Ty Anderson: Bruins' slide hits three; Patrick Kane in Boston?

Yeah, just what we need, a forward that doesn't play defense (Kane)...no thank you.

Kane would make sense. After all, Boston is where Taylor Hall went to die, someone need to take his place.

Flyers wouldn't make sense though, our players show up and dead and somehow end up worse.

Carry over from last thread:

This didn't age well.


Outshot again and losing to the lowly Blue Jackets... brutal.
- Nasty_Duck

Been one game since I typed that. While I agree their play has been very poor the last few games, I'm still not hitting the panic button. We will see if this trend continues or if they make adjustments to right the ship.

I will agree this level of play needs to improve otherwise its going to be a long rest of the season.

Another carry over:

You happen to have an extra pair of those rose colored glasses? Maybe it would help me see this team passing the eyeball test right now.
- bluemoon737

Nothing rosy about their play. It stinks at the moment. I remember this time last year I was pretty negative on the team's future. I didn't believe they would have the season they had last year. So while this play is less than ideal, regression was most definitely expected. Ill admit, this form of regression is particularly ugly to watch.

So where do we go from here? I dont agree with signing of Patty Kane for several reasons. (overall health, moves it would take to make it happen etc). Is this the push Sweeney needs to go out and make a splash? We are 21 games in, a quarter of the way through the season already. Here are my observations of both the good and the bad play:



-Marchand and Pasta have been in large part the only play drivers. There have been glimpses of it from others, but no consistency. A lot of passengers, especially in the past three games.

-To go with the first point, we replaced play drivers in Bergy and Krejci with big bodies who, unfortunately, are prone to some hot and cold streaks.

-As Ty touched on, this team needs to answer the bell. I think its time for Marchand to rally the troops emotionally, and we need a scrappy game where they dont back down from any of the poop. The Frederic and Spencer martin incidents should have been answered better, and this need to come from up and down the lineup.

-The sharp regression in the play of Lindholm and DeBrusk has been quite noticeable. Not sure what is going on here, but these guys are playing nowhere near the level they were at last year. Need them to turn it on.

-Kids have some growing pains, but from the flashes I see, I like what they bring. Last night's game Beecher and Poitras were the ones to show the bruins had any life at all. Was nice to see at least that.

-Unreal goalie play has come back to earth. I dont expect goalies to maintain a .950 save percentage and above all year ESPECIALLY when they are seeing 40+ shots per night.

-Adding to the last point, shot suppression has been the biggest difference I have seen since last year. They simply aren't on the puck when they need to be and the goalies are seeing an average of 8-10 shots more per game than they were last year. More shots against is eventually going to lead to more goals against. This is the major flaw in this current downswing.

-Monty for better or for worse has kind been sticking with the game plan. I think he got burned doing to many adjustments in the playoffs last year and isn't doing as much tweaking at the moment. Third straight loss though, I would expect some kind of line juggling.


Prescription short term (next 10 games): Take care of the back end first. Suppress more shots, stop giving up high percentage chances so easily. (easier said than done im sure).

Prescription long term (before deadline): If DeBrusk and/or another player isn't going to help drive play on another line, they need to go get someone who can drive play. They may have to trade one of the goalies to do this. Would prefer it not to work out that way, but here we are.

Looks like Kane chose the wings.

Unless he tweaked something, I was not a fan of Swayman getting yanked. He has been stellar all year and already has to split starts. Why is he the scapegoat down 2-0?

Unless he tweaked something, I was not a fan of Swayman getting yanked. He has been stellar all year and already has to split starts. Why is he the scapegoat down 2-0?
- Mahewman

Best guess is Monty just wanted to spark the team. Didn't work out in his favor. The D straight up were puck watchers last night. In the case of Gryz, he was the one of the best players for the jackets last night.

Best guess is Monty just wanted to spark the team. Didn't work out in his favor. The D straight up were puck watchers last night. In the case of Gryz, he was the one of the best players for the jackets last night.
- dothedougie

I did not miss Gryz at all when he was away.

Remind me which game he came back into the lineup...

Best guess is Monty just wanted to spark the team. Didn't work out in his favor. The D straight up were puck watchers last night. In the case of Gryz, he was the one of the best players for the jackets last night.
- dothedougie

Monty said as much, it was meant to spark the team...it did for about 45 seconds until Gryz gave the puck away.

Dougie you made the comment about Pasta and Marchy being the only players driving the play...I will counter that those two are prime contributors to the huge number of odd man rushes and breakaways. They are both about 2:1 ratio of giveaway to takeaway. They both have been making ill advised pass attempts with many from Pasta at our own blue line resulting in very quick re-entry for the opponent. Complete lack of respect for puck management is killing this team.

Obviously with essentially no practices in well over a week some of these things couldn't get fixed but they shouldn't be happening at the rate they are by our veteran leadership in the first place. Hopefully a good strong practice on Wednesday will help to turn things around. I think you have said it before. This team is not as good as the starting record would imply nor are they as bad as the last 5 games (last 3 in particular) would indicate.

One final comment, it is inexcusable to lose to a last place team who is playing in a travel back-to-back.

Monty said as much, it was meant to spark the team...it did for about 45 seconds until Gryz gave the puck away.

Dougie you made the comment about Pasta and Marchy being the only players driving the play...I will counter that those two are prime contributors to the huge number of odd man rushes and breakaways. They are both about 2:1 ratio of giveaway to takeaway. They both have been making ill advised pass attempts with many from Pasta at our own blue line resulting in very quick re-entry for the opponent. Complete lack of respect for puck management is killing this team.

Obviously with essentially no practices in well over a week some of these things couldn't get fixed but they shouldn't be happening at the rate they are by our veteran leadership in the first place. Hopefully a good strong practice on Wednesday will help to turn things around. I think you have said it before. This team is not as good as the starting record would imply nor are they as bad as the last 5 games (last 3 in particular) would indicate.

One final comment, it is inexcusable to lose to a last place team who is playing in a travel back-to-back.
- bluemoon737

I mean you make a solid point about Marchy and Pasta. Except its not really a counter to say that a puck possession player leads in giveaways. In fact I think you might find that players that have the puck a lot, especially those looking to headman the puck or set up the rush, always have more giveaways than the other players they play with. 2:1 is a high ratio, no argument from me there, but those two are still driving the play. Sometimes you drive play into the other team, but you are at least making an attempt to make something happen.

Bottom feeders are eventually going to win games. I agree that they are somewhere in between the hot start team, and the abysmal team of the last few games. It is still too early to panic in my opinion.

I did not miss Gryz at all when he was away.

Remind me which game he came back into the lineup...
- Nasty_Duck

I mean he was hard to miss last night. Completely flattened any momentum after the goalie pull by giving up a breakaway immediately. I know his underlying stats are better as of right now than Lohrei's, but I would still much prefer Lohrei play over Gryz.

Kane would make sense. After all, Boston is where Taylor Hall went to die, someone need to take his place.

Flyers wouldn't make sense though, our players show up and dead and somehow end up worse.
- jmatchett383

Huh?

I mean he was hard to miss last night. Completely flattened any momentum after the goalie pull by giving up a breakaway immediately. I know his underlying stats are better as of right now than Lohrei's, but I would still much prefer Lohrei play over Gryz.
- dothedougie

Agreed, at least we have the ability to move Gryz (not that I expect that's coming) but we are stuck with the dumpster fire that is Lindholm...

And on a positive note...Poitras at least has a 1:2 giveaway/takeaway ratio and he drives the play when he is on the ice. Granted, a couple of his giveaways have resulted in immediate goals against though.

Agreed, at least we have the ability to move Gryz (not that I expect that's coming) but we are stuck with the dumpster fire that is Lindholm...

And on a positive note...Poitras at least has a 1:2 giveaway/takeaway ratio and he drives the play when he is on the ice. Granted, a couple of his giveaways have resulted in immediate goals against though.
- bluemoon737

I think Poitras will get there. He likes to hold on to the puck. I do like that about him because he isnt a selfish player, he is just looking for the right play. Sometimes that bites you and you get the puck taken away. At least he will make someone come take it from him for the most part.

I try not to look at the amount of giveaways as a complete negative. These guys are trying to get something going or create something from nothing sometimes. If you lose the puck while doing that, well at least the effort is there. Its the really bad turnovers like the slot passes or the easily telegraphed stuff or blind wraps around the boards that are really hard to watch.

I think Poitras will get there. He likes to hold on to the puck. I do like that about him because he isnt a selfish player, he is just looking for the right play. Sometimes that bites you and you get the puck taken away. At least he will make someone come take it from him for the most part.

I try not to look at the amount of giveaways as a complete negative. These guys are trying to get something going or create something from nothing sometimes. If you lose the puck while doing that, well at least the effort is there. Its the really bad turnovers like the slot passes or the easily telegraphed stuff or blind wraps around the boards that are really hard to watch.
- dothedougie

Get another 10lb+ of muscle on him and Poitras is going to be a beast. The faceoff skills will come (also with the muscle).

Get another 10lb+ of muscle on him and Poitras is going to be a beast. The faceoff skills will come (also with the muscle).
- bluemoon737

Faceoffs are a tough thing to get really good at. Poitras will just have to put the time in and take some pointers from Coyle on it. Kinda makes me wish Bergy was an assistant coach or at least a player trainer. He would have so much insight on it. Wishful thinking, that dude has earned time away so I gotta stop wishing for that stuff haha.

10 pounds is a good start. I kinda wish they took a similar approach to how the Ducks are deploying Leo Carlsson. They are giving him rest and time to build his frame during the season. Not exactly a luxury we can afford because we need Poitras, but it is a good idea for younger players who need to put some mass on.

Faceoffs are a tough thing to get really good at. Poitras will just have to put the time in and take some pointers from Coyle on it. Kinda makes me wish Bergy was an assistant coach or at least a player trainer. He would have so much insight on it. Wishful thinking, that dude has earned time away so I gotta stop wishing for that stuff haha.

10 pounds is a good start. I kinda wish they took a similar approach to how the Ducks are deploying Leo Carlsson. They are giving him rest and time to build his frame during the season. Not exactly a luxury we can afford because we need Poitras, but it is a good idea for younger players who need to put some mass on.
- dothedougie

Don't we all!

Yeah, giving Poitras a game off here and there would be great and watching from the box has some benefits as well. Going from playing weekends to playing 6 games in 9 days is a shock to the system.

Don't we all!

Yeah, giving Poitras a game off here and there would be great and watching from the box has some benefits as well. Going from playing weekends to playing 6 games in 9 days is a shock to the system.
- bluemoon737

Dude parts of the schedule are absolutely brutal. They would be spart to deploy some kind of resting rotation when they play that much.

Dude parts of the schedule are absolutely brutal. They would be spart to deploy some kind of resting rotation when they play that much.
- dothedougie

Ain't that the truth! Hell, it's been 11 days since they would have been able to practice (day before the Montreal home game). When you have bad form creeping into your game, like they do, you need practice time to rectify it. Trying to do it in game is very hard so it's not surprising things have not gone well...not an excuse but at least somewhat of an explanation.

Ain't that the truth! Hell, it's been 11 days since they would have been able to practice (day before the Montreal home game). When you have bad form creeping into your game, like they do, you need practice time to rectify it. Trying to do it in game is very hard so it's not surprising things have not gone well...not an excuse but at least somewhat of an explanation.
- bluemoon737

I'm sure they got a great bag skate in today.

I'm sure they got a great bag skate in today.
- dothedougie

LOL, actually not scheduled to practice today...it's tomorrow.

Maybe Monty snuck in a Herb Brooks' gasser day today.

Again...Again...AGAIN!!!

LOL, actually not scheduled to practice today...it's tomorrow.

Maybe Monty snuck in a Herb Brooks' gasser day today.

Again...Again...AGAIN!!!
- bluemoon737

Yeah actual practice is tomorrow. Today.......well today we dont need our sticks out on the ice gentlemen. Ill put a couple trash cans at center ice. No one gets off the ice until we do 1000 laps.

Yeah actual practice is tomorrow. Today.......well today we dont need our sticks out on the ice gentlemen. Ill put a couple trash cans at center ice. No one gets off the ice until we do 1000 laps.

- dothedougie

Yeah actual practice is tomorrow. Today.......well today we dont need our sticks out on the ice gentlemen. Ill put a couple trash cans at center ice. No one gets off the ice until we do 1000 laps.

- dothedougie