Last night was the final game of the Boston Bruins regular season. A retiring Rene Rancourt sang the anthem for the last time in a regular season then came out to center ice to perform the ceremonial puck drop with Zdeno Chara and Milton-born Keith Yandle.
Oof! That game last night was not a pretty or great way to end the season. Even though they had nothing to play for other than pride, the Florida Panthers chipped away at the Bruins all night, once allowing them within one and then taking that away, winning 4-2.
So, that means that the Bruins finish in second in the Atlantic and take on the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs starting on Thursday at 7pm.
I think the boys could use a little time to rest and regroup. Rick and Riley Nash, aka Two Nashty, will be back in the lineup by then, stabilizing the second and third lines. Bruce Cassidy is going to have to figure out which defensive pairings will be most effective, whether Nick Holden or Adam McQuaid is better suited to play. With Rick Nash drawing back in after recovering from his concussion, one forward will have to sit along with Brian Gionta and Tommy Wingels. My bet is that it’s Sean Kuraly, who is back skating after his own head injury.
Who do you sit on defense and on offense?
Great time on the water today! Tariffville provides!!
Who to sit? Really tough choices! It seems like Heinen has regained his touch lately. I feel like he should stay third line. Donato to Krejci’s line, Debrusk to fourth line. Zone entry is not a problem for DeBrusk!
My Mac not only likes to correct things poorly, it also has decided that the letter between f and h no longer exists so I have to purposely type in a wrong letter to trigger a correction to put that letter in. Fun!
If it was the H had gone missing I’d say you’d been hacked by the Russians!
(No H in Russian alphabet)
a a !
I wonder if this is VA or a Russian bot talking to us.
Well, that’s super annoying.
I should et it checked out but I have a lot of stuff to do on it. Maybe if I can finish some things done tonight, I can have it checked tomorrow
Hey hockey pals!
That’s brilliant that you saw that in the bar!
Quick recovery to Mama M
Yikes! The alternative and the surgery both give me the willies! Hope it all goes easy for Mamma Mahoney!
BTW, Bracket Challenge is up and running, as opposed to last year’s nightmare. Right now I am having a problem between my head and my heart.
The head and the heart must work together
or Rotwang will build more evil robots
I’m so glad you found this because I was totally having visions of Metropolis in my head while struggling with it.
BTW, the system is so much easier this year! Mine is done and submitted.
Morning all. Still pretty damn impressive what the Bruins did this season. Bring on the post season!
good morning peeples,
I wanted to throw out this reminder that we have a couple of NHL Bracket Challenges that you can join to predict the Stanley Cup winner.
We have the the B2B one that Stripes made and the one for Bearly on Topic, if you feel so inclined. I believe you have to have your bracket set by 7pm Thursday, so check all that out today.
Yep, mine is in.
I hope that Pens-Flyers series is going to be a repeat of a few years ago. Might need a couple of extra refs! Hahah!
We can throw Stripes in there, right? Maybe he could get us a result we want.
I’ll be waiting until everyone is dead before I start breaking up fights!
That was my favorite series. This one might be a little less fun without Jagr, Bryzgalov and all that 24/7 coverage, but I can’t wait.
Done!
Excellent!
Hi folks,
I planned to watch the game this morning, but accidentally saw the score so that saved me a couple of hours! My hunch that Florida might roll over rather than do Tampa a favour proved as unfounded as my hunches usually are.
It’s a shame they couldn’t finish the season strongly but that schedule was brutal towards the end. What’ve they got now? Three? Four days off? That’ll feel like a much-needed holiday. They can recupe and regroup, all good.
Tampa and the Leafs also lost two of their last four games. Really UI’ve got no expectations for the playoffs. There’s a chance they could go all the way. There’s a chance they could fall in round one. How do you guys see it?
Who are you skating on the fourth line then? Heinen? Donato? It’s tough one. I’m a fan of Kuraly and of that 50s/Ska* line (delete as appropriate). But I wouldn’t want to sit Heinen or Donato in their current form either. A good problem to have!
Personally, I love Kuraly on that SKA line but we might have to find a spot for either Donato and Heinen. I guess Donato could have Heinen’s spot on the third line, or Donato could sit. I’m not sure I want Donato to sit though. And Heinen hasn’t been real offensively but he also hasn’t had his regular line with which he has great chemistry for more than a month. Kuraly, still recovering from the concussion, might be able to use the time to sit.
This is a good problem to have but it’s still a tough decision.
So I have a number of thoughts about the playoffs and am probably going to reply 40 times because I will keep remembering new points I’d like to make.
1. They played like 500 games in March and they haven’t had three consecutive days off since February, I believe. A few days’ rest should do them some good.
2. Missing a top six forward and a super versatile top nine forward definitely hasn’t helped the last few games.
2a. Riley Nash has been everything this team has needed, when they’ve needed it. Having him out has been hard. He can play anywhere in the lineup.
3. Kuraly coming back from injury and us not knowing what to do with him is a great problem to have. The fourth line is very, very good, but I think if you have the choice between Heinen and Kuraly, you pick Heinen 9 out of 10 times.
4. I would say Heinen on the fourth line, Donato on the third, Nash on the 2nd.
5. I’m really pissed at them for last night but like I said, the matchups could go a number of ways.
6. I was looking at teams’ records against each other while doing my bracket and I just don’t know.
7. Not sure about Vegas. Being a team of inexperienced whatevers up against a team that has gone deep in the playoffs and won it all a couple times is tough. They’ve been good all year and could get pretty far… or they could fall on their faces.
8. TB vs NJD – Devils are 3-0 against TB this year. Weird, huh?
9. PIT-PHI – Pens won the season series 3-0, I believe, but this rivalry is fierce and hilarious, so I truly believe it goes seven games. Pit probably wins but I’m pulling for big orange. How can you not like Claude Giroux?
Disagree strongly. Kuraly is a zone entry machine – something the Bruins have been inconsistent at during his recent absence. SKA line has chemistry. While he may be a ‘better player’ with more upside than Kuraly, Heinen has limited chemistry with anyone except Backes, and outside of a few games has shown a lack of finish.
The gap between the two – as they stand today – is not so great that it would be worth throwing away the benefits of a role player that fits so well with what the 4th line needs to do.
I don’t know. Limited chemistry, but with how much playing time? I mean, how much has he played with Schaller and Acciari? Sometimes you have to go best player available. That said, I’m not against moving someone else to the fourth line and leaving Heinen on the third. But who?
As I see it – and I might be getting all narrative-y here – is that the fourth line has a specific job to do. Not score goals (though if they do, great) but to keep the status quo, run the clock and get on the opposition’s nerves.
SKA do that brilliantly. Wingels and Gionta have done a decent job of it, filling in, but I’m not convinced Heinen is that kind of player.
I’ve got a lot of time for Heinen, though, and I’d be happy for him to prove me wrong!
Yeah, I get you – but I think Heinen is very capable of that, and since he’s a more talented player in general, I think he’s be a good fit there (better on the third line but you can’t win ’em all). Why not toss a scorer in the fold if hr’d one who isn’t going to get beat up in the process. Heinen on the fourth line is a lot different from Spooner on the fourth line.
Hey Pals!
Bruins need three third periods every night!
Heading out to Tariffville gorge….. fun fun, fun!!!