Post-Game Talk: ECQF GAME 2 - Whalercanes 3 BRUINS 2 F - Series tied 1-1

[Trap Jesus]

But Bergy and Tuukka are two very different people so one cannot expect the same from them.

I know some of the team used to read this board and I can picture them all sitting around laughing at some of the foolishness posted here.

That's part of the issue to me though. Bergeron's the most boring interview you can get and Rask is the most entertaining, but you can tell Bergeron's dialed in.

 

[jgatie]

So whatever opinion you have of me is based on a few different posts? Lol good to know. These are the only posts I've seen of yours, I'm not gonna judge you on it.

I've read the vast majority of your posts and have asked the same question many times. How can you go from those silly mass postings about how good the Bruins are, or underrated they are, or how <insert cringey humblebrag they are> on the main board to the seemingly utter distaste for them now and not expect to get called on it?

 

[sooshii]

My mother was born in Helsinki, she came as a child refugee to Sweden during the war with the Soviet Union. This is what the Finns shout at hockey games when playing Sweden.

Hakka päälle suomipoika!

Rask is what is known as a Finland Swede, his last name is Swedish meaning quick or fast and it is a soldier name. Most likely a Swedish soldier who settled in Finland which was in a union with Sweden from the Viking times to the 18th century. Suomipoika means Finnish boys hakka päälle means hack or chop but in a sentence it means Get on top Finnish boys.

Love this!

Hakka päälle suomipoika!

 

[Ladyfan]

That's part of the issue to me though. Bergeron's the most boring interview you can get and Rask is the most entertaining, but you can tell Bergeron's dialed in.

It is like that everywhere . They are very different. I do not find Bergy boring at all. See you and I are different too.

You need to relax.

 

[CharasLazyWrister]

Kuhlman had a couple nice PO games once upon a time and that seems to have earned him perpetual top consideration when someone goes out.

He’s too Danny Paille-esque to be a solution long term for anything than the fourth line.

Definitely in favor of moving Stud in should Pasta need another game, but I am doubting Cassidy makes the move after just one loss. Better chance that if it were CJ behind the bench at least.

 

[rocketdan9]

I don't really know how they can with the roster pieces in place. They already have McAvoy with Chara, if there's even a remote possibility of McAvoy retrieving a dump in, he's fishing the puck out of whichever corner it goes into.

Maybe they can switch something up with Grz and the 2nd pair, considering he's the 2nd best D-man on the team for handling the puck in the D-zone and transitioning it out.

didn't Grz and McAvoy pair up a few times??

i doubt cassidy changes the D pairings unless it involves injury

 

[Trap Jesus]

I am just pointing out I read some stuff of yours and I couldn’t believe you were a Bruins fan. I mean look dude, there’s constructive criticism and every team deserves that but I wouldn’t call what you posted with some Cane fans as constructive criticism as I would call it a wanna be Mini Felger, topped off with a little Shaunessy.

But now you top it off with a “ I put more thought and effort than anyone else” and now I wonder why I even asked. Oh wait, I didn’t I was talking to Alicat.

I was pessimistic and reactive to a small sample size because that's all we had to go on. This is a crazy situation where the break between RS and playoffs was 1 month longer than the break between Game 7 of the Cup Final and game 1 of the 2019/20 RS. I really do think RS results matter much less than normal.

This is what I said to Canes fans based on my view of the team coming out of the RR, I don't think any of it is unfair:

We aren't at all, it was 45-9 on a vote for wanting to play the Islanders when it became clear it was one of the Islanders or Canes. We have some casuals that just look at last year's series but most are smart enough to know it's not the same thing, Canes have a bunch of young players that improved and experience is a big thing.

I'm hoping for a good series, but the Bruins have legitimately looked awful and with the uncertainty coming back there's not much else to go on. I do think they showed signs of life vs. Washington but there are way too many questions about the middle 6 wingers (which was exacerbated by the deadline acquisitions missing so much camp time) and the D-core was shockingly bad in the 4 games so far. They really struggled to handle the puck and that's a nightmare combination with the Canes having the best forechecking game in the league. Carlo in particular was awful, if they dump it into his corner with regularity it's going to be awful. McAvoy has also looked really bad on the top pair, along with Chara. I honestly can't say any defenseman has looked good.

I do think the top line struggles have been way overblown though. They have been buzzing the last couple games. Marchand does look off but Bergeron and Pastrnak look good. Marchand's legs and hands are there, he's just in one of those funks he gets in, overthinking things and forcing plays. The PP is also really off right now. Pastrnak didn't practice for the longest time and I know they barely practiced PP until really late in camp. It's one of those things that could click at some point, but they've already been trying different looks (they had Coyle on the first unit when they usually have DeBrusk in the net-front/puck retrieval role).

Krejci looks off right now. Coyle looks like his usual self though. But after that the forward group is really a question mark. 4th line looks good but that's not something that tips the scale in any way.

I love the Bruins blueline as they looked in the regular season, but it's not what we saw at all in the round robin. If they all of a sudden rebound, this is what the Bruins D is:

McAvoy is an all-around beast. I think sometimes he lacks awareness in the defensive zone missing assignments and he doesn't have the best offensive instincts, but his ability to transition the puck up the ice and evade the opposition with the puck in his own zone is the best I've seen in Boston in I don't even know how long. He also has the perfect blend between physical play and an active defensive stick. To me, his game is almost identical to early-career Drew Doughty except without the offensive tools that Doughty had. He absolutely has to be at his best for the Bruins to be successful in this series considering the Canes create so much off the forecheck. So far though, he looks way off.

Chara still has that great reach that can make up for his lack of foot-speed a lot of times, but then again sometimes he'll just get burned. After all these years he's still excellent on the PK. The lack of foot-speed really is a detriment, but playing with McAvoy makes up for that a lot of times. If the puck gets dumped in and there's even a remote possibility of McAvoy switching sides to retrieve it, the Bruins do that every chance they get, and Chara will try to run the subtle interference.

Krug is a funny one. So many Bruins fans hate his defensive play. He puts a lot of effort in but he definitely lacks the tools to defend properly. He can get pushed around and has some abysmal defensive lapses. But to me he more than makes up for it with his offensive instincts. He just has an amazing knack for seeing plays develop, and to me he's always been the key to the Bruins PP. His decision making with the puck in the O-zone is lightning-quick and his passes are precise. He's just such a smart player though, here's an example of a pass that shows how he can think the game at a high level:



Carlo to me has looked really bad in the RTP, but when he's on he's excellent defensively. He's just so big and rangy, and is actually a surprisingly effective skater for his size.



Defensively, I think he's a bit of a poor-man's Colton Parayko. He's not physical at all, but that's fine to me. He legitimately has zero offensive upside, but he's OK in transition in a pinch. Krug handles the majority of that though. Apparently he put on a lot of "good weight" during the break, but he absolutely looks slower to me, and he's bobbling the puck a ton.

I think Grzelcyk is easily the most underrated Bruin. He's undersized, but unlike Krug his defensive instincts are sound and he has a good stick to be involved defensively. Easily his biggest attribute is his transition play though. He's just so skilled at bringing the puck up the ice.

Lauzon doesn't have the most experience, but in the brief time he's been in Boston I think he has really good defensive instincts, and mixes in physical play with a good defensive stick. It puts two lefties on the 3rd pair when he's in though.

Clifton is the other D-man Bruins used a lot last year, but he's currently the #7. He has decent wheels and is pretty physical. No real offensive upside though. To me he's a safe bottom-pairing guy, I think he brings a lot of stability when he's in the line-up. Lauzon does too though.

Moore is the other guy they may use. He's definitely NHL-level but he still kind of sucks. He's that guy that you'll throw your hands up multiple times per game and say "WTF are you doing???" His biggest credit is that he doesn't hesitate to throw it on net I guess. He has decent skating ability to bring it up.

Overall, I think on paper the Bruins D is excellent. They have 5 defensemen that have been playing the same roles for the last 3 seasons. They never waver from this set-up:

Chara-McAvoy
Krug-Carlo
Grzelcyk-X

Way back they had Chara with Carlo, but since McAvoy and Carlo both became regulars in 2017/18 they always go back to these pairings as long as there are no injuries. So you always have a good puck-carrier with more of a defensive presence, and all the pairings have so much familiarity with one another. But they're out of sync at the moment for sure, like I said none of them look even "OK" right now.

Coyle has been better than Krejci this year, even if the production doesn't completely reflect that. His puck protection skill is something else, and he's decent defensively too. His main problem is finish, although that wasn't a problem for him last playoffs. He's still a really good playmaker though. Towards the end of the season he was getting a full 3 minutes of TOI more than any other forward. He's just one of those guys that Cassidy just gained more trust in as the season went on, he became a key part of ES/PP/PK.

Krejci has looked off so far, but the skill and patience he's known for are still there. I have no concerns about the Bruins center spine, but there are huge questions about the Bruins middle 6 regardless though. He just has not been able to develop chemistry with the underwhelming set of wingers that have been put alongside him, which has always been the concern in recent years.

DeBrusk has had a very inconsistent year. He was mainly Krejci's winger but looked his best when paired with Coyle (common theme for a lot of wingers). They have him back with Krejci now though. Closing speed is incredible, he puts a ton of effort in to retrieving loose pucks and if there's ever a race for a puck, I always expect him to win it. He has good hands as well but lacks hockey sense.

Bjork is a solid 3rd line winger, he has a bulldog mentality on the puck and works very well with Coyle (who they have him paired with now). He also has LW/RW versatility. Problem is that he has no finish whatsoever. Considering that's the main knock on Coyle, you can see why that's an issue for that line.

Ritchie and Kase I don't even know. In my brief viewing of Ritchie he looks OK, but I can't really say what he brings to the table. His size is a plus, he's strong in puck battles, but nothing else really jumps out about him. Anaheim fans said he was a pretty good passer but I haven't seen that yet.

Kase is fairly skilled, but he's looked pretty bad in my viewing of him. He puts himself in awful positions, it's really obvious why he gets injured so much. He moves really well on the ice and has slick hands but I really question his hockey sense.

I really hope they go back to Studnicka. He has next to no NHL experience but he's the Bruins best prospect and looked really solid when he played. He's just a very smart, positional player and showed he could think the game with Krejci when he played with him. I think his game is more mature than the other middle 6 wingers but he doesn't have the coach's trust with his age. He can play C or RW.

Their other option for middle 6 is Kuhlman. He moves really well on the ice (he honestly looks like a right-handed Marchand a lot of the time) but his hands are sub-par and he doesn't bring anything else to the table really. He's one of those guys that you seeing zooming around and think that he looks pretty good, but then you look a bit closer and see that he's not actually bringing anything to the table.

As of now, they're trying:

DeBrusk-Krejci-Kase
Ritchie-Coyle-Bjork

Some possible changes are switching Ritchie and DeBrusk or Ritchie and Kase (Bjork can play either side, and DeBrusk can play RW as well, although it's much more rare than Bjork playing his off-wing). Cassidy also loves to drop Pastrnak down to try to get things going, whether that's by switching out with another winger or double-shifting him.

 

[Trap Jesus]

didn't Grz and McAvoy pair up a few times??

i doubt cassidy changes the D pairings unless it involves injury

Yeah they've gone to that at times before, I know they were out when they were down.

I agree, I think one of the Bruins' blueline's strengths is familiarity. How many teams have 5 guys playing the same roles and spots for 3 straight seasons without any changes?

 

[rocketdan9]

Kuhlman had a couple nice PO games once upon a time and that seems to have earned him perpetual top consideration when someone goes out.

He’s too Danny Paille-esque to be a solution long term for anything than the fourth line.

Definitely in favor of moving Stud in should Pasta need another game, but I am doubting Cassidy makes the move after just one loss. Better chance that if it were CJ behind the bench at least.

so true. Haven't seen much skills/creativity from him. Very north and south/straight line game

I think they should try Stud instead of Bjork with the 1st line also if Pasta is a no go

I would also promote Wagner to the third line and drop Ritchie to the 4th. Ritchie is overthinking out there and instead should be finishing multiple hard checks without worrying about getting out of position. Kuraly and Nordstrom are strong defenders and can bail him out

Marchand Bergeron Stud
Debrusk Krejci Kase
Wagner Coyle Bjork
Ritchie Kuraly Nordstrom

IF bench needs to be shortened

Marchand Bergeron Coyle
Debrusk Krejci Kase
Wagner Kuraly Nordstrom

 

[CHRDANHUTCH]

so true. Haven't seen much skills/creativity from him. Very north and south/straight line game

I think they should try Stud instead of Bjork with the 1st line also if Pasta is a no go

I would also promote Wagner to the third line and drop Ritchie to the 4th. Ritchie is overthinking out there and instead should be finishing multiple hard checks without worrying about getting out of position. Kuraly and Nordstrom are strong defenders and can bail him out

Marchand Bergeron Stud
Debrusk Krejci Kase
Wagner Coyle Bjork
Ritchie Kuraly Nordstrom

IF bench needs to be shortened

Marchand Bergeron Coyle
Debrusk Krejci Kase
Wagner Kuraly Nordstrom

there wasn't likely time enough once the decision was made that Pastranak was deemed unfit..... someone had to go on that line

 

[Alicat]

 

[Alicat]

The captain has spoken. Move on.

 

[Trap Jesus]

so true. Haven't seen much skills/creativity from him. Very north and south/straight line game

I think they should try Stud instead of Bjork with the 1st line also if Pasta is a no go

I would also promote Wagner to the third line and drop Ritchie to the 4th. Ritchie is overthinking out there and instead should be finishing multiple hard checks without worrying about getting out of position. Kuraly and Nordstrom are strong defenders and can bail him out

Marchand Bergeron Stud
Debrusk Krejci Kase
Wagner Coyle Bjork
Ritchie Kuraly Nordstrom

IF bench needs to be shortened

Marchand Bergeron Coyle
Debrusk Krejci Kase
Wagner Kuraly Nordstrom

I think Bjork is the safest option on the top line if Pasta is out long-term. When Bergeron/Marchand were the focal point of the offense on the line pre-Pasta, it was always a lot of short passes in the O-zone between Bergeron and Marchand, and Marchand is more than capable of being the primary goal-scorer on the line. It's just since Pastrnak has emerged he's shooting less. Those two always work so well as a tandem, I think the third wheel on the line just has to lend support and keep plays alive, which Bjork can absolutely do. He's really strong on the puck, he just doesn't have any finish.

 

[Alicat]

People taking issue probably has something to do with the fact that you outright just said that you were superior to other posters in that you put in more effort than almost anyone.

How are not laughing at yourself as you type that? It’s such a petty thing to say.

All of this.

No one is above anyone here and if you come in blowing smoke up your own ass and acting like you are god's gift to HF Boards, you will be knocked down accordingly.

 

[Alicat]

As he should be

 

[Alicat]

 

[Alicat]

 

[rocketdan9]

Also she just posted

@AmalieBenjamin
Cassidy said there would be some changes at forward and at D.

 

[The don godfather]

Couldn't we have found a replacement for kuhlman?? Pathetic drafting. Sorry but its true. This is all we can pull out from providence?? Always this dufas . Cant stand this guy. Give seny a try hes like 24 yrs old now!

 

[Alicat]

Also she just posted

@AmalieBenjamin
Cassidy said there would be some changes at forward and at D.

I'd think that means Moore and possibly Studnicka get inserted.

Gryz and Moore were a solid 3rd pair last year against the Canes

 

[rocketdan9]

Probably either Ritchie or Bjork sit

For D pairing not sure what it could be. Unless its just a rearrange. Lauzon has played well

 

[Alicat]

Couldn't we have found a replacement for kuhlman?? Pathetic drafting. Sorry but its true. This is all we can pull out from providence?? Always this dufas . Cant stand this guy. Give seny a try hes like 24 yrs old now!

He's undrafted and he's earned every opportunity he's recieved.

 

[rocketdan9]

I'd think that means Moore and possibly Studnicka get inserted.

Gryz and Moore were a solid 3rd pair last year against the Canes

yeah? you think they need to take out Lauzon?

He has been solid imo

 

[Alicat]

yeah? you think they need to take out Lauzon?

He has been solid imo

The penalty minutes are concerning. He looked rattled last night

 

[Alicat]