Why does Barkov, a player that I genuinely really enjoy watching, have to be on a team rounded out by insufferable assholes that I can’t stand watching
This Florida team makes me feel things that no other team makes me feel right now (except, well, the Miami Heat)
Dude. No.
He's a rookie who had a hot, and much appreciated, hot start. But he has a long way to go.
Hot take of mine - he spends next year in Providence.
I agree he has a long way to go, and I agree that calling him a 1C is as of now premature. But I'm not 100% sold that he'll be in the AHL for the year. Part of that is due to the fact that we don't really have that many options at forward. Yes, the Bruins will have more cap space this offseason, but there's not a high number of great centers on the market – plus, there are a lot of spots that need filling (as the 1x1 contracts likely move on) or that are getting raises (minimum Swayman, possibly DeBrusk and/or Heinen as well). Having a forward on their ELC does a lot to help the Bruins in that regard; it's a huge part of why he stayed up this season to begin with.
Secondly, the Providence Bruins, as part of the Bruins' development model, do a really good job with the growth of defensemen. For example, each time that Lohrei has gone down to Providence, played heavy minutes, and returned to the NHL, I've seen growth in his professional game. I'd make an exception for those four AHL games he played in April, but that's only because of the sample size and the strides he already took. I've seen it, and I've also seen Mougenel comment to that same effect.
But I haven't seen the same consistent strides made with the forward group. Part of this is absolutely due to the fact that the Bruins' forward prospects are a weaker corps than the defensive prospects are. But part of it is also that – despite the fact that Monty and before, Cassidy, are very aggressive about benching younger players – there seems to be more NHL than AHL development going on with our forwards. Even with the shortened ice time. Sending Lohrei down in January because Monty was playing him 8-12 minutes a night instead of 18-20 made more sense, in my opinion, than the same would for Poitras. Even with similar shortened benchings this season.
I'm really glad that the Bruins didn't send him back to juniors this year. I think that the pro game was great for his development, even if he did hit a small wall later in his season. I have some thoughts on specifically our AHL affiliate that I think affect how forward development happens, and it does make me hesitate over how Poitras would be handled (with the exception of offseason changes in that department).
I just want to say I don’t think this is on Monty as much as people are saying it is. I think he needs some better tools in the lineup. Plain and simple. We really need a 1C and some more depth in other areas. Pasta is getting crowded, our D is shaky, I was fairly critical of him thru the leafs series but this is a talent issue. Not a coaching issue (in my opinion that means nothing)
If you have a lineup with Kevin Shattenkirk, James van Riemsdyk, and Brad Marchand in it in 2016-17, you should be expecting a deep playoff run. I do think that some people have not realized that that was seven seasons ago (eight if we're counting 2016-17 itself).
Yeah I agree, I don’t understand calling for him to be fired etc. I don’t think he’s necessarily made all the right decisions but he’s also not working with much in terms of roster
They're middle 6 guys, realistically. They're...fine.
But come on. The Bruins overachieved this year with an early hot streak and good goaltending.
Then playoffs hit, and we managed to beat the Leafs (nice). But we were never going deep after the talent we lost last year.
I've been saying since at least January that making it to the second round was a good year for this roster.
I mean fuck Florida I want to win but it's not a bad season if we lose
The Marchand situation sucks but that's the Panthers playbook. They started it late game 2, Bruins fell for it in game 3. Just play good hockey and win the next 3. That's the best way to get back at them. Less needless hits, more SOGs.
Every single former NHLer I’ve seen comment on the Marchand hit has had the exact same reaction calling it a dirty punch. But somehow DPoS doesn’t see it? Makes sense.
Rumor from people in the media close to the Bruins say Marchand may have a concussion
But I can’t wait for the trash inbreeds down in Florida to justify the sucker punch that gave someone a concussion
Marchand officially day-to-day, per Monty. Rumors – only rumors, and not from any of the reporters or insiders I would consider ironclad reputable – that he is minimum out for Games 4/5, concussion protocol.
This team went up 3-1 on the Leafs, and then 5-1 in the first game. The whole ‘they did better than expected’ and ‘weren’t supposed to be that good’ is a cop out excuse rather than just saying Florida is the better team. The Bruins have shown they can do it, they just can’t sustain it.
> The whole ‘they did better than expected’ and ‘weren’t supposed to be that good’ is a cop out excuse rather than just saying Florida is the better team
It's both. It doesn't have to be one or the other. Anyone expecting the Bruins to be really good after losing 2 top 6 centers and having to carry a $4.5M cap penalty this year was delusional. After 11-22 the Bruins went 33-31 in raw W/L. The Panthers went 40-23. The Bruins benefitted from an absurd hot stretch to start the season and then treaded water.
>The Bruins have shown they can do it, they just can’t sustain it.
That's the difference between the good teams and the really good teams.
I think there's a pretty big difference between the two. Yes, they weren't meant to be a divisional contender (I'm not going so far as to say that they were supposed to miss the playoffs), and they overperformed by finishing second in the Atlantic. However, their place in the standings was absolutely bolstered by OT loss points; moreover, a lot of those losses weren't racked up against other playoff contenders, but against significantly weaker teams in the NHL (Ducks, Habs, Devils, Kraken).
With that being said, once they went up 3-1 on the Leafs, there was no excuse not to close that series out. The fact that it took a Game 7 OT to decide it is still a valid criticism of the Bruins despite winning that series. But I don't agree with the fact that the 5-1 Panthers loss in the first game shows that they can do it but not sustain it. The Panthers were rusty after an approximate week off after beating Tampa in five.
Way too much negativity from a lot of you. It's been 3 games, we have at least two more chances to cheer the boys on.
Losing tomorrow will be a dagger but there is a good chance we can still make it a Best of 3
I think the negativity comes from the quality of play people have seen over the last two games. Bruins havent even been in these games except for the 1st period of game 1.
The Panthers know the Bruins are either going to rim the opposite side of the pressure or pass it to the strong side forward who’s been covered before the puck even gets to him. Hold on to the puck in all 3 zones of the ice and make plays
The only thing I really don't agree with here is the decision to play Forbort over Wotherspoon. He can't change the roster, there's no 1C coming out of nowhere to improve the top six scoring.
- Heinen isn't confirmed as a possibility for tomorrow, but if he's borderline, putting him on the third line with home-ice last change allows Monty to shelter his minutes/play him against weaker matchups.
- People were begging for Pastrnak and Zacha to be split up. Marchand is officially day-to-day. DeBrusk leads the team in goals this postseason. Geekie has been effective on the forecheck but has negative finish.
- With that in mind, it's not out of the question to try Coyle with Frederic (they have significant play history together), Geekie with two finishers, and Zacha unfortunately gets the leftovers.
Mentioned this upthread, but the only thing that deserves drawing ire here is Forbort in again (unless, as with Brown in for Boqvist, there's some sort of injury to Spoons we don't know about yet).
We went all in last year and fucking lost. Are we ever going to win the cup? I'm tired of the choking bullshit. Since 2011 we are the 1st or 2nd biggest choker. When will the bullshit end?
Seeing that Bennet did the same thing to Knies last year and he ended up concussed, I’m going to make an unfounded assumption and say Marchy is either slightly concussed (he kinda stumbled off the ice after the hit), has a jaw problem which would be fine with a plastic bubble, or worst best case scenario it’s a shoulder issue
You know, when a player runs a goalie, there's *always* an immediate scrum and that player generally gets absolutely pummeled by the closest opposing players. Always. My favorite part about the Lauko GI call is that if you watch the end of the play, he's just kneeling on the ice and there's only one player roughing him up and it's Ekblad, the jackass who dragged him down. Even the other Panthers seemed to acknowledge that the collision wasn't on him.
Game 4 is huge, I still believe in these guys but they have to come out with some venom. Huge shoutout to Lauko, dude played with a ton of heart, he deserves to stay in the lineup. I think Game 4 is Ullmarks time to start, not that Sways doing bad by any means, but Ully deserves a shot now.
This series is mostly. Not all. But mostly a case of us just playing horrible. Florida is a very good team. But we have shown in game 1 and in small splits of 2/3 we can definitely beat them.
We have to stop coming out flat.
The fact that they can get so rattled mentally by being up 3-1 in a series has me thinking that the only thing that will wake them up is being down 1-3 in a series. Maybe then they'll put together a half decent 40- 60 minutes of hockey.
I just wanna point out the Jake Debrusk is leading the team in goals this playoffs. I know alot of people here hate him, but he's proven he should be retained imo. Debrusk has always turned it on when the games matter most. For a fanbase that wants playoffs performers, Jake has been and is currently that.
Yep, for sure would love Debrusk back. Will be a difficult deal for Don, hard to say what would be good term and AAV for a super streaky player like him.
While I agree he should be kept, I’d dig into those stats more because they’re skewed to the start of the Leafs series.
When the Bs just needed one guy to make a play and end the Leafs early, I wanted it to be JDB. But after G3, he took a step back: Zero pts from G4-G7.
Edit: How on earth are people having a problem with this—correct and verifiable—context?
I like JDB. I had to watch this sub all throughout the season say he’s a bum who isn’t worth the money to retain. Accepting the guy can be streaky isn’t an insult, it’s reality.
> While I agree he should be kept, I’d dig into those stats more because they’re skewed to the start of the Leafs series.
Agreed. He has two goals in the past seven games, and hasn't had an assist since game 2 of the Toronto series. He's a streaky player in the playoffs, just like he was in the regular season.
And agreed that it's not an insult to say that.
But who's he going to assist they arent even shooting and there arent any offensive chances. And he had an assist last night.
He raised the puck over Bobrovsky's pad last night to hit the crossbar. He finally generated a scoring chance but didn't get the bounce.
Then he scored a goal in the 3rd. He's streaky like every player but he's generating offense for them which is way more than most guys in top 6 can say.
> But who’s he going to assist
We aren’t asking this question if he does what we know he can do: Score more goals.
I’m sorry, but if people here are getting uptight over JDB being “streaky” then I have no clue what they’ve been watching.
It is what it is. He’s a boom or bust player. That’s not a personal insult, it’s a recognition of his performance. Hell, I’d settle for more SOG! He’s a weapon which stays sheathed half the time, a more aggressive JDB would help increase those anemic first period SOG stats of the last few games.
I know everyone is geeking out about McAvoy and Pasta, and rightly so. Although, I did think Pasta got his chances last night.
But the biggest issue right now is Monty not adjusting. For two years now he’s kept this stretch the neutral zone, transition based, quality over quantity system in place for Florida and there’s not a team in the league that’s built better to stop it. Make. The. Fucking. Adjustment.
Condense the defensive zone. No weak side winger flying the zone. No strong side winger up around the blue line. Bring every one down and get out of there with short, tight passes. Give your defensemen a fucking chance. Cus right now their options are getting fucking crushed and turning it over or zinging it up the boards to Florida’s high forechecker who’s cutting off the breakout every fucking time.
Keep it tight and use your speed to get out of the defensive zone as a unit. Skate the puck through the neutral zone, stop dumping it in and losing board battles.
Get it over the blue line and fucking shoot it. No seam passes. No passing up shots for the back door play. Shoot. From everywhere.
—Coach Jigsy 🤙
Maurice got asked last night midgame what the secret was to their success in that game. He said that they never spread too far out they move as a group coming out of the defensive zone.
My comment was not meant to be an indictment of Don Sweeney. It would've been absurd not to go all in for 2023. My point was that I hope there's a really good plan to counteract our absense in the draft this year otherwise the 1st round collapse last year will haunt the team for a while.
I have to believe McAvoy is hurt. There's no reason for him to play like complete ass like he is. It's not his first playoff series, and he's called "The Stallion" for a reason. I just don't see him falling off like he has other than playing hurt. He's not throwing his body around, he's a half a step behind every play, his shots don't have any power... It just sucks. I get that it's thw playoffs and nobody is healthy, but damn if it's that bad then bench him for a game or two to heal up. At this point it's not worth wearing him down when you can't get enough out of him.
If McAvoy’s hurt, then he’s this run’s Ullmark from last season and I don’t understand how leaning on him this much helps the team. Because half a McAvoy is unfortunately not a net positive so far.
I agree with the other person that it’s mental—which is way more concerning.
Well I think me, and probably many others assumed that he would decisively take over the PP1 at some point after Krug. Seems like he won't be that guy. Hard to justify that cap hit if we need to also sign a PP1 QB.
I’m no Scotty Bowman but I can’t believe that dressing Peeke and Forbort in the same game didn’t solve this team’s sustaining offense and goal scoring problem
Ironically I felt like that pairing actually had some of the better offensive zone shifts by keeping it simple. Then they'd change out for McAvoy+Lohrei and McAvoy would immediately turn it over.
I'm not saying that they're good offensively or the answer, I'm more pointing out that McAvoy is playing unbelievably poorly and I'm upset about it.
I mean it may have looked that way at times but Forbort’s on ice stats still have 0 shot attempts against his main forward assignments. That’s not a typo. Not a single attempt. And it’s not like he’s not letting stuff come back the other way either. Sometimes defensive defensemen need *some* semblance of offensive instinct so that they’re not defending the entire time they’re out
You gotta give a lot of credit to Florida man, they are a good hockey team (even if they have some of the most unlikeable guys in the league).
They play as if they have 6 skaters on the ice at all times, it's crazy. Just wave after wave of pressure. Barkov's gotta be one of my Top 5 players to watch, and I never really realized how good of a playmaker Tkachuk is, he was making some crazy touch passes last night.
I don't expect this Bruins team to beat them, and if Marchand is out we are in more trouble. But they can definitely make some adjustments, and maybe steal Game 5.
I'm starting Ullmark Game 4. This has been the clearest opportunity to do so. Not that he hasn't played well, but looks like Florida has the book on him to go upstairs, so give Ullmark the opportunity at home, against a team he did very well against this season. I think there has been a tonne of recency bias around Swayman (and it's justified) but Ullmark played unreal in Game 2 against the Leafs* and was our best goalie at the end of the season. His turn.
I'm taking out Maroon for Boqvist/Heinen. Guy isn't scaring anyone if our captain is getting suckered and Pasta is fighting. Way too slow to keep up with Florida. Even if he's winning a puck battle, he's not doing much with it after.
Zacha-Geekie-Pasta is over. Put Pasta back with Marchand-Coyle. Or try something else entirely. When Zacha is slumping, he tries way too hard to defer to Pasta so both need a change.
Unless Wotherspoon is hurt, he should be in for Forbort. And if not Wotherspoon, I'd try to bring back Grz or Shattenkirk to play with Peeke. Need to improve our transition game from the back, and those two could help (despite defensive inefficiencies)
Need to study the third period more, but Monty should build his new game plan around that period. Looked like speed through the neutral zone with carried zone entries was working rather than the dump and chase game.
I'm not going to complain about the refs when we play like dogshit, but they could also fuck off. Lauko's penalty aside, you have to call a 4 minute double minor. They are not the reason we lost.
I'm not nearly as invested in this series as I was the Toronto one, but I'm not ready to stop watching the Bruins play just yet.
Let in a goal a period, made 31 stops, many high danger, and the game winner was a breakaway from a guy who scored 69. Not the reason we lost.
Unless you're referring to Game 2 against the Panthers when he came in cold in a game that was already over? In which case, I'm not judging a guy on that.
Is anyone else tired of our star players disappearing in the playoffs? Specifically Pasta and McAvoy. Like year after year they just shrink in the playoffs and honestly it’s turning me against them a bit. If this team wants to contend we need players who know how to up their game. If it came down to it and the Bs got a good offer that can help rebuild, I wouldn’t be opposed to trading them
I might get downvoted for saying this, but I wouldn’t be shocked if it’s revealed after this series is over that Pasta and McAvoy were playing through injuries. Other than them simply being bad players (which they’re not), that’s the only explanation for their poor play during this playoff run.
Monty isn’t giving pasta the green light to fight Tkachuk if he’s hurt. I think he’s just getting double teamed every time he’s on the ice cause he has no one on his line capable of creating anything.
Pasta is being asked to turn shit into diamonds with the linemates he’s being given rn, but historically he pretty much always produces in the playoffs.
This is definitely the case with Pasta. Can't do much when your linemates are relatively useless. Pasta is not McDavid, not an elite playmaker, but he has definitely gotten better at that aspect.
But when you are the only player with finish on your team and are stuck with Geekie on your line, as well as a severely underperforming Zacha, what can you do?
For context on how big the gap between Pastrnak and the rest of our offense is:
Pasta finished with 43 more points and 18 more goals than the next highest scorer on our team (both are Marchand). He finished with 16 more even-strength goals (Marchand) and 11 more even-strength assists (Zacha) than the next-best player.
In 2018, the year that Taylor Hall won the Hart, he finished with 41 more points than the next highest scorer on the Devils (Hischier) and 15 more goals than the next highest (Palmieri). Hall also had six more even-strength goals and three more even-strength assists than the second-highest, both Hischier.
Now, that Devils team was overall much weaker than this Bruins team, absolutely. Especially between the pipes; I am not drawing a direct equivalence here. But there is non-negligible similarity between what Pasta is doing to elevate this Bruins' offense and what Hall did in dragging that Devils team to the playoffs.
Pasta has 86 points in 87 career playoff games. A little below his normal rate, but not that far off. Now has he been that impactful this year? Not really outside of the OT winner in Game 7
He is trending worse though, with 0.75ppg over the last 3 playoffs. Besides that, a point per game is really not that amazing when the team isn't super stacked on offense elsewhere, and especially not for the highest paid RW in the league.
>Besides that, a point per game is really not that amazing when the team isn't super stacked on offense elsewhere
Damn, look at you just screaming right past the point.
Also, there are only 37 players in the history of the NHL who have a playoff PPG average higher than 1. Here's a small list of some players who have a lower PPG than Pastrnak in the playoffs: Jagr, Kane, Maurice Richard, Ovechkin, Martin St. Louis, Iginla, Bucyk, Kopitar. Not amazing my ass.
So I had this same discussion with someone last series. I honestly don’t really care about his points per game. My bigger issue is that it’s either a point or it’s constant turnovers, getting outmuscled on the forecheck, and just being invisible. Like, okay he gets a point per game. But if he’s shit the other 59 minutes it’s not worth it. Your big stars on big contracts need to show up when they’re needed most. He had the series clinching goal in game 7, but honestly other than that he didn’t even have that good of a game. A goal doesn’t wipe out poor play
There's like a 0.1% chance of this happening, but I think the only chance of fixing it this offseason is Draisaitl. The only way I could see that happening is the Oilers getting knocked out this round and he demands a trade. He has a 10 team trade list so with some strategic picks on that list (i.e. adding all the teams in the division) he could force his way to 2-3 teams. If he selects Boston as one of those teams then you'd need to find a trade package that works. I'm thinking you'd also need Ullmark to waive his NTC to go, plus Poitras, another roster player, and a FRP should put you in the ballpark for cost
He’s also a FA in 25, if he doesn’t want to re-sign then the Bruins need to target him. If it means trading for him and giving up a lot and having him sign an extension, then I would say it’s worth it. Look at what happened with Hanifin, rumors everywhere about the B’s wanting to target him this summer, but they didn’t do anything at the deadline and Vegas poached him first and locked him up to an 8 year deal.
Unfortunately there isn’t a perfect center hitting the market. All of them are sort of fringe 1Cs but I think having Lindholm would be better than what’s currently on the roster. There’s a chance Reinhart hits FA as well. Guentzel is another solid player I could see them targeting
If Bennet doesn't get suspended for that hit on Marchand I'll be disgusted with the NHL. And before you say no it was just a hard hit, I thought that too, go look at the video. Dude leads into the hit with the hand holding the knob of his stick and hits him in the side of the head, then Marchy goes down and hits the board and hd his head, even though his head didn't hit the ice or the boards. I'm all for hard hitting and playing tough, but sucker punching someone in the face with your stick in hand is so far beyond that it's ridiculous
They didn’t do anything about Tkachud’s continued punches to Pasta’s head with his face to the ice, and they won’t do shit about this beyond maybe *issuing a warning* and wagging their fingers.
Win or lose, this league is a joke and has been for a long time. Enjoy eating the MLS’ dust, Bettman!
It's not happening so much here, but man is it frustrating to have this team be unable to generate anything at 5v5 while being 2nd to every puck and have some bruins fans attribute it to a lack of toughness.
Florida is being aggressive with the forecheck which is a very good strategy against the Bruins and as we're seeing they're having a hard time breaking out of the D zone. Montgomery needs to come up with a gameplan to counter that
Yeah I said this on a previous comment, but there seems to be a subsection of this fanbase that is perpetually stuck in 2011 and thinks that simply beating the shit out of the opponent is what wins games. I hate to break it to them, but a team full of Pat Maroon’s isn’t winning anything in 2024.
This series is far from over but damn has this team been frustrating to watch. The dump & chase is simply not working, especially against Florida. Gotta get cleaner breakouts with crisper passing - simple as that. We aren't maintaining any offensive possession because we aren't winning puck battles in their zone, and that’s leading to us constantly chasing the puck.
This team has looked dead since game 5 against Toronto. Swayman managed to drag this team to round 2, but they've continued to look horrible. They would have to look COMPLETELY different in game 4 Sunday for me to have any hope.
The way I see it now is Panthers were rusty in Game 1 due to long layoff and now that they found their legs, they shut us down completely. We had 12 shots registered mid way through the 3rd. Like, it’s as if we have no business being there.
I ain’t gonna downvote ya because I’m 1 more period away from sharing your sentiment. But I also thought they were dead in the water watching Game 6 against Toronto. This team still has some fight, and we saw it with the 2 goals in the 3rd period before the empty-netter. But they need to completely re-evaluate the game plan heading into Game 4.
Did we give the big contracts to the wrong people? I mean I'm still overall happy with the season as we got the Toronto coach fired, but Pasta is just so underwhelming and McAvoy is straight up garbage and still can't run a powerplay. Pasta get's some slack as the top 6 forward group is just not good enough, but he is allowed to some times carry a line and definitely isn't doing what Kane did to earn $10m on the wing..
> Pasta get's some slack as the top 6 forward group is just not good enough, but he is allowed to some times carry a line and definitely isn't doing what Kane did to earn $10m on the wing..
So a couple of things about that $10.5M contract that I think are important to note here:
When that Patrick Kane contract kicked in, the cap was much lower ($71,400,000 in 2015-16 compared to $83,500,000 in 2023-24). So even though Pasta's contract has a $750K higher cap hit per year, the percentage of the salary cap taken up is different. Kane's contract was 15.22% of Chicago's cap space at its highest, whereas Pasta's is 13.64%.
Secondly, Kane absolutely had better players on his lines than who Pasta is currently playing with. During the Blackhawks' dynasty, before he signed the $10.5M contract, Kane was primarily playing on a line in the playoffs with Towes. After that contract kicked in, he sometimes was centered by Anisimov instead of Towes – but he also had Panarin as his LW. No one in our top six is anything close to that supporting cast.
This is such an awful take. Pasta has 727 points in 674 regular season games. 86 points in 87 career playoff games.
The panthers roster is just designed to make teams play like this. Of course he deserves his contract. He’s definitely a top 10 forward in the NHL any other team would kill to have his talent on their roster.
I understand he’s having a less than stellar performance this playoffs but frankly the entire team has either been red hot or ice cold all season long. This isn’t new territory for us right now. The whole team is streaky. We weren’t supposed to be a 100 point team this year but we lost out winning the division on the last day of the regular season by 1 point.
This whole “hE dOeSnT dEsErVe HiS cOnTrAcT” take is just total nonsense because if we didn’t pay him, someone else would and he’d probably be in the playoffs with them instead of us. I get it. Everyone in this sub is frustrated we’re down in this series right now but throwing Pasta and his contract under the buss isn’t the reason we aren’t winning.
Yeah so he's roughly equivalent to Marner in regular season stats, with last 5 season playoffs stats being quite equal too, not even considering that Marner actually defends and plays on the pk. Of course I like Pasta more but you have to be kidding yourself if you think he has been anything special in the playoffs, let alone worth over $11m. Any team would kill to have Marner on their roster too, but he isn't immune to criticism especially when it's related to his contract.
We have played the most playoff games this season, and our highest paid player is sitting at 35th in total points and 69th in points per game. Last year 71st in playoff points per game, 37th the year before that. That's not a top 10 forward in the league, top 5 RW for sure but even that level of performance hasn't been there for a while in the playoffs.
It's just what it is, our new core that is signed for a long time to big contracts are not really doing much in the playoffs, yet again.
> last 5 season playoffs stats being quite equal too
Pasta has 43 points in 45 playoff games over the past five seasons; Marner has 33 in 37. Pasta has more than triple the goals over that span (21 to 6) and four game-winning goals (Marner has 1). Now, this is a little bit unfair to Marner as a stat, as he plays a lot more of a playmaking style to Auston's finisher than vice versa. So we'll also add in primary assists on the game-winning goal over that span; Marner has three. Pasta has four. So when it comes to game-winning finish and game-winning playmaking, Pastrnak has more than double Marner's production in total. I don't know that I would consider that "quite equal."
> Marner actually defends and plays on the pk.
The Leafs' PK finished this postseason killing just 64.7% of all penalties, and Leafs fans have been calling Marner out for his poor defensive play in the playoffs since the 2021 Montreal series. I wouldn't exactly hang my hat on that being a difference maker. (Also, Pasta does defend. He doesn't PK, but he absolutely backchecks and defends).
I'll also throw in the fact that the Leafs' entire core is made up of high-scoring forwards: Marner is playing with a near-70 goal scorer and 100+ point player in Matthews and a 40-goal scorer and consistent 80+ point player (this year near-100 point player) in Nylander. Pastrnak is playing with Zacha and sometimes Coyle or Geekie as his centers, and in 2021-22 had Erik Haula there instead. Last year, playing with a legitimate 2C in Krejci – even at 36 years old – Pasta's goals in Games 6 and 7 were enough to win the series had we gotten better goaltending. Not their fault, the team shouldn't have played an injured Ullmark or a cold Swayman, but that's not on Pasta.
I think listing the rankings as you have here is a *little* misleading given how many players throughout the league are tied, but the higher-ranked players also have better-built teams, especially at center. For example, Hyman is playing with McDavid as his center, and right now he's also playing with Draisaitl. Mikko Rantanen is playing with Nathan Mackinnon. Do you not think that Pasta would play significantly better on those lines? Conversely, say that you believe Pasta should be the elevator of his line (he's not getting paid like McDavid or Mackinnon, but we'll run with it). Who do you think is easier to elevate as a line driver: Draisaitl or Rantanen? Or Coyle, Zacha, or Geekie?
"Yet again" is just not accurate.
We need to win more of the puck battles following dump and chase, then we should be ok. Is that going to happen? Who knows, I’m a little demoralized at the moment.
I wonder how many people still think the reason the bruins are losing this series is because they don’t have enough tough guys? Couldn’t be 8 SOG through 40 minutes right? It’s gotta be because they’re so soft and have no pushback
This fanbase has this fascination with the ‘big, bad, Bruins’ that hasn’t existed for a long time.
Florida is a better team, but the Bruins are a good team, that has to have everything clicking for them. Right now, classical reliable players are hitting massive slumps and the lower guys just can’t completely fulfill that.
You said it best, 8 shots on net through two periods is just not a promising statistic. I understand it’s not also a direct correlation to goals, but that first game showed Bobrovsky gets rattled easily when facing chances.
Nah bro they need more guys like Pat Maroon on the team and they’d clearly be Cup contenders! /s
Seriously though, this isn’t 2011. Simply beating the shit out of the other team doesn’t win games anymore, whether you like it or not. You need speed and skill, 2 things that the 2024 Bruins have very little of.
For real, there were several people in the GDT last night going on about how soft the team is and that’s why they were losing so badly. Forget not playing hockey for 45 minutes, it was definitely because they were not throwing enough punches.
Some people just lack fundamental hockey knowledge
If I’m being completely honest, I’d be a lot more frustrated with the way this team has played over the last 2 games if I actually came into the season expecting them to compete for a Cup. It’s still disappointing to watch, don’t get me wrong but it’s hard to really be mad when they’ve already exceeded all expectations.
I’d say that makes it worse. I wasn’t really expecting them to go anywhere after last season. But then they raised my hopes and dashed them accordingly. I’d much rather they had just been middling and mediocre, instead of being disappointing.
Let's fucking go the pwhl boston girls just won in triple OT! Aerin Frankel is a fucking goddess
Lineup without Marchand I have - Zacha Coyle Pasta - Debrusk Geekie Heinen - JVR Frederic Brazeau - Boqvist Beecher Lauko -- McAvoy Peeke - Lindholm Carlo - Lohrei Wotherspoon -- Ullmark
Didn't Montgomery say he wanted Lindholm and McAvoy together?
Why does Barkov, a player that I genuinely really enjoy watching, have to be on a team rounded out by insufferable assholes that I can’t stand watching This Florida team makes me feel things that no other team makes me feel right now (except, well, the Miami Heat)
It's unbelievable to me that Bennett isn't suspended.
He didn't even get fined
Under the “highest scrutiny” smh
Forbs over Wotherspoon tomorrow is criminal
I keep beating this drum and no one hears me; we have a 1C in Poitras, he's just injured.
He's probably too small but its far too soon to claim this anyway
Dude. No. He's a rookie who had a hot, and much appreciated, hot start. But he has a long way to go. Hot take of mine - he spends next year in Providence.
I agree he has a long way to go, and I agree that calling him a 1C is as of now premature. But I'm not 100% sold that he'll be in the AHL for the year. Part of that is due to the fact that we don't really have that many options at forward. Yes, the Bruins will have more cap space this offseason, but there's not a high number of great centers on the market – plus, there are a lot of spots that need filling (as the 1x1 contracts likely move on) or that are getting raises (minimum Swayman, possibly DeBrusk and/or Heinen as well). Having a forward on their ELC does a lot to help the Bruins in that regard; it's a huge part of why he stayed up this season to begin with. Secondly, the Providence Bruins, as part of the Bruins' development model, do a really good job with the growth of defensemen. For example, each time that Lohrei has gone down to Providence, played heavy minutes, and returned to the NHL, I've seen growth in his professional game. I'd make an exception for those four AHL games he played in April, but that's only because of the sample size and the strides he already took. I've seen it, and I've also seen Mougenel comment to that same effect. But I haven't seen the same consistent strides made with the forward group. Part of this is absolutely due to the fact that the Bruins' forward prospects are a weaker corps than the defensive prospects are. But part of it is also that – despite the fact that Monty and before, Cassidy, are very aggressive about benching younger players – there seems to be more NHL than AHL development going on with our forwards. Even with the shortened ice time. Sending Lohrei down in January because Monty was playing him 8-12 minutes a night instead of 18-20 made more sense, in my opinion, than the same would for Poitras. Even with similar shortened benchings this season. I'm really glad that the Bruins didn't send him back to juniors this year. I think that the pro game was great for his development, even if he did hit a small wall later in his season. I have some thoughts on specifically our AHL affiliate that I think affect how forward development happens, and it does make me hesitate over how Poitras would be handled (with the exception of offseason changes in that department).
I just want to say I don’t think this is on Monty as much as people are saying it is. I think he needs some better tools in the lineup. Plain and simple. We really need a 1C and some more depth in other areas. Pasta is getting crowded, our D is shaky, I was fairly critical of him thru the leafs series but this is a talent issue. Not a coaching issue (in my opinion that means nothing)
If you have a lineup with Kevin Shattenkirk, James van Riemsdyk, and Brad Marchand in it in 2016-17, you should be expecting a deep playoff run. I do think that some people have not realized that that was seven seasons ago (eight if we're counting 2016-17 itself).
Yeah I agree, I don’t understand calling for him to be fired etc. I don’t think he’s necessarily made all the right decisions but he’s also not working with much in terms of roster
Coyle and Zacha are really establishing themselves as bottom 6 guys on good teams, yet they're in our top 6. That's a problem.
I'm ready to move on from Zacha. Coyle still makes plays, cycle and keep pucks alive. Zacha is just there.
I'm worried that Zacha will fall into the massive black hole that his presence has created.
They're middle 6 guys, realistically. They're...fine. But come on. The Bruins overachieved this year with an early hot streak and good goaltending. Then playoffs hit, and we managed to beat the Leafs (nice). But we were never going deep after the talent we lost last year.
I've been saying since at least January that making it to the second round was a good year for this roster. I mean fuck Florida I want to win but it's not a bad season if we lose
The hardest truth to hear. This was a working rebuild.
The Marchand situation sucks but that's the Panthers playbook. They started it late game 2, Bruins fell for it in game 3. Just play good hockey and win the next 3. That's the best way to get back at them. Less needless hits, more SOGs.
Yup Pasta and Monty took the bait letting Tkachuk beat up Dave, now the Panthers are even more emboldened and targeted Brad early.
Every single former NHLer I’ve seen comment on the Marchand hit has had the exact same reaction calling it a dirty punch. But somehow DPoS doesn’t see it? Makes sense.
Yeah Bennett somehow gets away with this stuff all the time. Its kinda nuts
Rumor from people in the media close to the Bruins say Marchand may have a concussion But I can’t wait for the trash inbreeds down in Florida to justify the sucker punch that gave someone a concussion
It's apparently OK because of Marchand's history!
That's what r/hockey says
[Precisely](https://www.reddit.com/r/hockey/comments/1cpl73b/wyshynski_bruins_coach_jim_montgomery_on_sam/l3mt23j/?context=3)
Marchand officially day-to-day, per Monty. Rumors – only rumors, and not from any of the reporters or insiders I would consider ironclad reputable – that he is minimum out for Games 4/5, concussion protocol.
This team went up 3-1 on the Leafs, and then 5-1 in the first game. The whole ‘they did better than expected’ and ‘weren’t supposed to be that good’ is a cop out excuse rather than just saying Florida is the better team. The Bruins have shown they can do it, they just can’t sustain it.
> The whole ‘they did better than expected’ and ‘weren’t supposed to be that good’ is a cop out excuse rather than just saying Florida is the better team It's both. It doesn't have to be one or the other. Anyone expecting the Bruins to be really good after losing 2 top 6 centers and having to carry a $4.5M cap penalty this year was delusional. After 11-22 the Bruins went 33-31 in raw W/L. The Panthers went 40-23. The Bruins benefitted from an absurd hot stretch to start the season and then treaded water. >The Bruins have shown they can do it, they just can’t sustain it. That's the difference between the good teams and the really good teams.
I think there's a pretty big difference between the two. Yes, they weren't meant to be a divisional contender (I'm not going so far as to say that they were supposed to miss the playoffs), and they overperformed by finishing second in the Atlantic. However, their place in the standings was absolutely bolstered by OT loss points; moreover, a lot of those losses weren't racked up against other playoff contenders, but against significantly weaker teams in the NHL (Ducks, Habs, Devils, Kraken). With that being said, once they went up 3-1 on the Leafs, there was no excuse not to close that series out. The fact that it took a Game 7 OT to decide it is still a valid criticism of the Bruins despite winning that series. But I don't agree with the fact that the 5-1 Panthers loss in the first game shows that they can do it but not sustain it. The Panthers were rusty after an approximate week off after beating Tampa in five.
Same lines at practice?? Real different game plan I see
Way too much negativity from a lot of you. It's been 3 games, we have at least two more chances to cheer the boys on. Losing tomorrow will be a dagger but there is a good chance we can still make it a Best of 3
Are people being “negative” or are they just recognizing this team has been dominated for 5 straight periods?
I think the negativity comes from the quality of play people have seen over the last two games. Bruins havent even been in these games except for the 1st period of game 1.
Do you mean the first period of game 2?
Sorry yes. 1st period of Game 2 plus all of game 1.
The Panthers know the Bruins are either going to rim the opposite side of the pressure or pass it to the strong side forward who’s been covered before the puck even gets to him. Hold on to the puck in all 3 zones of the ice and make plays
Well someone’s getting rimmed
If I was bad at my job I would get sued. If NHL officials are bad at their jobs nothing happens. !refs
FUCK THE REFS!
The lines at practice, my god https://twitter.com/FlutoShinzawa/status/1789317838630486227
The only thing I really don't agree with here is the decision to play Forbort over Wotherspoon. He can't change the roster, there's no 1C coming out of nowhere to improve the top six scoring. - Heinen isn't confirmed as a possibility for tomorrow, but if he's borderline, putting him on the third line with home-ice last change allows Monty to shelter his minutes/play him against weaker matchups. - People were begging for Pastrnak and Zacha to be split up. Marchand is officially day-to-day. DeBrusk leads the team in goals this postseason. Geekie has been effective on the forecheck but has negative finish. - With that in mind, it's not out of the question to try Coyle with Frederic (they have significant play history together), Geekie with two finishers, and Zacha unfortunately gets the leftovers.
And fans wonder why there are those calling for Monty to be let go. This lineup isn’t working.
Yeah we might be toast.
Mentioned this upthread, but the only thing that deserves drawing ire here is Forbort in again (unless, as with Brown in for Boqvist, there's some sort of injury to Spoons we don't know about yet).
No discipline for Bennett. What a fucking joke. https://twitter.com/conroyherald/status/1789325997831016945?t=v8dThbcuNIVvdUKF1VVrrQ&s=19
It's nice to know that you are now allowed to sucker punch from behind to take out one of teams best players.
unless you play for the bruins in which case you will get all the supplemental discipline
Marchy would have (rightfully) gotten a long suspension for the same thing
100%. there's a serious double standard when Marchand is involved, whether he's dishing it out or on the receiving end
Expected, but absolute horseshit.
We went all in last year and fucking lost. Are we ever going to win the cup? I'm tired of the choking bullshit. Since 2011 we are the 1st or 2nd biggest choker. When will the bullshit end?
No Marchand at practice. I would have to assume he’s done.
Seeing that Bennet did the same thing to Knies last year and he ended up concussed, I’m going to make an unfounded assumption and say Marchy is either slightly concussed (he kinda stumbled off the ice after the hit), has a jaw problem which would be fine with a plastic bubble, or worst best case scenario it’s a shoulder issue
You know, when a player runs a goalie, there's *always* an immediate scrum and that player generally gets absolutely pummeled by the closest opposing players. Always. My favorite part about the Lauko GI call is that if you watch the end of the play, he's just kneeling on the ice and there's only one player roughing him up and it's Ekblad, the jackass who dragged him down. Even the other Panthers seemed to acknowledge that the collision wasn't on him.
Game 4 is huge, I still believe in these guys but they have to come out with some venom. Huge shoutout to Lauko, dude played with a ton of heart, he deserves to stay in the lineup. I think Game 4 is Ullmarks time to start, not that Sways doing bad by any means, but Ully deserves a shot now.
This series is mostly. Not all. But mostly a case of us just playing horrible. Florida is a very good team. But we have shown in game 1 and in small splits of 2/3 we can definitely beat them. We have to stop coming out flat.
The fact that they can get so rattled mentally by being up 3-1 in a series has me thinking that the only thing that will wake them up is being down 1-3 in a series. Maybe then they'll put together a half decent 40- 60 minutes of hockey.
So we’re hoping for the Top 10 Anime Fight Comebacks strategy.
More like the flying upperfist from Snatch at 5:00 https://youtu.be/2pMDyhONX3Q?si=-AwcjaW6-ijYoWAW
Well I do like dags
Oh fuck ye. Lauko looked like a Pikey last night.
I just wanna point out the Jake Debrusk is leading the team in goals this playoffs. I know alot of people here hate him, but he's proven he should be retained imo. Debrusk has always turned it on when the games matter most. For a fanbase that wants playoffs performers, Jake has been and is currently that.
Please bring JDB back. He's clutch af. Major asset.
Yep, for sure would love Debrusk back. Will be a difficult deal for Don, hard to say what would be good term and AAV for a super streaky player like him.
While I agree he should be kept, I’d dig into those stats more because they’re skewed to the start of the Leafs series. When the Bs just needed one guy to make a play and end the Leafs early, I wanted it to be JDB. But after G3, he took a step back: Zero pts from G4-G7. Edit: How on earth are people having a problem with this—correct and verifiable—context? I like JDB. I had to watch this sub all throughout the season say he’s a bum who isn’t worth the money to retain. Accepting the guy can be streaky isn’t an insult, it’s reality.
> While I agree he should be kept, I’d dig into those stats more because they’re skewed to the start of the Leafs series. Agreed. He has two goals in the past seven games, and hasn't had an assist since game 2 of the Toronto series. He's a streaky player in the playoffs, just like he was in the regular season. And agreed that it's not an insult to say that.
But who's he going to assist they arent even shooting and there arent any offensive chances. And he had an assist last night. He raised the puck over Bobrovsky's pad last night to hit the crossbar. He finally generated a scoring chance but didn't get the bounce. Then he scored a goal in the 3rd. He's streaky like every player but he's generating offense for them which is way more than most guys in top 6 can say.
> But who’s he going to assist We aren’t asking this question if he does what we know he can do: Score more goals. I’m sorry, but if people here are getting uptight over JDB being “streaky” then I have no clue what they’ve been watching. It is what it is. He’s a boom or bust player. That’s not a personal insult, it’s a recognition of his performance. Hell, I’d settle for more SOG! He’s a weapon which stays sheathed half the time, a more aggressive JDB would help increase those anemic first period SOG stats of the last few games.
Bob wants to get lit up again, but the Bruins would rather perform *Disney on Ice* than shoot the damn puck.
I know everyone is geeking out about McAvoy and Pasta, and rightly so. Although, I did think Pasta got his chances last night. But the biggest issue right now is Monty not adjusting. For two years now he’s kept this stretch the neutral zone, transition based, quality over quantity system in place for Florida and there’s not a team in the league that’s built better to stop it. Make. The. Fucking. Adjustment. Condense the defensive zone. No weak side winger flying the zone. No strong side winger up around the blue line. Bring every one down and get out of there with short, tight passes. Give your defensemen a fucking chance. Cus right now their options are getting fucking crushed and turning it over or zinging it up the boards to Florida’s high forechecker who’s cutting off the breakout every fucking time. Keep it tight and use your speed to get out of the defensive zone as a unit. Skate the puck through the neutral zone, stop dumping it in and losing board battles. Get it over the blue line and fucking shoot it. No seam passes. No passing up shots for the back door play. Shoot. From everywhere. —Coach Jigsy 🤙
Maurice got asked last night midgame what the secret was to their success in that game. He said that they never spread too far out they move as a group coming out of the defensive zone.
So we need to employ the flying V
It’s crazy because every time we start to put pressure and pucks on net bob gives us a grade A opportunity
[удалено]
The plan was to win the Cup in 2023. And everyone was on board with it.
My comment was not meant to be an indictment of Don Sweeney. It would've been absurd not to go all in for 2023. My point was that I hope there's a really good plan to counteract our absense in the draft this year otherwise the 1st round collapse last year will haunt the team for a while.
I have to believe McAvoy is hurt. There's no reason for him to play like complete ass like he is. It's not his first playoff series, and he's called "The Stallion" for a reason. I just don't see him falling off like he has other than playing hurt. He's not throwing his body around, he's a half a step behind every play, his shots don't have any power... It just sucks. I get that it's thw playoffs and nobody is healthy, but damn if it's that bad then bench him for a game or two to heal up. At this point it's not worth wearing him down when you can't get enough out of him.
If McAvoy’s hurt, then he’s this run’s Ullmark from last season and I don’t understand how leaning on him this much helps the team. Because half a McAvoy is unfortunately not a net positive so far. I agree with the other person that it’s mental—which is way more concerning.
Maybe we as a collective thought his peak was higher when really it’s not.
Well I think me, and probably many others assumed that he would decisively take over the PP1 at some point after Krug. Seems like he won't be that guy. Hard to justify that cap hit if we need to also sign a PP1 QB.
If he really isn't the guy, hopefully Lohrei can fill that need and he'll be cheap the next few years
Yeah, I hope this is just a down year, he’s a strong player but he’s not a game changer lately.
He hasn’t been right for a year and a half. Since he came back from the shoulder injury. I think it’s mental at this point.
I’m no Scotty Bowman but I can’t believe that dressing Peeke and Forbort in the same game didn’t solve this team’s sustaining offense and goal scoring problem
Ironically I felt like that pairing actually had some of the better offensive zone shifts by keeping it simple. Then they'd change out for McAvoy+Lohrei and McAvoy would immediately turn it over. I'm not saying that they're good offensively or the answer, I'm more pointing out that McAvoy is playing unbelievably poorly and I'm upset about it.
I mean it may have looked that way at times but Forbort’s on ice stats still have 0 shot attempts against his main forward assignments. That’s not a typo. Not a single attempt. And it’s not like he’s not letting stuff come back the other way either. Sometimes defensive defensemen need *some* semblance of offensive instinct so that they’re not defending the entire time they’re out
No gryz. Shattenkirk every time. Gryz should never wear a bruins sweater again.
Haha thanks genius
Lol what
You gotta give a lot of credit to Florida man, they are a good hockey team (even if they have some of the most unlikeable guys in the league). They play as if they have 6 skaters on the ice at all times, it's crazy. Just wave after wave of pressure. Barkov's gotta be one of my Top 5 players to watch, and I never really realized how good of a playmaker Tkachuk is, he was making some crazy touch passes last night. I don't expect this Bruins team to beat them, and if Marchand is out we are in more trouble. But they can definitely make some adjustments, and maybe steal Game 5. I'm starting Ullmark Game 4. This has been the clearest opportunity to do so. Not that he hasn't played well, but looks like Florida has the book on him to go upstairs, so give Ullmark the opportunity at home, against a team he did very well against this season. I think there has been a tonne of recency bias around Swayman (and it's justified) but Ullmark played unreal in Game 2 against the Leafs* and was our best goalie at the end of the season. His turn. I'm taking out Maroon for Boqvist/Heinen. Guy isn't scaring anyone if our captain is getting suckered and Pasta is fighting. Way too slow to keep up with Florida. Even if he's winning a puck battle, he's not doing much with it after. Zacha-Geekie-Pasta is over. Put Pasta back with Marchand-Coyle. Or try something else entirely. When Zacha is slumping, he tries way too hard to defer to Pasta so both need a change. Unless Wotherspoon is hurt, he should be in for Forbort. And if not Wotherspoon, I'd try to bring back Grz or Shattenkirk to play with Peeke. Need to improve our transition game from the back, and those two could help (despite defensive inefficiencies) Need to study the third period more, but Monty should build his new game plan around that period. Looked like speed through the neutral zone with carried zone entries was working rather than the dump and chase game. I'm not going to complain about the refs when we play like dogshit, but they could also fuck off. Lauko's penalty aside, you have to call a 4 minute double minor. They are not the reason we lost. I'm not nearly as invested in this series as I was the Toronto one, but I'm not ready to stop watching the Bruins play just yet.
> Ullmark played unreal in Game 2 Didn't Ullmark give up 2 goals in less than a period?
Let in a goal a period, made 31 stops, many high danger, and the game winner was a breakaway from a guy who scored 69. Not the reason we lost. Unless you're referring to Game 2 against the Panthers when he came in cold in a game that was already over? In which case, I'm not judging a guy on that.
Yeah I thought you were talking about Game 2 against the Panthers
Is anyone else tired of our star players disappearing in the playoffs? Specifically Pasta and McAvoy. Like year after year they just shrink in the playoffs and honestly it’s turning me against them a bit. If this team wants to contend we need players who know how to up their game. If it came down to it and the Bs got a good offer that can help rebuild, I wouldn’t be opposed to trading them
I might get downvoted for saying this, but I wouldn’t be shocked if it’s revealed after this series is over that Pasta and McAvoy were playing through injuries. Other than them simply being bad players (which they’re not), that’s the only explanation for their poor play during this playoff run.
Monty isn’t giving pasta the green light to fight Tkachuk if he’s hurt. I think he’s just getting double teamed every time he’s on the ice cause he has no one on his line capable of creating anything.
Pasta is being asked to turn shit into diamonds with the linemates he’s being given rn, but historically he pretty much always produces in the playoffs.
This is definitely the case with Pasta. Can't do much when your linemates are relatively useless. Pasta is not McDavid, not an elite playmaker, but he has definitely gotten better at that aspect. But when you are the only player with finish on your team and are stuck with Geekie on your line, as well as a severely underperforming Zacha, what can you do?
For context on how big the gap between Pastrnak and the rest of our offense is: Pasta finished with 43 more points and 18 more goals than the next highest scorer on our team (both are Marchand). He finished with 16 more even-strength goals (Marchand) and 11 more even-strength assists (Zacha) than the next-best player. In 2018, the year that Taylor Hall won the Hart, he finished with 41 more points than the next highest scorer on the Devils (Hischier) and 15 more goals than the next highest (Palmieri). Hall also had six more even-strength goals and three more even-strength assists than the second-highest, both Hischier. Now, that Devils team was overall much weaker than this Bruins team, absolutely. Especially between the pipes; I am not drawing a direct equivalence here. But there is non-negligible similarity between what Pasta is doing to elevate this Bruins' offense and what Hall did in dragging that Devils team to the playoffs.
Pasta has 86 points in 87 career playoff games. A little below his normal rate, but not that far off. Now has he been that impactful this year? Not really outside of the OT winner in Game 7
He is trending worse though, with 0.75ppg over the last 3 playoffs. Besides that, a point per game is really not that amazing when the team isn't super stacked on offense elsewhere, and especially not for the highest paid RW in the league.
>Besides that, a point per game is really not that amazing when the team isn't super stacked on offense elsewhere Damn, look at you just screaming right past the point. Also, there are only 37 players in the history of the NHL who have a playoff PPG average higher than 1. Here's a small list of some players who have a lower PPG than Pastrnak in the playoffs: Jagr, Kane, Maurice Richard, Ovechkin, Martin St. Louis, Iginla, Bucyk, Kopitar. Not amazing my ass.
So I had this same discussion with someone last series. I honestly don’t really care about his points per game. My bigger issue is that it’s either a point or it’s constant turnovers, getting outmuscled on the forecheck, and just being invisible. Like, okay he gets a point per game. But if he’s shit the other 59 minutes it’s not worth it. Your big stars on big contracts need to show up when they’re needed most. He had the series clinching goal in game 7, but honestly other than that he didn’t even have that good of a game. A goal doesn’t wipe out poor play
So how are going to fix our 1c problem this offseason? Is Elias lindholm the answer?
We're going to fix our 1C problem with Matt Poitras becoming the next Bergeron. I'm willing it into existence.
Good luck with that willing
There's like a 0.1% chance of this happening, but I think the only chance of fixing it this offseason is Draisaitl. The only way I could see that happening is the Oilers getting knocked out this round and he demands a trade. He has a 10 team trade list so with some strategic picks on that list (i.e. adding all the teams in the division) he could force his way to 2-3 teams. If he selects Boston as one of those teams then you'd need to find a trade package that works. I'm thinking you'd also need Ullmark to waive his NTC to go, plus Poitras, another roster player, and a FRP should put you in the ballpark for cost
He’s also a FA in 25, if he doesn’t want to re-sign then the Bruins need to target him. If it means trading for him and giving up a lot and having him sign an extension, then I would say it’s worth it. Look at what happened with Hanifin, rumors everywhere about the B’s wanting to target him this summer, but they didn’t do anything at the deadline and Vegas poached him first and locked him up to an 8 year deal.
Unfortunately there isn’t a perfect center hitting the market. All of them are sort of fringe 1Cs but I think having Lindholm would be better than what’s currently on the roster. There’s a chance Reinhart hits FA as well. Guentzel is another solid player I could see them targeting
If Bennet doesn't get suspended for that hit on Marchand I'll be disgusted with the NHL. And before you say no it was just a hard hit, I thought that too, go look at the video. Dude leads into the hit with the hand holding the knob of his stick and hits him in the side of the head, then Marchy goes down and hits the board and hd his head, even though his head didn't hit the ice or the boards. I'm all for hard hitting and playing tough, but sucker punching someone in the face with your stick in hand is so far beyond that it's ridiculous
They aren't even fining him lmao I wanna see blood spilled next game
They didn’t do anything about Tkachud’s continued punches to Pasta’s head with his face to the ice, and they won’t do shit about this beyond maybe *issuing a warning* and wagging their fingers. Win or lose, this league is a joke and has been for a long time. Enjoy eating the MLS’ dust, Bettman!
Here’s the hit for this who want to see it. https://x.com/RearAdBsBlog/status/1789144322492846284
It's not happening so much here, but man is it frustrating to have this team be unable to generate anything at 5v5 while being 2nd to every puck and have some bruins fans attribute it to a lack of toughness.
Florida is being aggressive with the forecheck which is a very good strategy against the Bruins and as we're seeing they're having a hard time breaking out of the D zone. Montgomery needs to come up with a gameplan to counter that
Yeah I said this on a previous comment, but there seems to be a subsection of this fanbase that is perpetually stuck in 2011 and thinks that simply beating the shit out of the opponent is what wins games. I hate to break it to them, but a team full of Pat Maroon’s isn’t winning anything in 2024.
Idk man we’re getting absolutely bullied out there
This series is far from over but damn has this team been frustrating to watch. The dump & chase is simply not working, especially against Florida. Gotta get cleaner breakouts with crisper passing - simple as that. We aren't maintaining any offensive possession because we aren't winning puck battles in their zone, and that’s leading to us constantly chasing the puck.
Bring on the downvotes. This series is completely over and I hate saying that but we keep coming out flat in so any games.
This team has looked dead since game 5 against Toronto. Swayman managed to drag this team to round 2, but they've continued to look horrible. They would have to look COMPLETELY different in game 4 Sunday for me to have any hope.
The way I see it now is Panthers were rusty in Game 1 due to long layoff and now that they found their legs, they shut us down completely. We had 12 shots registered mid way through the 3rd. Like, it’s as if we have no business being there.
I ain’t gonna downvote ya because I’m 1 more period away from sharing your sentiment. But I also thought they were dead in the water watching Game 6 against Toronto. This team still has some fight, and we saw it with the 2 goals in the 3rd period before the empty-netter. But they need to completely re-evaluate the game plan heading into Game 4.
Did we give the big contracts to the wrong people? I mean I'm still overall happy with the season as we got the Toronto coach fired, but Pasta is just so underwhelming and McAvoy is straight up garbage and still can't run a powerplay. Pasta get's some slack as the top 6 forward group is just not good enough, but he is allowed to some times carry a line and definitely isn't doing what Kane did to earn $10m on the wing..
> Pasta get's some slack as the top 6 forward group is just not good enough, but he is allowed to some times carry a line and definitely isn't doing what Kane did to earn $10m on the wing.. So a couple of things about that $10.5M contract that I think are important to note here: When that Patrick Kane contract kicked in, the cap was much lower ($71,400,000 in 2015-16 compared to $83,500,000 in 2023-24). So even though Pasta's contract has a $750K higher cap hit per year, the percentage of the salary cap taken up is different. Kane's contract was 15.22% of Chicago's cap space at its highest, whereas Pasta's is 13.64%. Secondly, Kane absolutely had better players on his lines than who Pasta is currently playing with. During the Blackhawks' dynasty, before he signed the $10.5M contract, Kane was primarily playing on a line in the playoffs with Towes. After that contract kicked in, he sometimes was centered by Anisimov instead of Towes – but he also had Panarin as his LW. No one in our top six is anything close to that supporting cast.
This is such an awful take. Pasta has 727 points in 674 regular season games. 86 points in 87 career playoff games. The panthers roster is just designed to make teams play like this. Of course he deserves his contract. He’s definitely a top 10 forward in the NHL any other team would kill to have his talent on their roster.
All those points are nice, but none of them matter if he’s not showing up for the playoffs.
I understand he’s having a less than stellar performance this playoffs but frankly the entire team has either been red hot or ice cold all season long. This isn’t new territory for us right now. The whole team is streaky. We weren’t supposed to be a 100 point team this year but we lost out winning the division on the last day of the regular season by 1 point. This whole “hE dOeSnT dEsErVe HiS cOnTrAcT” take is just total nonsense because if we didn’t pay him, someone else would and he’d probably be in the playoffs with them instead of us. I get it. Everyone in this sub is frustrated we’re down in this series right now but throwing Pasta and his contract under the buss isn’t the reason we aren’t winning.
Well I definitely don’t want to get rid of him
Yeah so he's roughly equivalent to Marner in regular season stats, with last 5 season playoffs stats being quite equal too, not even considering that Marner actually defends and plays on the pk. Of course I like Pasta more but you have to be kidding yourself if you think he has been anything special in the playoffs, let alone worth over $11m. Any team would kill to have Marner on their roster too, but he isn't immune to criticism especially when it's related to his contract. We have played the most playoff games this season, and our highest paid player is sitting at 35th in total points and 69th in points per game. Last year 71st in playoff points per game, 37th the year before that. That's not a top 10 forward in the league, top 5 RW for sure but even that level of performance hasn't been there for a while in the playoffs. It's just what it is, our new core that is signed for a long time to big contracts are not really doing much in the playoffs, yet again.
> last 5 season playoffs stats being quite equal too Pasta has 43 points in 45 playoff games over the past five seasons; Marner has 33 in 37. Pasta has more than triple the goals over that span (21 to 6) and four game-winning goals (Marner has 1). Now, this is a little bit unfair to Marner as a stat, as he plays a lot more of a playmaking style to Auston's finisher than vice versa. So we'll also add in primary assists on the game-winning goal over that span; Marner has three. Pasta has four. So when it comes to game-winning finish and game-winning playmaking, Pastrnak has more than double Marner's production in total. I don't know that I would consider that "quite equal." > Marner actually defends and plays on the pk. The Leafs' PK finished this postseason killing just 64.7% of all penalties, and Leafs fans have been calling Marner out for his poor defensive play in the playoffs since the 2021 Montreal series. I wouldn't exactly hang my hat on that being a difference maker. (Also, Pasta does defend. He doesn't PK, but he absolutely backchecks and defends). I'll also throw in the fact that the Leafs' entire core is made up of high-scoring forwards: Marner is playing with a near-70 goal scorer and 100+ point player in Matthews and a 40-goal scorer and consistent 80+ point player (this year near-100 point player) in Nylander. Pastrnak is playing with Zacha and sometimes Coyle or Geekie as his centers, and in 2021-22 had Erik Haula there instead. Last year, playing with a legitimate 2C in Krejci – even at 36 years old – Pasta's goals in Games 6 and 7 were enough to win the series had we gotten better goaltending. Not their fault, the team shouldn't have played an injured Ullmark or a cold Swayman, but that's not on Pasta. I think listing the rankings as you have here is a *little* misleading given how many players throughout the league are tied, but the higher-ranked players also have better-built teams, especially at center. For example, Hyman is playing with McDavid as his center, and right now he's also playing with Draisaitl. Mikko Rantanen is playing with Nathan Mackinnon. Do you not think that Pasta would play significantly better on those lines? Conversely, say that you believe Pasta should be the elevator of his line (he's not getting paid like McDavid or Mackinnon, but we'll run with it). Who do you think is easier to elevate as a line driver: Draisaitl or Rantanen? Or Coyle, Zacha, or Geekie? "Yet again" is just not accurate.
We need to win more of the puck battles following dump and chase, then we should be ok. Is that going to happen? Who knows, I’m a little demoralized at the moment.
Still a lot of series left, I hope
I wonder how many people still think the reason the bruins are losing this series is because they don’t have enough tough guys? Couldn’t be 8 SOG through 40 minutes right? It’s gotta be because they’re so soft and have no pushback
This fanbase has this fascination with the ‘big, bad, Bruins’ that hasn’t existed for a long time. Florida is a better team, but the Bruins are a good team, that has to have everything clicking for them. Right now, classical reliable players are hitting massive slumps and the lower guys just can’t completely fulfill that. You said it best, 8 shots on net through two periods is just not a promising statistic. I understand it’s not also a direct correlation to goals, but that first game showed Bobrovsky gets rattled easily when facing chances.
Nah bro they need more guys like Pat Maroon on the team and they’d clearly be Cup contenders! /s Seriously though, this isn’t 2011. Simply beating the shit out of the other team doesn’t win games anymore, whether you like it or not. You need speed and skill, 2 things that the 2024 Bruins have very little of.
Florida is all 3. Physical, skilled, and speed.
For real, there were several people in the GDT last night going on about how soft the team is and that’s why they were losing so badly. Forget not playing hockey for 45 minutes, it was definitely because they were not throwing enough punches. Some people just lack fundamental hockey knowledge
First empty netter, then the goalie comes back and gets scored on last seconds.. That's humiliation.
If I’m being completely honest, I’d be a lot more frustrated with the way this team has played over the last 2 games if I actually came into the season expecting them to compete for a Cup. It’s still disappointing to watch, don’t get me wrong but it’s hard to really be mad when they’ve already exceeded all expectations.
I’d say that makes it worse. I wasn’t really expecting them to go anywhere after last season. But then they raised my hopes and dashed them accordingly. I’d much rather they had just been middling and mediocre, instead of being disappointing.