3/28 v Nashville

MiracleOfO2704

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Jul 12, 2005
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Presidents Trophy magic number is 4, and Carolina can’t catch the Bruins’ RW total, so any combination of 4 points gained by Boston/lost by the Hurricanes wraps it up.

Beyond that, it’s up to the Bruins if they want to go for history. The wins record is more likely to be in range (need wins in 6 of 9 remaining games), while the points record (14 of 18 needed) would likely require going all-out through 82*. My guess is they know that it’s just about getting the 16 wins in the spring, so there’s likely to be let-up, especially once they put the P in front of their Twitter name.

*obvious caveat being that the Bruins’ B-squad can still roll good teams. See Hurricanes, Carolina.
 

Over Guapo Grande

panty merchant
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Nov 29, 2005
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They also can’t play games with guys used to wearing a P on the front of their Sweater (goes to your point above about the B’s B squad). They can win a lot of games 2-0, with a goals from the 4th line and Swaymark.
 

MiracleOfO2704

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Jul 12, 2005
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But it’s likely that they start sitting a couple forwards a game, in particular Bergeron and Krejci at one end of back-to-backs. A center spine of Zacha-Coyle-Frederic-Nosek is likely better than a decent number of teams.
 

wiffleballhero

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Mar 28, 2009
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In the simulacrum
Puck luck, any given night, hockey weirdness, hot goalies, etc. etc. etc.

Having written that, the Bruins are absolutely not looking at the hardest nine game stretch of the season. Anything is possible for them, even with deliberate rest days involved.

Nashville is not a great team and while they must be fighting for their playoff lives, they're getting a little far out on the edge of that playoff bubble given how much time is left.
 

cshea

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Nov 15, 2006
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Looks like a full lineup tonight minus Lauko. I think most of the resting, to the extent they can rest guys, will be done on the road.

Marchand - Bergeron - DeBrusk
Zacha - Krejci - Pastrnak
Bertuzzi - Coyle - Frederic
Greer - Nosek - Hathaway

Grzelyck - McAvoy
Lindholm - Carlo
Orlov - Clifton

Ullmark

Hall and Foligno are skating with no-contact jersey's. I think one problem they both have is the team doesn't practice much so clearing the contact hurdle may take longer than normal.
 

yeahlunchbox

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Jan 21, 2008
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Can they be sent down to Providence for conditioning, even if they only practice and don't play in an actual game?
 

Cotillion

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Jun 11, 2019
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Lauzon going for the Bruins PP sucks so much... let's go on the PK to get some more scoring chances
 

Dewey's 'stache

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Mar 16, 2023
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Weird ass power play tactics on display there: Passing for the sake of passing….with no intent to shoot
 

durandal1707

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Apr 18, 2007
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Not sure if NST is acting up or was that really 0.09 to 0.07 expected goals? Might just be the most boring period of hockey played this season.
 

MiracleOfO2704

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At some point, they have to do something else for entries. Drop pass carries aren't working anymore because the PK can just bunch up at the blue line and break it up before it has a chance to do anything.

Zacha had a decent entry where he went hard on the farside boards. Maybe do that, or pair late flyers to keep the PK from focusing on the guy carrying the puck from the red line. Or hell, dump and chase and assume you can outrun their defencemen. Anything but the same old thing.
 

durandal1707

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Apr 18, 2007
6,669
At some point, they have to do something else for entries. Drop pass carries aren't working anymore because the PK can just bunch up at the blue line and break it up before it has a chance to do anything.

Zacha had a decent entry where he went hard on the farside boards. Maybe do that, or pair late flyers to keep the PK from focusing on the guy carrying the puck from the red line. Or hell, dump and chase and assume you can outrun their defencemen. Anything but the same old thing.
I feel like teams have been stacking up the blue line for months now and they haven't made an adjustment. I have to wonder if they're intentionally hiding their real PP strategy for the playoffs at this point.
 

Cotillion

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Jun 11, 2019
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Teams have their entire PK all up against teh blue line it seems now everytime. Maybe one guy back for just in case daring the Bruins to dump the puck in.
 

The Napkin

wise ass al kaprielian
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Jul 13, 2002
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right here
my conspiracy theory is they've been working on an awesome pp in practice but don't want to show it off before the playoffs to give teams tape of it.
I believe in unicorns too.