the extreme, but if you’re an extension for production, production is part of your requirements. Why does everyone in that department work on a different schedule than production. We’re 7:00 – 3:30 while they’re 8:30 – 5:00?
Morning, pals!
Technically Stripes is still in play in the pool. He said the 27th, I forgot what time. This team has to play the Penguins tomorrow night, so, as log as the team plays well, there’s no bloodbath afterward.
Morning!
Settling into the new building should help you feel more together. That’s a YUGE upheaval in your life. It would make me feel so lost.
Beat the Pens and then fire Claude? That would be crazy! (I have Claude fired on the 27th at 11 am, I think.)
I think they should pay the price and go after Shattenkirk. It’s a great fit. I’m ready to part with Spoons in a Shattenkirk deal.Who else would go, I have no idea. Picks are fine. Carlo is untouchable, if I were King of the Forest, I mean GM. Who else?
You’ve got to give value to get value.
I’d assume that Spooner is on the short list — he’s undervalued here, going into a contract year, and unless you’re getting rid of Claude, the coach doesn’t fully trust him.
But that means you’re selling low on him, and he’s the ~#6 forward anyway. And that assumes they even want Spooner.
So you’ll need to add a decent piece or two – one of the D prospects not named Carlo or McAvoy, maybe a pick as well.
But at what cost? The Blues are going to want scoring: Pasta / Vatrano + top prospect & pick or defense: Carlo + top prospect & pick. No thank you.
This could send a bunch of people reaching for their torches & pitchforks, but what about Krejci? He hasn’t exactly been lighting it up for us lately, but he’s got history as a scorer & St. Louis might be willing to take a chance on that whole “change of scenery” thing…
But does Krecji waive his NMC for St. Louis?
I forgot about the NMC. DAMN YOU, CHIA!!!
I mean he might? St.Louis isn’t a bad team & I doubt they’ll slide into a regression needing rebuilding. Center depth is a problem for them too if I recall.
this to me would be a perfect trade scenario…question is how much $$ of the contract would bruins have to eat to do that if he waives it.
The Blues screwed themselves out of a couple of deals last season because they were asking for way too much. I don’t think I’ll be able to stomach the price the Bruins pay if a deal happens.
But then again, maybe the Bruins core needs a shake-up.