Last night the Bruins did play a game against the Tampa Bay Lightning and it did not go their way with the team losing in regulation. This trip has been brutal.
There is a bright side: Charlie McAvoy made his return after missing all the 20 games. Yeah, he’s been out nearly two months. In his return, he was second in TOI among defenseman with nearly 2 minutes of power play time.
The Bruins Czech contingent did the scoring, starting it off with a Pasta goal and ending with the older Krejci. And for much of the game, it was close. The Lightning didn’t really break out until the third period and only for a pair on top of the game tying goal. However, the Bruins still fell short despite a last minute effort from Brad Marchand.
Oh well. At least the Bruins are heading home to face (looks at notes) the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Ugh.
Dorando tonight?? Meh. Do better.
Hi Pals!
I no post well lately. Computer or me??? Must be computer.
I thought the Bruins looked good – except second half of first and three minutes while IW was in.the loo.
That puck that got away from Carlo…… That happened a bunch to the Bs in the first. I think TB has a n RC puck they are using to beat other teams. The Bruins need this technology!!!
That would put deflate-gate in the shade!
So this interview with two BU players a couple years ago (one is with buffalo now and the other is a wheeling nailer) came up again. I laugh every time. It’s worth five minutes, because Diffley is a friggin weirdo.
https://dailyfreepress.com/blog/2016/10/05/20-questions-brandon-hickey-brien-diffley-bu-hockey/
Morning, hockey pals.
Depth scoring is a need, but I wonder if it’s the system the Bs are playing rather than the players themselves that are the problem.
I saw a comment on Twitter that we’re currently operating with six fourth-liners, and it does seem like maybe there are too many role-players at the moment. guys like Wagner, Acciari, to a lesser extent Kuraly – they’re all doing what they’re supposed to do but none have looked like scoring for a while now. Debrusk has become a bit inconsistent – he’ll be brilliant for a couple of games and then barely noticeable for a couple.
Donato has looked good since his return and Cave has done nothing wrong in the 1C role, but still, no scoring! Why?
Maybe it is the system?
Definitely too many role players, and they aren’t playing well, either. They need to be segregated to one line- I don’t want the other guys catching their stink – and you don’t need all four of Backes, Acciari, Wagner, and Kuraly in the lineup.
Maybe they should give Cehlarik a shot. I don’t know.
Backes, Acciari, Wagner certainly have a lot of redundancy.
Chase the puck into the corner,
make a big hit,
shoot the puck wide of the net.
Lather, rinse, repeat.
Kuraly at least can move the puck. But it’s like a stone-hands parade down there.
I thought the B’s looked ok last night against a really good team. They weathered a scary storm in the first and were competitive for most of the game. It certainly wasn’t a high bar to have them look better than they did vs the fancy cats. But they still have issues.
They got a power play when I was in the bathroom. I don’t even have to go back & watch it to guess that they let a speedy player behind the D as the puck squeaked out of the zone, giving him a free shot on goal, because it happens once or twice every power play.
The secondary scoring? Well, I expect DeBrusk to be streaky – he’s young. Heinen is in over his head on the 2nd line, which would be fine – I expect a young guy to be in a tough spot in that role, but it’s only offset if the other 2 guys are strong and DeBrusk is not strong enough to help Heinen much.
The only guy on the bottom six who has any scoring touch is Nordstrom (and sometimes Donato – but man, Cassidy is always casting a little bit of shade on Donato). You need at least one guy on each line to have some scoring touch. The Backes line was great last night at moving the puck, but they couldn’t even get the puck near the crease.
Cave has been a pleasant surprise, but there is little chemistry there. The big thing (aside from talent) that allowed the 1st line to dominate was the chemistry between 88-37-63.
Absolutely. They are so cohesive, they genuinely play as one unit rather than three parts. Nothing else Cassidy puts on the ice is remotely like that.
Yeah, Nordstrom is another who is doing nothing wrong but not looking dangerous either.
Morning all. Completely forgot there was a game last night. But at least they actually scored goals this time. #loweredexpectations
Hey all.
A shame the boys couldn’t get it done last night but hard to be too bummed when they played about a hundred times better than in Florida. At least some people came to watch the game last night too. What was with that in Florida? There were more people on the benches than in the crowd.
Losing two divisional games in regulation ain’t good. They could really do with getting something out of tonight.
Had our annual family get-together at the big London Christmas market yesterday. It’s the only time we all see each other, so that was nice. Only seems like a few weeks since last year’s meetup!
I’m glad you guys had a good time. You got together on Thursday? Wow!