It's been 2 games and there's been about 5 tough shots on him with a lot of missed opportunities and shots right at him. Relax with the next big thing mentality.
How quickly we forget the Leighton's and Conklin's of the world. No disrespect to them, but we've seen this song and dance before!
Ok, ok, lets not get our Bruins boxers in a bunch here. I, for one, expected Bs in six (mmmmaybe 7) before the series started. The way they dictated play in game 1 made be believe, somewhat nievely, that they could sweep or take it on 5. Anyway, a playoff series is like a chess match with many adjustments along the way. The Bs were, far and away, the better team in game 1, minus the quality chances they needed. Washington took what they saw and made adjustments that made it difficult for the Bruins to transition from D to O. Julien learned how to make adjustments last year. I'm confident they are going to work on what they saw today and they will be better come game 3. The Bruins have the horses required. Even if they get a split in Washington, it becomes a 2 out of 3 with home ice back in Boston's favour.
As for specific players, lets start with Seguin. He's still not physically mature enough to be effective in the playoffs when space is at a premium. He (and Julien) has to find a away to find some open space to be effective
The 2 guys who's play I'm really shocked at so far are Lucic and Marchand. They should be thriving in a gritty, physical setting.
Krejci.....I'm not sure what to think just yet. I'm waiting for Playoff Krejci to show up but I'm worried regular season Krejci is what we'll get.
Having said that, the Bruins are best when they pound the other team's D on the forecheck. I expect to see more of that in game 3. I want to see Looch create space for Krejci and co. The Bergy line is best when they cycle down low. They need to get back to that. One way to make it work....again....pressure the D. They need to grind them down. Not only does it help the offense but it affects the transition game. They can't counter when they are physically warn down.
I think the Bruins understand they need to use their size up front to generate quality chances and that's what I expect them to do.
No need to panic. No need to shake up the lines. Lets see how they respond in game 3. I think it'll be positive.
Pretty disheartening two games...Bruins just refuse to dictate when not provoked....Julien being schooled right now even with final change and playing right into Hunter's hands. Not sure why we play down to competition, still, with no urgency....Also sadly Seguin is maybe the weakest player on the puck i've seen since #81 in the entire NHL...Tyler tries, but he is just no match physically along the boards right now.
And credit where credit is due to the caps D. They flat out play good hockey.
They play an antiquated trap, which was 'posed to be extinct with the new rules. If you play with any type of effort you beat it, or at very least draw interference after interference but the Bruins fowards other then line 3 really don't seem that interested in outworking anyone.
That's on the players and coached. Amazing there is no urgency or increased effort. They do the same thing, shift after shift, after shift...Power play after PP, after PP...
That's on the players and coached. Amazing there is no urgency or increased effort. They do the same thing, shift after shift, after shift...Power play after PP, after PP...
Which is nothing right? They do nothing shift after shift.
He tries, but he's just overmatched right now. When he doesn't get any space, he is totally shut down. These things will improve with time and age however.
It's crazy right? Two days of watching film and we do the same exact thing which is run head first into the trap....What gives?
I won't even call it running half the time. Offense was very lazy outside of the 3rd line today. Pouliot's goal was a thing of beauty, and exactly the type of effort you win cups with. Celebratory somersault included.
Joe Haggerty @HackswithHaggs Reply Retweet Favorite · Open
Pouliot: "We've got big guys. We're the biggest team in league. We need to do a better job of getting in front of (Holtby)." #BruinsTalk Yup
That is exactly what I noticed the Bruins not doing the past two games. The Caps have locked down the front of Holtby and allowing very little action in front of the net.
Washington is playing a good game against us....I have to hand it to them.
They are matching us hit for hit and for the most part it's been tough, playoff-style hockey. No dives, no real cheap crap....they've done well. They actually out hit us today and a lot of it came in the later stages of the game. With all the crunches we saw today, the Caps have only 6 less hits than us so far in the series..and this coming from the hometown scorekeeper.
As far as complaining about the Bruins offense, it's not so much the B's as it is the Caps. We are doing what they want us to do. We are playing a hard north/south game but the back line for the Caps are doing a good job at clearing the slot area. We thrive on shos to the net creating rebounds but so far it's been difficult to drive to the net and screen.....this HAS to get better.
You really need to look no further than the dirty stats...we are getting a ton of shots off but they are either deflecting them or blocking them...they are better than 2 to 1 in overall blocks right now and had 27 to our 8 today.
They are also sticking their sticks in the passing lanes....we've had decent chances for set-ups but they've had a ton of deflected passes. We are dominating along the offensive boards and cycling but except for a couple of Bergeron shots from Marchand feeds, nothing has been able to cleanly to get through.
We are also missing on shots more than they are. I can think of a couple of clear chances on Seguin shots in the last game and a Peverley and a Rolston shot today that went wide and/or high...simply put, you can't score if you don't get it on net....and you can't get rebounds if you don't outmuscle the defense in the net area.
We have more takeaways and the Caps have more turnovers, but haven't been able to capitalize on them, (no pun intended), while both Caps goals today came on turnovers/gaffes.
To put it bluntly, the Caps are beating us at our own game.
I've been surprised by the turnaround of Corvo but I still can't wait for McQuaid to get back and I don't know about you but Boychuk doesn't look right to me....he was on the ice for both goals and looked particularly slower than he normally is.
The biggest negative, which reflects last year, is the disappearance of the Krecji / Lucic factor. Krecji was abysmal on faceoffs, winning only 1, got hammered with an Ovechkin check and someone really needs to piss off Lucic....he's been hot and cold so far. Peverley is more than adequate as a replacement for Horton but there has to be more from these guys.
The Bergeron line has been good IMO but agree with whoever said something about the ice....the puck has been dancing out there and both Seguin and Marchand thrive on puck control.
The third line has been great, Poullliot looks like he wants to stay in a Bruins uni.
The Campbell line has been good also, creating turnovers and scoring chances with their hustle and grit.....but Claude, DO NOT PUT THEM ON THE ICE WITH ZANON AND CORVO!!!!
And after the first period the refs put away the whistles and let both teams play....but as I said about the B's taking advantage of the Caps mistakes, the biggest advantage that we're blowing is the PP....this is unacceptable. They will live or die on this. The reason we won last year was because the PP woke up in the later series....but I think the Caps are going to match us grind for grind and we're going to have to get that PP working sooner than later.
Buck up folks, the B's are a good team and we all love this team of year, eh?
Boston Bruins Hockey: Doing It The Hard Way....Once Again.
I know Paille isnt a center but throw MacD in to stir somethings up. Campbell really hasnt done anything and at least Paille has speed and is engaging physically
He tries, but he's just overmatched right now. When he doesn't get any space, he is totally shut down. These things will improve with time and age however.
No doubt . . . yet stands in stark contrast to Bergeron, who is basically bleeding-out - every shift, every puck.
Not one bit panicked here, there`s more than a few teams who had home ice whom I will not mention that would LOVE to be 1-1 right now, I`d rather be 2-0 but thus is life of a sports fan, ups and downs, ebbs and flows.
Our boys will keep it as simple as possible, take the shots when they should (counted about 5 passes that should have been shots), Holtby has been made to look like Patrick Roy out there.
Gonna be a tougher task matching lines/pairings on the road but CJ knows this game, our boys will be fine.
Keep the faith Bruin fans, exhale, this is hardly disasterous
Almost hate to say it but this series has a very Canes-like feel to it...Will be interesting to see what happens when the Caps have last change...Staal and Jokinen killed us that year when they had last change games 3 and 4.
Not one bit panicked here, there`s more than a few teams who had home ice whom I will not mention that would LOVE to be 1-1 right now, I`d rather be 2-0 but thus is life of a sports fan, ups and downs, ebbs and flows.
Our boys will keep it as simple as possible, take the shots when they should (counted about 5 passes that should have been shots), Holtby has been made to look like Patrick Roy out there.
Gonna be a tougher task matching lines/pairings on the road but CJ knows this game, our boys will be fine.
Keep the faith Bruin fans, exhale, this is hardly disasterous
