Pre-Game Talk: Round 1: Bruins vs. Red Wings

[Uli Kunkel]

habs and penguins draw cupcakes, paille and kelly out, caron now the 11th fwd, haven't won in the joe since dave lewis, gary bettman troll trophy jinx. i'm not feeling good about this.

 

[unifiedtheory]

Wasn't that also the game where they disallowed a completely good goal by the Bruins without review which would have changed the outcome?

I totally forgot about the disallowed goal.

 

[Gordon Lightfoot]

Cannot wait for this to start. Unfortunately I'll be driving to NJ when the puck drops.

Excited to see our offensive depth pay off big-time!

 

[unifiedtheory]

habs and penguins draw cupcakes, paille and kelly out, caron now the 11th fwd, haven't won in the joe since dave lewis, gary bettman troll trophy jinx. i'm not feeling good about this.

The Habs did not draw a cupcake, I think Tampa wins that series IF Ben Bishop comes back. Lindback is, not good. but Carey Price's playoff record is laughable.

The Blue Jackets are not going to back down. IF Goalie bob gets his **** together they will push the Penguins.

Our forward depth is taking a hit.

What's up with Kelly? I thought he was "scratched" because of a made up injury and he's been out for 2 weeks. Caron playing hurts. I think if Kelly or Paille come back, Florek should be in and Caron in a suit.

 

[lopey]

habs and penguins draw cupcakes, paille and kelly out, caron now the 11th fwd, haven't won in the joe since dave lewis, gary bettman troll trophy jinx. i'm not feeling good about this.

Wow you sure have a lot of faith! Time to panic already lol!:scared

 

[Artemis]

The Habs did not draw a cupcake, I think Tampa wins that series IF Ben Bishop comes back. Lindback is, not good. but Carey Price's playoff record is laughable.

The Blue Jackets are not going to back down. IF Goalie bob gets his **** together they will push the Penguins.

Our forward depth is taking a hit.

What's up with Kelly? I thought he was "scratched" because of a made up injury and he's been out for 2 weeks. Caron playing hurts. I think if Kelly or Paille come back, Florek should be in and Caron in a suit.

No it was stated when he sat out that Kelly was injured. Other players sat out to rest, but not him.

 

[GoBs]

Anyone know who is reffing game one?

 

[TCL40]

Is Kelly definitely out for tomorrow? I hadn't seen anything on Kelly.

I'm willing to bet no matter how wonderful Paille is doing he isn't coming back for this series and if he does it will be late.

Team needs Kelly. If we have to ice Caron whatever line he is on is going to be unable to score and will likely be stuck in the D zone. Kelly is a fan whipping boy because he has stone hands but he contributes far more than the haters want to admit.

 

[ODAAT]

Cannot wait for this to start. Unfortunately I'll be driving to NJ when the puck drops.

Excited to see our offensive depth pay off big-time!

Feel your pain. Working at a restaurant with no TV, sure, I'll record and watch when I get home but it's not the same with playoff hockey. Rarely do I go to work hoping for a dead evening.......tomorrow I will be

 

[Trap Jesus]

It's amazing how drastically my opinion of the bottom two lines change with one player removed per line (no matter who it is). While we have tremendous defensive depth replacements, our forward replacements feel particularly weak this year relative to previous years.

 

[JRull86]

Is Kelly definitely out for tomorrow? I hadn't seen anything on Kelly.

I'm willing to bet no matter how wonderful Paille is doing he isn't coming back for this series and if he does it will be late.

Team needs Kelly. If we have to ice Caron whatever line he is on is going to be unable to score and will likely be stuck in the D zone. Kelly is a fan whipping boy because he has stone hands but he contributes far more than the haters want to admit.

Kelly's only problem is his contract.

 

[caz16]

I totally forgot about the disallowed goal.

It was also the game when the puck ended up in Meszaros's pants and no one knew where it was and the ref didn't blow the whistle - it dropped out and they scored.

 

[ODAAT]

It's amazing how drastically my opinion of the bottom two lines change with one player removed per line (no matter who it is). While we have tremendous defensive depth replacements, our forward replacements feel particularly weak this year relative to previous years.

Can I blame Cassidy???

 

[Kaoz*]

Much like in my last post where I had to delineate to you the difference of actually producing great goaltending this season and being capable of great goaltending this season, it appears as though I need to do the same with the difference between being capable of great goaltending and "******" goaltending. You're not interested in a discussion if you want to keep changing the parameters of the discussion and straight out making **** up.

Go fetch for me where I said Detroit has "******" goaltending.

I won't be waiting.

Semantics. You say their goaltender is a "bum" and then go on to deride his entire body of work this season based on his statline on NHL.com. I put it more bluntly rather then *****foot around your obvious premise.

I'm not the one changing the parameters of the discussion. Stick to what you originally said, it's OK, we're all entitled to our opinion.

Again, had you actually watched Howard this year you'd know he had some consistency issues. He at times looked like a Vezina caliber goalie, and at other times like a guy who was struggling to put it all back together. The Detroit D at times didn't help either. Based on his larger body of work (read: his career) I'd think that had more to do with the injury issues he's been plagued with which he seemed to have gotten past at the end of the season.

Bring all the ridiculous comparisons to Carey Price's inability to perform in the post season and an aging Martin Brodeur you want, but it doesn't change the fact that Howard is a great goalie and has played lights out in the playoffs more often then not.

I'm glad the Bruins won't be taking teams as lightly as you are.

 

[DarrenBanks56]

It's amazing how drastically my opinion of the bottom two lines change with one player removed per line (no matter who it is). While we have tremendous defensive depth replacements, our forward replacements feel particularly weak this year relative to previous years.

it was my biggest fear in the playoffs.
an injury to a top 9 forward.
this team is totally different with a top 9 out.

I think we could easily slide by columbus with a top 9 out for the series, but det is another story.
Hoping kelly is ok and ready to start game 1.

 

[Minny Shinny]

The Habs did not draw a cupcake, I think Tampa wins that series IF Ben Bishop comes back. Lindback is, not good. but Carey Price's playoff record is laughable.

The Blue Jackets are not going to back down. IF Goalie bob gets his **** together they will push the Penguins.

Our forward depth is taking a hit.

What's up with Kelly? I thought he was "scratched" because of a made up injury and he's been out for 2 weeks. Caron playing hurts. I think if Kelly or Paille come back, Florek should be in and Caron in a suit.

Kelly has back spasms.

As of today, Julien hasn't ruled out Kelly or Paille (although if they're following concussion protocol - even if we aren't 100% sure that Paille HAD a concussion in fact since no one officially has said anything then he wouldn't play tomorrow) or Bartkowski for tomorrow evening.

@DanCagen: Chris Kelly, Daniel Paille and Matt Bartkowski miss practice, but aren't officially out for Game 1 yet http://t.co/sfdA949R5R #Bruins

I have no idea where the Bart thing came from. Could just be a maintenance day, that flu thing, Ebola, whatever ails this team today.

 

[TCL40]

It was also the game when the puck ended up in Meszaros's pants and no one knew where it was and the ref didn't blow the whistle - it dropped out and they scored.

I'm still mad about that one.

IMO if a puck gets stuck in somebody's clothes like that the play should be dead period and it should be reviewable.

How's a goalie supposed to stop a goal if he has no idea where the puck is?

 

[RussellmaniaKW]

Semantics. You say their goaltender is a "bum" and then go on to deride his entire body of work this season based on his statline on NHL.com. I put it more bluntly rather then *****foot around your obvious premise.

I'm not the one changing the parameters of the discussion. Stick to what you originally said, it's OK, we're all entitled to our opinion.

Again, had you actually watched Howard this year you'd know he had some consistency issues. He at times looked like a Vezina caliber goalie, and at other times like a guy who was struggling to put it all back together. The Detroit D at times didn't help either. Based on his larger body of work (read: his career) I'd think that had more to do with the injury issues he's been plagued with which he seemed to have gotten past at the end of the season.

Bring all the ridiculous comparisons to Carey Price's inability to perform in the post season and an aging Martin Brodeur you want, but it doesn't change the fact that Howard is a great goalie and has played lights out in the playoffs more often then not.

I'm glad the Bruins won't be taking teams as lightly as you are.

I love how you constantly use stats without context to win arguments (particularly to discredit Krejci, or pump Seguin's tires), but then when the stats don't support your argument like in this case you try and come up with a million reasons to ignore them.

Like...surely you can see the irony of you arguing that a guy like Howard is a "great goalie" despite regular season inconsistency simply because he shows up in the playoffs and yet not affording David Krejci the same benefit of the doubt, right? By your own logic in this post you should be calling Krejci a "great forward"

 

[TCL40]

Pretty sure Bart is the flu he was out yesterday too.
Although Bart doesn't worry me as much as Kelly.

While Bart IMO is the better choice to start game 1 I don't think there is a large enough drop off between him and Mez to worry me as much as no Kelly or Paille in the line up.

 

[RussellmaniaKW]

what is the last update on McQuaid? I'm curious if he'll leapfrog anybody in the lineup when healthy. I don't think he should play over Miller, but I wonder if they'd take a chance on one of them playing their off side. something like:

Chara-Dougie
McQuaid-Boychuk
Krug-Miller

Basically what I'm wondering is assuming Krug and Miller stay in the lineup, if McQuaid playing the off side would still be an upgrade over Bart or Mez.

 

[Minny Shinny]

what is the last update on McQuaid? I'm curious if he'll leapfrog anybody in the lineup when healthy. I don't think he should play over Miller, but I wonder if they'd take a chance on one of them playing their off side. something like:

Chara-Dougie
McQuaid-Boychuk
Krug-Miller

Basically what I'm wondering is assuming Krug and Miller stay in the lineup, if McQuaid playing the off side would still be an upgrade over Bart or Mez.

The update was the update we got the end of March that he was still not skating with the team but working out off ice. Mind you, that came 2-3 weeks after CJ said they were shutting him down for 2-3 weeks.

He could be running a food truck in PEI for all we know right now. I'd be shocked if we see him again this season.

 

[TCL40]

what is the last update on McQuaid? I'm curious if he'll leapfrog anybody in the lineup when healthy. I don't think he should play over Miller, but I wonder if they'd take a chance on one of them playing their off side. something like:

Chara-Dougie
McQuaid-Boychuk
Krug-Miller

Basically what I'm wondering is assuming Krug and Miller stay in the lineup, if McQuaid playing the off side would still be an upgrade over Bart or Mez.

I don't think any of our right handed Dmen can play left side.

 

[Kaoz*]

I love how you constantly use stats without context to win arguments (particularly to discredit Krejci, or pump Seguin's tires), but then when the stats don't support your argument like in this case you try and come up with a million reasons to ignore them.

Like...surely you can see the irony of you arguing that a guy like Howard is a "great goalie" despite regular season inconsistency simply because he shows up in the playoffs and yet not affording David Krejci the same benefit of the doubt, right? By your own logic in this post you should be calling Krejci a "great forward"

Oh look, here's Russell and his Krejci ball washing repertoire to save the day! Are you incapable of a conversation based around hockey without mentioning him? I know you want to be the D(efense) to his A(ssistant Captain) but c'mon man. Every post? This conversation isn't about him.

I'm sorry, did you have a point to make about Howard? Do you disagree with me saying he's a great goalie? If so, here's an idea, how about you tell us all that instead and then defend your position... novel idea amirite?

 

[BoyntBergie]

Semantics. You say their goaltender is a "bum" and then go on to deride his entire body of work this season based on his statline on NHL.com. I put it more bluntly rather then *****foot around your obvious premise.

I'm not the one changing the parameters of the discussion. Stick to what you originally said, it's OK, we're all entitled to our opinion.

Again, had you actually watched Howard this year you'd know he had some consistency issues. He at times looked like a Vezina caliber goalie, and at other times like a guy who was struggling to put it all back together. The Detroit D at times didn't help either. Based on his larger body of work (read: his career) I'd think that had more to do with the injury issues he's been plagued with which he seemed to have gotten past at the end of the season.

Bring all the ridiculous comparisons to Carey Price's inability to perform in the post season and an aging Martin Brodeur you want, but it doesn't change the fact that Howard is a great goalie and has played lights out in the playoffs more often then not.

I'm glad the Bruins won't be taking teams as lightly as you are.

I think Howard is a good (not great) goalie, but when has he really been "lights out" in the playoffs? He's never made it out of the 2nd round to my knowledge, and while I haven't seen every game he's played, I seem to recall him not performing at all well in the 11-12 post season.

If the B's have anything to fear of Detroit this series it's their speed up front and their team discipline IMO. Howard shouldn't be taken lightly but he's a few pegs down the list for me when it comes to why I'm nervous about the matchup.

 

[DKH]

For entertainment it would be great theatre to go 7 games and Zetteberg returns. I would hate paying for the game but you can't get rushes like this usually unless harming your body. The meltdown here would be Wizard of Oz witch-like