The message on Bob seemed to be "shoot high."
I can't remember where I read it, but basically Bob's stance in goal means he's extremely adept at moving side to side better than most goalies but is very vulnerable to the type of goals the Bruins scored last night.
Also, it seems JVR has mostly recovered from whatever illness felled him mid season. Someone on TV mentioned he lost 10-15 lbs. Regardless, he was a zero for most of the spring, from whom I was not expecting much. Two weeks ago, I would've said Heinen in, JVR out, is a no-brainer. Not quite, right now.
Beecher is playing wing so they could take Brown out, kick Beecher to the middle and put Heinen on the 4th line. I'm not really sure what the deal was with Brown getting in anyway. I don't think Boqvist has been bad and doesn't appear to be injured given he skated both in the morning and in warmups.
Yeah I could see that. I don’t really understand the Brown move either other than maybe faceoffs and wanting to be heavier, but I thought Boqvist was fine too. I just figured if they wanted him last night they’ll want him again.
Yeah, taking a deeper look, it was almost certainly for draws. Brown is about 55% for his career in the NHL, Boqvist about 35%. Brown ended up going 5-2 at the dot last night.
That and the move to being heavier/tougher in this series vs faster in the TOR series. Boquist is 184 pounds, Brown at 214. Same goes for Forbort at 216 vs Gryz 180 or Shattenkirk 203 but not that tough.
Thanks for grabbing the stats
I think there's been a couple of adjustments in terms of the faceoffs. First was putting Geekie in the middle and bumping Zacha to the wing. Zacha was good during the regular season (54%) but was getting crushed by Toronto. Game 5 he was 4-13, game 6 he was 1-9. Game 7 he was 6-7, then last night only took 2 draws (going 1-1). Getting Geekie on that line gives them 2 centers, a righty and a lefty, to cover draws, especially after icings when they can't change. Geekie is like 48% for his career so he's not like a faceoff wizard but it at least helps stabilize the situation. It's the multiple icings over and over that can kill and that was what happened in game 5. Zacha's line would ice it, they'd lose the draw, they'd spend 30 second running around, ice it again, etc. The second was Brown for Boqvist which also added a bit more heaviness.
Shattenkirk's Game 7 pre-game speech notwithstanding (and he need not be playing to do that, anyway), if Lohrei has levelled up to somewhat-less-terrifying defense in the d-zone, then Shattenkirk becomes closer to superfluous.
It felt to me that the Bruins were making a concerted effort to use the boards to get the breakouts going. I have no statistical backup for this, but it is a kinda clever way to beat a forecheck that probably focuses more on direct passing angles. Of course, this also risks more icings and losing possession, but it also pushes FL back a bit off the forecheck and can lead to good OZ possessions and OMRs.
I kind of liked it when the B's made Florida do that late in the 3rd period
I'm not a big X's and O's guy but they do use the boards a lot for breakouts. In general, passing it up the middle can be dangerous.
Indeed, but that situation is even more to my point: there is never a situation where you want your team with six skaters on the ice, even when it is not also an indication of your collective heads being firmly up your collective asses.
I remember some years ago I asked folks here about the goalie pipeline because I wasn't up to speed on that part of the organization and was curious about post-Tuukka life and @TheRealness mentioned Swayman and his potential to make it to the bigs. At that time I got excited about him and it's been an accelerated journey since then.
Yeah. I think people fret too much about icing. Would have certainly taken an icing on the
A single icing in isolation to relieve pressure or missing on a exit pass isn't the end of the world. It's the multipe consecutive icings that get to be problematic. Guys get worn down, They get 1 or 2 guys off but the other 3 are dog tired, etc.
I expect more icings cause the Panthers have always given the Bruins trouble with their forecheck, and trying to break the forecheck is by making those longer passes behind the forecheck. Gonna miss some of those passes and will inevitably have the icings.
The most impressive thing about him has always been how quick he is, and how controlled his movements are. It's something Rask was exceptional at.
With some of those passes along the near-side boards that end up as icing, it's hard to tell from TV if the pass was off, if the winger was late, if he just missed a good pass, or if the defender got a good stick lift. But as @Cotillion said, those types of icings might just be an unavoidable side-effect from how to beat the forecheck.
Other than a delayed penalty on the other guys. But your point is a good one.
Yeah ultimately I’ll take this kind of thing over getting cute trying to find the perfect breakout and handing the puck over to the other team with our guys heading in the wrong direction and scrambling to recover.
I didn't see a reply to this - but they covered it in the 2nd intermission. BOB essentially locks his right side against the near post- that gives him something to push off of going side to side. For the Lohrei goal, his weight was already shifting left (across the goal), which opened up the gap above his shoulder. The hosts said that had BOB just stood square to the shooter, the goal never would have happened, and there were pretty much no passing lanes either.
Tkachuk didn't target Pastrnak. Pastrnak was a willing participant. The shots at the end were obviously cheap but it wasn't like Tkachuk jumped Pasta. It was an agreed upon fight by both parties.
