Post-Game Talk: Game 68: Marchand wins it on OT - BRUINS 1 Lightning 0 F/OT

[Hali33]

May not have agreed with the direction they went at the deadline but this team has done all the right things since.

There's no question in my mind that the moves have helped shore up the line up a bit. Credit to Sweeney for having a good eye for who would fit.

Love seeing them take points where on paper perhaps they shouldn't have and hanging with playoff teams again.

To have the off season we had and then be talking about 1st/2nd in the division at this point in the season is pretty unreal. Hope they can keep away from the Caps match up and keep it going in the playoffs.

 

[jdz]

What turn of events? The defense is still atrocious. Gustavsson made 42 saves. Last game Rask made 47. We're allowing an unbelievable amount of shots.

The offense is carrying this team.

You omitted the Calgary, Chicago and Washington games where we either held the oppo to under 30 shots or outshot them. You also haven't differentiated SOGs with charts or actual quality scoring chances.

I don't disagree that the offense carries this team, but the Bruins under Julien have been a team defense including the forwards. There has been a shift in philosophy this year aswell as a reduction in personnel on the back end that sometimes means we allow a lot of shots from the points and the outside because our forwards are deeper in the neutral zone than previous years.

Also I far prefer the offensive emphasis of this year over the defensive emphasis of last year.

 

[RedeyeRocketeer]

Watched the 3rd period and OT this morning. I don't think the Bruins can keep playing this style of hockey and have long term success. I'm excited it's working now, but I'm sure Claude knows he's got to fix this. They're playing similarly to how the Habs would piss us off in the playoffs. Get completely beat in possession and shot counts, and then rope-a-dope to a victory when the other team makes a single untimely mistake. Don't get me wrong I'm excited about the wins. But its really weird seeing teams run a train on us possession wise, specially 4 lines deep.

On the plus side the PK is finally back to really being legit. And thank goodness for that.

 

[Spooner st]

Interesting stat o NBC Sports showed Marchand and Bergeron's 62 combined goals ties Pat Kane and Panarin, and is only two behind league-leading Seguin and Benn.

Also sensing a tad more respect from the national broadcasts for the B's, especially Marchand and Bergeron, but also including Julien and Sweeney.

Total Balls washing session last night on TVA Sports for the Bruins , It almost felt uncomfortable. ..Almost.

 

[jdz]

Watched the 3rd period and OT this morning. I don't think the Bruins can keep playing this style of hockey and have long term success. I'm excited it's working now, but I'm sure Claude knows he's got to fix this. They're playing similarly to how the Habs would piss us off in the playoffs. Get completely beat in possession and shot counts, and then rope-a-dope to a victory when the other team makes a single untimely mistake. Don't get me wrong I'm excited about the wins. But its really weird seeing teams run a train on us possession wise, specially 4 lines deep.

On the plus side the PK is finally back to really being legit. And thank goodness for that.

• 19th in the league for GA/GP - not great
• 3rd in the league for GF/GP - Amazing
• 9th for PP% - Slumping at the moment but still pretty good overall
• 9th in PK% - Pretty good
• 3rd in the league for Shots/GP - terrific
• 25th for Shots against/GP - Bad but the past 2 games have probably dropped us about five spots
• 13th for FOW% - Pretty good
• 7th in League for 5 on 5 shooting+save percentage - Very good
• Corsi and Fenwick Differential are middle of the road to lower rung but not as bad as some here will state.

 

[BruinLVGA]

What turn of events? The defense is still atrocious. Gustavsson made 42 saves. Last game Rask made 47. We're allowing an unbelievable amount of shots.

The offense is carrying this team.

Vs Chicago: 27 shots
Vs Capitals: 30 shots (we had 34)

The only brain fart was vs Florida, where after a dominating 4-1 period, they probably thought it was in the bag already. Big mistake. The Panthers played like... lions and the Bruins couldn't just readjust. I hope we learned a lesson.

Last night... Lots of shots against, but the quality of chances was overall low (we had the best chances)... Then, when one considers 4 PP to none in favor of the Lightning (it is outrageous how they didn't whistle even one lousy penalty against Tampa. They were allowed carte blanche, pretty much), all of a sudden those 42 shots don't mean that much.

 

[xgallantx]

IN the end we all can agree that the team is 1 solid Dman short. We aren't great in our own end but we minimize quality scoring chances, while still giving up a ton of shots on many nights. I like this team for what it is. And as someone mentioned earlier, after our offseason, who could've predicted we'd be battling for a division title...

 

[whatsbruin]

When you don't have puck possession its hard to draw PP's ,

Unfortunately that was not the case. There were several times TB should have been
called for a penalty but were not, plain and simple. Honestly do not know what TB
would have had to had done to get a penalty.

 

[whatsbruin]

If you asked anyone to predict the points takeaway I don't think anyone would have said 7 of 8. I think most would have even said 4 would be a good result but 2/3 the most likely.

Bruins just played good hockey against 4 top teams in the league and came away with three wins and a loser point.

Gus was outstanding tonight.

I really like Liles. He isn't an elite player but he's steady and seems to be pretty smart with the puck. Sweeney did pretty good at the deadline and frankly he improved the team with out burning too many assets so I'm happy.

Marchand has been amazing this season and he and Bergy are a force and Stemp seems to be a huge upgrade.

Julien is having a good run right now. I'm pretty happy with this result. Team isn't great but right now they are playing some of the best hockey they e played all season.

In the thread about how many wins the B's need to make the playoffs, I had the B's loosing to Chi, Was, and TB and beating Fl. Shows what I know.

 

[whatsbruin]

​

Just before OT, Bishop went down their bench and was saying something to
all the players. The announcer, sounded like Brian Engblom, was saying Bishop
was telling all the players not to worry, he's got this. Then drop of the puck and
bam.

 

[Artemis]

Unfortunately that was not the case. There were several times TB should have been
called for a penalty but were not, plain and simple. Honestly do not know what TB
would have had to had done to get a penalty.

True. Pastrnak at one point was hooked so hard he looked like a top.

 

[indy]

Unfortunately that was not the case. There were several times TB should have been
called for a penalty but were not, plain and simple. Honestly do not know what TB
would have had to had done to get a penalty.

That is not good game management by the umps. Too obvious.

 

[Blowfish]

This team usually puts forth a great effort, & definitely make mistakes on their own zone, but 7 other teams in the east may prefer to play someone else rather the Bruins in the 1st round if we get there.

3 power plays to none

 

[Walkenthewalk]

Unfortunately that was not the case. There were several times TB should have been
called for a penalty but were not, plain and simple. Honestly do not know what TB
would have had to had done to get a penalty.

I have no problem with how last night's game was called. It reminded of how the games used to be called 30-40 years ago, very seldom were cheapo penalties called in the 3rd period. The refs put the whistles away for the final 20 and let the players decide the game on the ice and whichever team battled harder was usually rewarded. Isn't that what the fans want to see?

That said, the Bruins not getting a PP was more a product of the team's dump and chase game plan and terrible possession time than any sort of bias.

 

[Mione134]

If we can just stablize the d..we can make some noise. I think we're trending up in that department. Still allowing a lot of shots, but improving. Becoming more aggressive too. Work harder on that front and this team has a real good shot.


Onwards and upwards.

 

[BostonPC]

IN the end we all can agree that the team is 1 solid Dman short. We aren't great in our own end but we minimize quality scoring chances, while still giving up a ton of shots on many nights. I like this team for what it is. And as someone mentioned earlier, after our offseason, who could've predicted we'd be battling for a division title...

I agree. I have no issue with the offense on this team except I would like to see a little better shot selection but I believe that comes with confidence.

JML has really helped our defense and transition. I still would like to have another shut down type defenseman but I suppose you can't have everything. The bottom line so far is that they are playing through their toughest schedule and only left 1 point on the table. More than I could have asked for.

 

[Bruinfan5470]

Unfortunately that was not the case. There were several times TB should have been
called for a penalty but were not, plain and simple. Honestly do not know what TB
would have had to had done to get a penalty.

The worst thing about that scenario it is Tampa thinks they can do anything they want, while Boston is back on their heels, and not wanting to commit anymore penalties, it can really change how a team plays their game. It handcuffs them, they feel that whatever they do they will get penalized, while Tampa feels that they can do no wrong, I hate that, it sucks!
But like a boxer who has his back against the ropes, he can only hope to get that one shot or two, in to knock the opponent out, that is what the Bruins had to do and they did it!

 

[CashMash]

Didn't catch this game unfortunately, but Goose's numbers against Tampa must look really astonishing now. They looked great before and he went out and got a shutout.

I underestimated the impact our deadline players would have on this team, the boys are looking like they could do some damage in the playoffs if it continues like this. *knock on wood*

 

[Fossy21]

Unfortunately that was not the case. There were several times TB should have been
called for a penalty but were not, plain and simple. Honestly do not know what TB
would have had to had done to get a penalty.

Not to mention we've dominated possession in this league for close to a decade. Still been near the bottom of PP opportunities just about every year. Everyone says it's about speed (which it shouldn't be, why should you reward a team for sucking and then having a quick player steal the puck and fall down for an automatic call, when a team that has possession for minutes on end getting slashed and hooked and interfered with constantly don't deserve squat?), but that doesn't seem to be the case entirely either.

A combination of the two probably help, but just "not having possession" can't be the problem if we're looking at recent team history. And just not having speed can't be it considering very recent team history (we've had breakaways and odd man rushes either blatanty prevented or interfered with more than half a dozen times just the last two games with not a single call).

Edit: It's also difficult to keep possession when opposing D can do whatever the heck they want to get the puck back without risking a PK.

 

[BMC]

Classic Goose!!!

 

[BMC]

friends i am stunned with this turn of events considering the defense.

You are not alone.

 

[BlackCrowes]

Just before OT, Bishop went down their bench and was saying something to
all the players. The announcer, sounded like Brian Engblom, was saying Bishop
was telling all the players not to worry, he's got this. Then drop of the puck and
bam.

That's hilarious. "Hey boys... watch THIS!!!"

GOAL!!!

"Watch what?!?!?"

 

[BMC]

I find it eerie that we talked a lot about Game 7 vs TB in yesterday's GDT, then the teams played a game similar to that one except for the penalties & OT. Both goaltenders were outstanding, a lot of great up & down the ice movement, and a 1-0 victory for the Bruins.

Eerie.

 

[mattbnh]

The 3 Tampa players on the ice at the start of OT must have paid more attention to Bishop than to the three Bruins on the ice.

 

[indy]

I find it eerie that we talked a lot about Game 7 vs TB in yesterday's GDT, then the teams played a game similar to that one except for the penalties & OT. Both goaltenders were outstanding, a lot of great up & down the ice movement, and a 1-0 victory for the Bruins.

Eerie.

I was thinking the exact same thing last night.