Game 5- Bruins vs. Bolts

Jed Zeppelin

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It hurts to hear Doc saying for the umpteenth time 'upended" or some variation of 'tripped" and never a call for the Bruins.
Of all the major sports, I think the NBC announcers are the most in-the-bag for the league. They called this series as if the Bruins had bullied their way to the Presidents Trophy and were basically thugs on skates.
 

Dr. Gonzo

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Tough to see Krug’s last Bruins image being outmuscled by Maroon but it shows he isn’t worth the cap hit.
 

kenneycb

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Pasta was tripped by a skate pretty blatantly, no doubt about it. Ref staring right at it from literally 2 feet away.
50/50 call IMO. Puck was being ringed (rung?) around the boards and Pasta had no possession. Maybe he could’ve gotten to it but biggest thing it hurt was his ability to backcheck.
 

kenneycb

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Of all the major sports, I think the NBC announcers are the most in-the-bag for the league. They called this series as if the Bruins had bullied their way to the Presidents Trophy and were basically thugs on skates.
Doc’s the best out there. Eddie can take it or leave it. Never had a problem with Boucher and Jones.
 

Bergs

funky and cold
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Jul 22, 2005
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This team will be one of the "what if's" of my sporting fandom. They were fantastic before COVID, and never really got that swagger back. Rask didn't help (not slamming him at all...just saying), and way too many minutes for Ritchie and Z's corpse. Sigh. A frustrating 3-year run.
 

LogansDad

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He couldn’t move Maroon from the front of the net. I hope so.
On the play entering the zone, Point lifted Krug's stick and skated by like Krug was in pee-wee. I told my wife right then, that could be Krug's last shift if the Lightning scored there.... and then they did.
 

kenneycb

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Tough to see Krug’s last Bruins image being outmuscled by Maroon but it shows he isn’t worth the cap hit.
He’s not worth the cap hit potentially because he scored zero goals and had 2 even strength assists in 12 games while looking lost defensively and invisible generally in the series. Let’s not overreact because Tampa got into a good matchup down low.
 

RedOctober3829

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They got shafted this entire series by the referees. Combine that and the amount of perfectly deflected goals and it's a lot to play against when also getting outplayed. Going to be a very interesting offseason. What to do with Krug? RFA contracts to DeBrusk and Grz. Does Chara retire? I think they need to re-tool this roster. Need more net front presence. Too many forwards getting knocked off the puck. I wish the Rangers hadn't decided to sign Kreider long term as he'd have been what they have needed and not Kase or(gulp) Ritchie. Re-tool the 4th line.
 

Smiling Joe Hesketh

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This team will be one of the "what if's" of my sporting fandom. They were fantastic before COVID, and never really got that swagger back. Rask didn't help (not slamming him at all...just saying), and way too many minutes for Ritchie and Z's corpse. Sigh. A frustrating 3-year run.
Feels like a window has closed with this group. Which of course makes last year even worse.
 

TSC

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I will not accept the Krug slander in this thread.

Dude is an absolute heart and soul player. Is he limited? Yes. He’s not going to be a Chara, or a Hedman - but he’s a player you want on your team and he competes every shift.

Knock it the fuck off
 

kenneycb

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They got shafted this entire series by the referees. Combine that and the amount of perfectly deflected goals and it's a lot to play against when also getting outplayed. Going to be a very interesting offseason. What to do with Krug? RFA contracts to DeBrusk and Grz. Does Chara retire? I think they need to re-tool this roster. Need more net front presence. Too many forwards getting knocked off the puck. I wish the Rangers hadn't decided to sign Kreider long term as he'd have been what they have needed and not Kase or(gulp) Ritchie.
Tampa did a good job of getting into good positions where their players got clear views to tip pucks while the B’s did a shitty job of letting these pucks through and giving Tampa lanes.
 

Jed Zeppelin

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Certainly can't go back to the stationary days of D to D passing and shoveling it up the boards and praying for the best, but they need to be bigger and meaner on D, and that includes Chara who is now too slow and unsure to play to his size anymore. Grz is fine but he was certainly not immune from poor rushed clearances either. Two of Chara/Krug/Grz out the door, start working in Lauzon/Urho.
 

RedOctober3829

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Tampa did a good job of getting into good positions where their players got clear views to tip pucks while the B’s did a shitty job of letting these pucks through and giving Tampa lanes.
Yes and their forwards are just bigger and stronger than ours which led them to getting better position to tip pucks. B's did give them a lot of lanes but the next layer didn't do it either.
 

Salem's Lot

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He’s not worth the cap hit potentially because he scored zero goals and had 2 even strength assists in 12 games while looking lost defensively and invisible generally in the series. Let’s not overreact because Tampa got into a good matchup down low.
He cost himself a lot of money in these playoffs.
 

kenneycb

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This.
This will be the story of the series, in my opinion. I love smurf DMen, I am one, myself. But at this level, they get outmuscled. All those deflections tell a story.
The only small ones are Gryz, who’s fairly physical given his size, and Krug. The rest are ably sized to knock bodies.
 

LogansDad

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I will not accept the Krug slander in this thread.

Dude is an absolute heart and soul player. Is he limited? Yes. He’s not going to be a Chara, or a Hedman - but he’s a player you want on your team and he competes every shift.

Knock it the fuck off
I probably started it, and you're right. I'd love to have him back, because I agree with your assessment.... but that shift was awful.

And when I said it might be his last shift with the Bruins, I didn't mean I wanted it to be, just so I'm clear.
 

Jed Zeppelin

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Krug has been an all-time bang-for-your-buck pickup for this franchise after they spent god knows how many years and assets trying to find the hallowed Puck Moving Defenseman. If it's over, it has been an incredible run.
 

PedroSpecialK

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Lots of thoughts. Much like the series in '17-'18, I still can't get over the inconsistency of the officiating in this league and how consequential the double standards of officiating were in the outcomes of this series... to say nothing of the fact that Barclay Goodrow's attempted Cooke-ing of Anders Bjork yielded literally nothing from the DoPS in the round robin.

Gourde getting boarded from the side by Ritchie and staying down got a 5 minute major two days ago. That Kuhlman and McAvoy getting similarly boarded by Paquette (both more from behind) across the past two games without a single penalty being called is a fuckin disgrace. Bruce waited too long to call out the officiating, and even then it didn't really work because he didn't piss his pants over it in the media like Berube and Cooper before him.

It feels like there were a dozen or more paper cuts that led to this outcome in this series. Bruce relentlessly matching up line 4 with the Kucherov line cost them dearly. Brandon Carlo forgetting many things about the game of hockey cost them dearly. Chara playing the puck like a C4 explosive that could only be defused by brushing against an elevated pane of plexiglass cost them dearly. Krug being overmatched by Tampa's larger forwards cost them dearly. DeBrusk and Kase going missing for a few games cost them dearly. Guys clearly playing hurt (thinking Bergeron, Pastrnak especially) cost them dearly. There were too many differences between the team that walked the league through March and the team we saw for the past month to really feel like the Bruins were the Presidents Trophy winners - throw in some absolute dogshit officiating, and you've got a replay of the '17-'18 series.

All of that said - I don't think it's a blistering hot take to say that Tampa is the strongest roster up-and-down in the league, and I'd be surprised if they don't win the Cup. Players like Point, Cirelli, Palat, Killorn, etc play up a lot in the playoffs, which is much more than can be said for pretty much any Bruins forward outside of Krejci & Coyle.

I'd like to also say that I hope nothing but terrible things happen in the lives of Kelly Sutherland and Steve Kozari for the blown Bozak slew foot on Acciari. Fuck both of them to the eternal flames of hell.
 

Salem's Lot

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This was a bag job from the start. Tampa’s an overall bigger team and it was officiated like the Bruins were trying to bully them or taking cheap shots at a small skill team. It was complete garbage.

That being said, the size thing is definitely an issue against elite teams in the playoffs. On D they can’t have Krug and Grzelcyk in the same group anymore in the playoffs. Eventually a big team exposes that. Carlo has to start playing like he’s 6’ 5”, but I think if they got him a partner that was better defensively it would help him do more of the dirty work. Chara is cooked. I love him, but they gotta move on. I’ll be in the crowd when they put 33 up in the rafters cheering my face off, but as a player, the team has to move on.
 

Reggie's Racquet

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Sorry to see the season end. Tampa Bay could win the Stanley Cup...they are good...Tampa also might get into the World Series ...I certainly hope they beat the Yankees...and this year with Tom maybe even play in the Superbowl.
 

catomatic

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The only small ones are Gryz, who’s fairly physical given his size, and Krug. The rest are ably sized to knock bodies.
Cliffy Hockey had shitty positioning on two GA. No man’s land, not engaged with a TB forward in front of Halak. He always looks like he’s working extra hard out there but I think he’s ineffectual in this area. Perhaps for different reasons than Krug and Gryz, but same result. Nobody fears anyone in that trio in the dirty areas from a physical standpoint.
 

Myt1

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This makes last season’s cup loss to that shitty Blues team so much worse.
 

Marciano490

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This makes last season’s cup loss to that shitty Blues team so much worse.
Agreed. All season I thought we were on a revenge tour, and now it feels like we lost in the same fashion we did last year - outmuscled, bad officials and Pat Fucking Maroon’s big dumb self.
 

BaseballJones

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This makes last season’s cup loss to that shitty Blues team so much worse.
Yep. That was a golden opportunity lost.

This series though. They win game 1. Then have a great chance to win game 2 (they were up 2-1) but lose it. Get beaten badly in games 3-4, but have every chance to win last night. I mean, they took 15 more shots than Tampa, and had that power play in the last 2 minutes of the 3rd period right after scoring the tying goal. All the momentum, and couldn't even get a decent shot off. Played with huge energy to start the first OT but couldn't score.

The only good puck luck I can remember the entire series for Boston was the tying goal last night. Chara's pass got totally redirected right to Krejci's stick with a wide open net in front of him. Otherwise, it seemed like 95% of Tampa's goals came on deflections and such.

But last year...ugh. Losing 3 of 4 at home. Crushing.
 

Jordu

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There’s no team left in the bubble that can beat Tampa in a seven-game series. Turns out Tampa and the Bruins are the two best teams in the league.

Rask wouldn’t have carried the Bruins past Tampa. They’re just too good.

Bruins lost two OT games and what I will forever remember as The Nick Ritchie Game.

I expected a seven-game series but Tampa played its best when it had to, good a few fortunate bounces, and their goalie was outstanding in Game 5.

Vas should win the Vezina and Hedman the Norris. That’s a lot of talent.
 

Dummy Hoy

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I thought Tampa's D was outstanding yesterday- they broke up a good 1/2 dozen chances with last ditch efforts. Vassy stole the game.

Tampa was the better team, no doubt, but 3 of the games were coin flips. If Boston was going to win thise series they were going to need some breaks- the refs, the Rask situation, and the bounces didn't go their way, thus the 4-1 loss. At least they went out with some pride last night; they really outplayed the best team in the league last night.
 

LogansDad

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It was a great damn season. I wanted to see more of this team, and it's over too soon, but damn this team was a blast to watch this year.
 

Silverdude2167

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Tampa was the better team but I can not get over the refs just yet.

In the last two games, there were 3 very similar boarding incidents two committed by TB and yet somehow the Bruins ended up on the PK for 7 minutes and on the PP for 0.

If they just call all three the same (assuming 5 min majors), this series very easily could be sitting at a 3-2 Boston lead.
 

Arroyo Con Frijoles

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It's very hard to excel when your power play is a huge strength and the referees are extremely reluctant to put you on it.
 

kenneycb

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That speaks to their biggest issue where they had no 5x5 scoring in the playoffs. If they didn't get the whistles they were screwed. Not a winning strategy.
 

cshea

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Calls went against them but it’s a bad strategy to rely on the power play in the playoffs. You have to score at 5x5 and they couldn’t.