Post-Game Talk: Bruins 2, Penguins 1 (OT) - And So It Goes

[Coastal Kev]

Wow
This team...it’s reminding me of 2014 season except Sid and Geno are a lot older, our forward depth is even worse and the defense is more overpaid while also being worse....other than that, things are going swimmingly....

CLB is going to pulverize us tomorrow especially without Horny and Rust...I hope they call up a few WBS players...can’t be any worse than what we’re playing now in the bottom 6...and at least we’ll get to see what we have there

Could you footnote and give me credit next time???

 

[Doogle]

I feel like this board's optimism about Sprong's ceiling is blinding them to reality. Are you actually watching him play, or just blaming his linemates and chalking up every goal against as misfortune?

Watch his shifts next game. He never engages in puck battles, and when he does attempt to he's so tentative that he's lost the puck before he's even got to it in the first place. So because of this, he's completely incapable of helping his linemates with puck support, leaving them to play 4 on 5 while he watches and hopes for the puck to come to him.

I'd play him more simply because the alternatives haven't worked. But this narrative that we have this great player being held back by stubborn coaching is more than a bit of a stretch.

 

[SHOOTANDSCORE]

If you think that 1st goal was on him, then you clearly have little understanding of NHL hockey. He made a late read skating backwards and couldn't stop in time.

Sid does this to every top-pairing defenseman in the game, every single game. He gets guys open for a second or three with his starts/stops almost every shift. They can't bury it from 8 feet, much less 30 like Debrusk did.

That goal was on Jarry. He was way off his angle. It's a shot that NHL goalies stop 98 times out of 100.

Come on, you're better than that.

I said "shorten the bench." The words are plain as day. Nowhere did I say that's all on Sprong, fire him into the Sun, or any other imaginary nonsense.

It's a team game. It might not have been strictly his fault but he didn't play it great either. Regardless, the smart move is to tighten up for the 3rd and sit a guy who is occasionally prone to defensive lapses. Every point counts. Judging by what Sullivan did, I guess I have as little understanding of NHL hockey as he does.

 

[Pancakes]

I'm really not upset. Our core is still intact, and for that matter still very good. Missing the playoffs would suck, but it's not the end of the world. It's not like our stars have declined noticeably. It's our depth that is killing us, and our goaltending. If we can address that whether it's now or over the summer then we'll still be in good shape moving forward.

I just hope JR doesn't do something enormously stupid like trade Kessel for garbage or move our first round pick (without protecting it) in a desperate attempt to make the playoffs. I don't want to punt on this season but only make moves if they make sense. No panic trades please. We've won two Cups recently. We don't need to all-in on this year. Imo you rely on the team to figure it out and make moves only if they're slam dunks.

 

[ncm7772]

ZAR sucks I don't understand the love for him

Who loves him? No one here.

 

[SHOOTANDSCORE]

Sprong did go a little too deep offensively and then didn't recover to pressure Debrusk very well.

But question: yeah Sid and Jake needed a line change, but, is skating lazily to a line change during a period where you have the long change, while your opponent has 100% possession and is in a counterattack with no signs of dumping and changing themselves a good idea?

edit: let me get another vid, NHL YouTube channel is blocking embedding now? something new....idiots

Yeah, that's what I remember from it. I like Sprong's instinct to provide back pressure too. He just needs to be a little more aware of that guy coming. Not a big deal, IMO.

 

[ncm7772]

He reminds me of a homeless version of MacGruber. And he's pretty much just as inept at hockey as MacGruber is at solving crime.

The scene in the movie where he recruits all the WWE Superstars is hilarious!

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

I guess that answers that question about whether they'd follow up the Dallas win with another dominating effort. Couldn't even beat a depleted Bruins team.

To top it off, looks like Hornqvist got hurt. So now we're back to Rust killing the top line, and zero depth scoring.

Also, this defense sucks at moving the puck. Like, really really sucks at making even the most basic of outlet passes. I don't even know how JR fixes that mess on the blueline.

 

[EightyOne]

I guess that answers that question about whether they'd follow up the Dallas win with another dominating effort. Couldn't even beat a depleted Bruins team.

To top it off, looks like Hornqvist got hurt. So now we're back to Rust killing the top line, and zero depth scoring.

Also, this defense sucks at moving the puck. Like, really really sucks at making even the most basic of outlet passes. I don't even know how JR fixes that mess on the blueline.

If it makes you happy...Rust got hurt too.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

If it makes you happy...Rust got hurt too.

Maybe Sully gets his wish and now has an excuse to use ZAR on the top line, getting 20 minutes the next game.

 

[SHOOTANDSCORE]

Maatta is driving me nuts. It feels like for every good play he makes he makes 3 plays that leave us hemmed in our end. He's like a slow, more expensive Lovejoy. Olli Spumoni.

Also, Oleksiak (I think) made a play that really irritated me in the third. He got the puck between the red line and the B's blue line. Rather than hammering it in deep he forces it to the F who is standing still and covered a few feet away at the blue line. Of course it's turned over and going the other direction with our guys standing still. Even if he had flipped an area pass or, as a last resort, retreated a bit, it would have been better. Stuff like that needs to stop.

 

[Andy99]

Could you footnote and give me credit next time???

Sorry if you said this...I haven’t been on the board much today...

 

[WayneSid9987]

I'm really not upset. Our core is still intact, and for that matter still very good. Missing the playoffs would suck, but it's not the end of the world. It's not like our stars have declined noticeably. It's our depth that is killing us, and our goaltending. If we can address that whether it's now or over the summer then we'll still be in good shape moving forward.

I just hope JR doesn't do something enormously stupid like trade Kessel for garbage or move our first round pick (without protecting it) in a desperate attempt to make the playoffs. I don't want to punt on this season but only make moves if they make sense. No panic trades please. We've won two Cups recently. We don't need to all-in on this year. Imo you rely on the team to figure it out and make moves only if they're slam dunks.

One slam dunk they should do immediately is get better coaching. They can even keep Sully for the time being but this trio ain't working/will never work imo.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

Bottom 6 guy chances that I can remember.

Sprong - streaking down the right wing, all the time in the world, didn't get a shot off.

Rust - breakaway... didn't get a shot off. Rust also on Sid's line has a chance point blank... tries to out wait the goalie, gets no shot off.

ZAR - 2 on 1 . Had Oleksiak for a breakaway but held the puck. Goes too deep where the goalie angles him off. Shot saved. At least we got a shot.

Sheahan - absolutely pissing nothing.

Brassard - a few shots high from the faceoff circles with the goalie having clean looks. I think he had 2-3 good looking shots and they were easily saved and the puck went the other way.

Simon - absolutely pissing nothing.

Minus:
-Cole's new word "pissing"

 

[SHOOTANDSCORE]

It looked like Horny's head hit the boards. Hopefully it's a precaution and he isn't concussed.

 

[Coach Travis]

We need to flex our unmatched depth at Center by establishing 3 lines and then have 3 extra wingers who get plugged into those lines from time to time:

Line 1: 59-87-72
Line 2: 14-71-81
Line 3: 12-19-17
Extra Forwards: 3 young fast hungry ball-busters who can push the pace and provide some goddamned energy

Those extra forwards would get 8-12 minutes a game, pretty typical 4th line minutes, but wouldn't be burdened by playing together. In the instance that you need to rest Sid, Geno & Brass at the same time, there's several guys who can take on a rare shift at centre.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

Maatta is driving me nuts. It feels like for every good play he makes he makes 3 plays that leave us hemmed in our end. He's like a slow, more expensive Lovejoy.

Also, Oleksiak (I think) made a play that really irritated me in the third. He got the puck between the red line and the B's blue line. Rather than hammering it in deep he forces it to the F who is standing still and covered a few feet away at the blue line. Of course it's turned over and going the other direction with our guys standing still. Even if he had flipped an area pass or, as a last resort, retreated a bit, it would have been better. Stuff like that needs to stop.

I'm over Maatta at this point. The guy is so sloooooow to move the puck that he usually gives the forecheckers time to take away his options. And then he'll pass the puck into the opposition's shin pads, and we get hemmed in our zone again.

And his offense has completely disappeared.

What the hell happened to that rookie that looked so promising?

 

[SHOOTANDSCORE]

I'm over Maatta at this point. The guy is so sloooooow to move the puck that he usually gives the forecheckers time to take away his options. And then he'll pass the puck into the opposition's shin pads, and we get hemmed in our zone again.

And his offense has completely disappeared.

What the hell happened to that rookie that looked so promising?

It's like he gets worse every year. He'll be Scuderi by Christmas.

Being slow was one thing but his decision making has been such trash. That was his strength. I don't have any clue what happened to him. He just turned 24. Such a really odd decline.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

By Shero. Pouliot wasn’t worth jack at that point.

Eh....

Benning was full Benning for him when Sutter was traded to them, they wanted him then and never not wanted Pouliot. Virtanen at that point was approaching bust status.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

It was a beauty too

To this day, Aston-Reese still watches it on repeat before bed, before Sullivan tucks him in.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

It's like he gets worse every year. He'll be Scuderi by Christmas.

Being slow was one thing but his decision making has been such trash. That was his strength. I don't have any clue what happened to him. He just turned 24. Such a really odd decline.

Yeah, his one saving grace was his decision making. He used to at least compensate for his terrible skating with good reads and smart plays. But it's like his footspeed has infected his brain and he thinks at the same speed he skates now.

 

[Jules Winnfield]

You need a hug, do you want a hug?

I was angry, but after reading your last 2 posts on this...I'm good now.

 

[Peat]

The best part is, even though it was a close game and one goal is all that mattered, trying to pin that game on one or two guys is just crazy.

That was as pure a team loss as any.

Yeah. Maybe I'm being naive but in a game where it goes to OT 1-1, the blame surely lies more on the team's failure to score 2 than their inability to concede 0. One's a lot more likely than the other. I stopped watching after the 2nd period, but I thought that we deffo had the looks to score 2 there. Should have taken them.

If we’re without Horny and Rust tomorrow, this is what I would do with the lineup...

Brass-Sid-Simon
Pearson-G-Phil(unfortunately...got to load up top two lines)
Jake-Grant if ready, or Sheahan-Sprong
WBS-Blueger/Lafferty-WBS

Do we have to load up the top two lines? They didn't look hot enough to warrant that, particularly Geno-Phil. I'd feel a lot happier throwing a 3rd that line that I believed could score out there, and that includes Brassard and at least one good winger.


edit: p.s. I thought that was far from the worst game of hockey they've played, although pretty dull. You could treat it as a foundation stone. But changes need to be keep being made.

And the confidence levels are still pretty rocky. Everyone thinking things a little too long, bobbling pucks that they shouldn't.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Yeah. Maybe I'm being naive but in a game where it goes to OT 1-1, the blame surely lies more on the team's failure to score 2 than their inability to concede 0. One's a lot more likely than the other. I stopped watching after the 2nd period, but I thought that we deffo had the looks to score 2 there. Should have taken them.



Do we have to load up the top two lines? They didn't look hot enough to warrant that, particularly Geno-Phil. I'd feel a lot happier throwing a 3rd that line that I believed could score out there, and that includes Brassard and at least one good winger.


edit: p.s. I thought that was far from the worst game of hockey they've played, although pretty dull. You could treat it as a foundation stone. But changes need to be keep being made.

And the confidence levels are still pretty rocky. Everyone thinking things a little too long, bobbling pucks that they shouldn't.

We did not deserve the 1pt. If the Refs had a better angle of the Wagner goal, this would have been 2-1 and done. Sometimes, the hockey gods feel sorry and award a team 1pt and give the right team 2pts as it properly deserved.

We shouldn't have even had the 1pt.

 

[Peat]

We did not deserve the 1pt. If the Refs had a better angle of the Wagner goal, this would have been 2-1 and done. Sometimes, the hockey gods feel sorry and award a team 1pt and give the right team 2pts as it properly deserved.

We shouldn't have even had the 1pt.

Deserve's got nothing to do with it.