Poke The Bear with Conor Ryan Ep. 194
Today Conor Ryan of Boston.com breaks down the Bruins' recent struggles and what needs to be addressed, including some overtime blunders that have cost the Bruins points. How do the Bruins fix these issues and right the ship?
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Today Conor Ryan of Boston.com breaks down the Bruins' recent struggles and what needs to be addressed, including some overtime blunders that have cost the Bruins points. How do the Bruins fix these issues and right the ship?
This episode of Poke the Bear is brought to you by Fanduel Sportsbook, the exclusive wagering parter of the CLNS Media NetworkRight now, NEW customers get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS with any winning FIVE DOLLAR MONEYLINE BET! So, visit https://FanDuel.com/BOSTON and kick off the NFL season. FanDuel, Official Partner of the NFL. 21+ and present in MA. Hope is here. First online real money wager only. $5 pregame moneyline wager required. First onlinereal money wager only. $10 first deposit required. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable bonus bets that expire 7 days after receipt. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. GamblingHelpLineMa.org or call (800)-327-5050 for 24/7 support. Play it smart from the start! GameSenseMA.com or call 1-800-GAM-1234.
Factor Meals! Visit https://factormeals.com/POKE50 to get 50% off your first box! Factor is America’s #1 Ready-To-Eat Meal Kit, can help you fuel up fast with ready-to-eat meals delivered straight to your door.
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SportsTranscript
00:00 You can see why I think Jeremy Swineman made his way off the ice very quickly and was very stern in his post-game comments.
00:09 Because playing at a high level, you can't have those lapses when you're trying to fight back and accumulate points.
00:15 You've got Florida breathing down your neck here in the standings.
00:19 Anytime you're a goalie and you make a scorpion save, as Swineman did in that game as well,
00:23 and you walk off with a loss, whether it be in regulation or overtime, you're going to be a little bit steamed anyway.
00:28 [MUSIC]
00:38 And welcome into Poke the Bear, episode 194, presented by CLNS Media and sponsored by our good friends over at Factor Meals and Fandle.
00:48 My name is Connor Ryan, and we are once again going with a solo show to close out the week.
00:53 We're here to talk to you, of course, about Bill Belichick, Gerard Mayo, and the legacy that Bill...
01:01 No, I'm fucking with you guys. Don't worry.
01:02 We're talking about the Bruins. We're doing a, again, solo show.
01:06 Not a mailbag, but I think there's enough to kind of digest from this week as to what we've seen so far
01:12 that we'll be able to touch on a couple of different topics, both in terms of this Bruins ongoing road trip,
01:19 which has not gone according to plan, to say the least, as well as kind of looking at the halfway point of the season.
01:26 After the Bruins game against the Golden Knights on Thursday officially marked the halfway point of the 2023-24 season.
01:35 So quick little assessment as to where the Bruins are.
01:39 I think they've probably exceeded expectations, but we'll kind of see...
01:43 We'll kind of map out things that have stood out as to what we've seen so far this year.
01:47 But to lead things off, I think it's good to talk about the Bruins' last game in Vegas,
01:53 losing overtime yet again to the Vegas Golden Knights and Bruce Cassidy.
02:00 And I think my main takeaway from it, it's kind of this road trip beyond the fact that there's been a lot of injuries,
02:07 which we'll address a little bit later on here.
02:10 I think Jeremy Swamen kind of said it best post-game, is that, you know,
02:14 the frustration of not being able to finish these games.
02:17 We've talked about this before.
02:19 I believe it was with Evan on our last Poke the Bear episode of like,
02:24 this Bruins team rarely gets run out of the building, right?
02:27 Like even games where, let's say, you know, they give up seven goals to the Rangers.
02:31 They kind of went back and forth in the second period there.
02:33 You had that 6-5 loss to the Penguins where Bruins seemed like they were down and out early on.
02:38 They come back in and you look at a few of these other games, right?
02:41 Like the shootout loss to Colorado, they come back twice, end up only getting the loser point there.
02:47 They're in all these games.
02:49 But the one thing that's kind of stood out is just the inability to,
02:54 you know, deliver and kind of land that knockout punch,
02:57 whether it be the end of the game or especially once you get to three on three overtime, right?
03:03 Like the Bruins are two and eight now in overtime this year.
03:09 A lot has gone wrong during that stretch and again, you can kind of maybe cast that aside as like,
03:15 all right, well, once you get to the playoffs and when the games actually really start mattering,
03:18 you don't have to worry about three on three anymore.
03:20 But they've been begging a whole lot of one-point showing so far this year.
03:25 You'll have to see if you want to break their way.
03:28 And again, like you losing a shootout to Colorado on Monday, it's a shootout.
03:33 What are you going to do? We'll talk about David Pasternak
03:35 and his eventful week a little bit later on as well.
03:39 But lose a shootout, you know, what are you going to do there?
03:44 Tough result all around Tuesday in Arizona where Jeremy Swainman,
03:49 shitty situation for him comes in cold.
03:51 It's Alina Solnmark goes down with an injury.
03:54 You know, I thank you for that point. You're already kind of taking the L on that game based on,
03:59 you know, the optics of losing Almark, losing Matt Potra
04:04 and a really tough break for swimming there.
04:06 And then you have the game on Thursday against Vegas where again,
04:09 Bruins come back, tie it up in the third period.
04:13 A lot of the same kind of mistakes we've seen throughout, right?
04:16 Way too many penalties for the Bruins, way too many sticking fractions,
04:20 which has been a big issue this year for this team.
04:23 And again, as good as the Bruins penalty kill is,
04:28 still can't be taken four or five trips to the to the sin bin every single game
04:32 because you're going to even if you're still playing at a high level on the PK
04:36 and you're really shutting down a lot of these opposing power plays.
04:39 The same thing we've talked about with like the general workload of some of your star players
04:42 that that Jim Montgomery's kind of dialed up for these guys.
04:46 You can do it now in January, but keep on doing it night in night out.
04:50 You get to February and you know, March when it feels like the Bruins have a game every other day.
04:55 If not, it feels like they got them on back to back days.
04:59 It is going to wear you down. So, you know, taking bad penalties.
05:04 D zone still has way too many. I think grade A chances too many chances off the rush.
05:10 And again, you play against Colorado Avalanche,
05:12 like you're going to have a lot of chances against on the rush
05:15 when you've got guys like Nathan McKinnon and kill my car who can fly.
05:18 So you have that, you know, a pretty tough test regardless in terms of the matchups.
05:22 The Bruins are playing against but still a lot left to be desired there defensively.
05:27 But I still think the number one thing is just being able to finish these games
05:32 and finishing them where there be, you know, late in games or in the overtime.
05:37 Again, you look at David Pasternak and the misplay with him.
05:41 And I guess we'll just kind of shift focus to Pasternak
05:44 because if it wasn't for a certain coach in Foxborough getting fired up,
05:49 sorry, mutual parting of ways, I believe is what the actual statement is.
05:54 But if it wasn't for Bill Belichick being on the move and Gerard Mayer subsequently taking over there,
06:00 I'm sure there'd probably a lot more discourse on the radio waves or TV
06:04 or what have you about David Pasternak's week.
06:06 And again, I will say that if you want to look at the issues with him on Monday and Tuesday,
06:14 I'm willing to kind of wipe those aside, right? Like people are not happy with his final shootout attempt.
06:19 Listen, I get the optics of it. It looked like he had a bus to catch at the end of that game, right?
06:25 With the way that shot looked and we know how talented David Pasternak can be in breakaways,
06:31 shootout situations, giving him any time and space. He can do a lot of damage there.
06:35 That being said, when you look at just the way he was approaching that, I view it as more as,
06:41 you know, I think goalies are well aware of that kind of slingshot move that Pasternak now has.
06:46 He's done a couple of times this year and beat goalies clean.
06:48 Seems like Georgia was anticipating it.
06:50 So David Pasternak went for the kind of the short, quick shot,
06:54 try to catch him by surprise, try to beat him five-hole. Didn't work out.
06:57 Georgia have anticipated it and made it look like a pretty shitty play.
07:01 But I think I can at least see the rationale behind that one.
07:06 On Tuesday, again, Pasternak has a sick goal earlier on in the game,
07:11 which led to, I think, the the Bruins chirping back at a few people who weren't happy with his shootout attempt the night before.
07:18 But then, you know, late in game and over time has two breakaways.
07:22 Doesn't go. One great stop by Conor Ingram, who is unreal in that game against Arizona, as was Olmark.
07:29 It's a shame that he went down with an injury because there was a really fun goalie battle in that game in Molitorino in front of approximately 48 people.
07:37 But you look at what David Pasternak did in that game. Again, breakaways.
07:43 One goes off the post. One a great step by Ingram.
07:46 It sucks, especially when you know that, you know, if you bury that one really earlier on and over time, you maybe don't have Olmark getting banged up.
07:52 You don't have all these what ifs, what have you. So again, though, breakaway wasn't a severe, I think,
07:58 like D zone lapse or something like that that look at back of the tape and be like, like,
08:04 I'm not going to do that for a breakaway situation for a guy that I think above the league average can put those goals away and has done that quite a bit.
08:12 So I'm not going to really smirch Pasternak for that. Thursday, you have a little bit more validity in terms of being angry.
08:19 I think, you know, Jim Montgomery said it after the game. It kind of falls on, of course, Pasternak for, you know, that lapse there.
08:25 And, you know, not accounting for Stone leads to a two on one easy overtime goal for the Golden Knights.
08:31 I think the Bruins even touched the puck in overtime. But, you know,
08:36 Montgomery even mentioned after the game that it was definitely a miscommunication between both Pasternak and Brad Marchand.
08:42 Seems like both of them didn't kind of read the situation at all, like, and allowed Mark Stone to kind of just take off,
08:49 you know, lead to an odd man rush. And there's really nothing Jeremy Swineman could do there,
08:53 which you can see why I think I think Jeremy Swineman made his way off the ice very quickly and was very, very stern,
09:01 I think, in his postgame comments, because, I mean, playing at a high level,
09:06 you can't have those kind of lapses when you're trying to fight back and accumulate points.
09:10 You got Florida kind of breathing down your neck here in the standings.
09:14 Anytime I think your goal and you make a scorpion save, as Swineman did in that game as well,
09:17 and you walk off with a with a loss, whether it be in regulation or overtime, you're going to be a little bit steamed anyway.
09:22 So, listen, I think especially Thursday, you know, these guys, especially these star players, aren't immune to criticism.
09:30 It was a tough look, I think, by both Pasternak and Marchand on that, a pretty costly miscommunication there.
09:36 And I think, you know, it's again, these guys aren't immune to it, nor should you just, you know, overlook every, you know,
09:41 D-zone miscue, even though that's not necessarily Pasternak's bread and butter.
09:46 Right. I think we're all well aware of that. That being said, again, you can, I think, criticize them.
09:53 And I think they can be warranted. I think that what makes a rational fan base,
09:59 it's, you know, when you're able to both, you know, praise a player, especially a star player,
10:04 when their talents kind of take over and also kind of take them to task when it doesn't work out.
10:08 And again, it's hockey, it's a game of mistakes and shit happens.
10:11 So it's a tough result on Thursday.
10:14 That being said, people who are, you know, I know one radio station was saying that Pasternak should have been suspended
10:21 for a game for that Monday shootout attempt.
10:26 I mean, listen, it's conjecture. I know you're trying to drum up the dramatics a little bit,
10:32 but David Pasternak is still a guy that, you know, he's got 57 points in 41 games on pace for a Kerr high in points without Bergeron and Crecce.
10:42 He's factored. He has a point in 42 percent of all the Bruins goals this year.
10:46 Like you would be up the creek in deep shit without David Pasternak being guy, especially early on.
10:53 Like I think we've seen as of late, the Bruins offense has been a little bit better,
10:58 especially over that stretch where they had what, four plus goals and six straight games.
11:03 Offense is coming around, but you look at earlier on this year, we're feeling every game was one goal game.
11:09 You had to rely on O. Marker and Swamey to kind of bail you out there.
11:12 You would be in deep trouble if you didn't have David Pasternak kind of still putting up those video game numbers.
11:17 So, again, like every good player, they're not immune to criticism.
11:21 You can call them out when they're, you know, have these lapses.
11:24 Thursday wasn't a good look. I'm not really fretting over Monday or Tuesday in those plays necessarily.
11:31 But I think the most important thing to take away from it is that, yeah, he's not perfect as is any person, athlete, whatever, whatever you want to say.
11:40 But let me tell you, David Pasternak makes a hell of a lot more good plays and bad plays.
11:45 So, again, you can you can you can take the L's, you can find the situations that we like.
11:53 Tate doesn't look too friendly, but I'm willing to bet a hefty amount that there's a lot more good than bad.
11:58 That comes from having a superstar talent like David Pasternak leading the way for you.
12:04 So I think I'll end that little segment there on Pasternak.
12:07 And I have to imagine most people are in the same boat.
12:11 Listen, you need a little bit more from him at times defensively, but he is far from the issue with this team when he's generating as much as he has.
12:18 But again, I think the safe bet to assume that David Pasternak is going to be a key piece for this team,
12:24 both this year and the years ahead, especially offensively.
12:28 But going off of that, let's why don't we take a quick little break here?
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13:40 And also quick note, you know, looking back at these last couple of games, injury bug, not great for the Bruins.
13:46 I think all things considered, when you look at what the optics were of Tuesday's game in Arizona,
13:52 I think you'll take it if you're a Bruins fan that, you know, so Marcus day to day again,
13:57 we're talking about hockey players day to day could mean, you know, you put it day to day designation for a guy with fucking cracked ribs,
14:03 dislocated knee or, you know, again, you can really tell in the timeline with some of these injuries.
14:09 But all things considered, the fact that he's not on LTIR, that he's not designated week to week.
14:15 It's a really good sign for a guy that looked like he was going to miss a significant amount of time when that injury happened on Tuesday.
14:21 So if you're the Bruins, you'll take that even if he's out for a week or two, even if it's through the all star break, let him recoup from that.
14:29 You'll take that over. Seeing him back in late March, if not the rest of the year, the way it looked was pretty scary on Tuesday.
14:38 Now, Patra, same thing day to day. You hope he gets back.
14:41 Had a really promising first game at Tampa and then Brennan Carlos going to miss the next couple of games.
14:46 Placed on IR with an upper body injury, just suffering that on Monday against Colorado. Big loss.
14:53 We know how good Brennan Carlos is at PK, but I think especially at five on five play, he's probably been your steadiest defenseman.
15:00 I would probably say this year, especially in in the D zone.
15:03 So I need him back as soon as possible here. So hopefully it's not an extended absence for Brennan Carlos.
15:10 All right. Well, now looking past kind of the recap of this past week,
15:15 it's kind of look a little bit more big picture and do kind of a midseason point review after that game in Vegas.
15:21 The Bruins are now at the halfway point of the year.
15:25 They're twenty four, eight, nine as of recording this.
15:28 I believe there's still a point ahead of Florida who are red hot.
15:32 The team looks kind of like we saw in the playoffs last year. They look scary as shit.
15:36 So we'll see kind of how that plays out. I think most Bruins fans after the after the way last year went,
15:42 you probably rather maybe slide down the standings a little bit,
15:46 not have the moniker or the label of being a president's trophy or, you know, top seed or what have you.
15:52 Maybe it's better to kind of be the two and set yourself up for a nice little Bruins Maple Leafs matchup again.
15:58 I feel like that would that would be a little bit more palatable than, you know,
16:02 dealing with whatever wildcard team makes it in the last day that's running hot.
16:06 And you have that same scenario playing out again.
16:08 So I think as a whole, though, midway point, I think Bruins fans should be encouraged by what they've seen so far this year.
16:16 I don't think people had a firm grasp on what exactly this team is going to be this year.
16:20 I know Evan and I mentioned I think we've said second and third in the Atlantic going to be a really tough out,
16:28 you know, their strengths based on defense and goaltending.
16:31 And I mean, I think so far they've exceeded expectations in terms of where they are.
16:35 Again, I think a lot of that is due to that Red Hot start they had.
16:38 I want to say there are 15 like when you count like just OT and shootout losses, it's just loss.
16:43 I think they're like below 500 over the last month plus.
16:47 So they have taken a step back without a doubt.
16:53 Again, are they where are they? The team that started the year at heart of the team that's kind of been up and down.
16:58 I think the more in the middle. Right. And they've clearly got issues to fix, especially defensively has been.
17:04 I think that's really kind of stood out here.
17:05 But for a team that lost so much talent in the offseason and had all these woes about what exactly they were going to be moving forward,
17:13 especially this year is this kind of bridge gap year where you didn't have a lot of cap space anyway,
17:19 and you kind of just trying to tread water. I think you'll take a, you know,
17:22 being number one in the East for most of the first half of the year.
17:27 And I think a lot of guys have stepped up. And I think if we're looking at probably the most positive and negative surprises out of the gate.
17:34 So far this year for me positive, I think it has to be the fact that you really haven't to worry that much about the center depth.
17:40 Right. Like that again, the forward groupings have been a work in progress because like every other day, there's a new kind of line combination there.
17:48 So that continues to be something that Jim Montgomery is shuffling around.
17:52 But for that being the biggest issue so far this year, you know, whether it be.
17:57 Charlie Coyle, who's on pace for 60 points and over 30 goals, Pavel Zaka shifted from center to wing and he's kind of cooled down a little bit,
18:05 but still has been pretty solid when needed. Again, it's tough to really, you know,
18:10 put these guys into set roles when the lines have been shuffled around so much this year.
18:14 But I think he's been steady kind of trying to build off of last year.
18:19 And then I think, you know, he didn't have the strongest game on Thursday,
18:22 but like Morgan Geeky is a guy that since he came back from that upper body injury back in November,
18:27 I think he has 16 points in his last 22 games.
18:30 Like he's he's playing really good hockey right now. And again, he's in an elevated role.
18:35 We've talked about it with Geeky before that his production is something that you would think instead of getting 10,
18:40 11 minutes a night in Seattle, like he did last season, give him 14, 15.
18:45 He should benefit from it. Also helps. He's playing with guys like David Pasternak night in and night out,
18:50 which definitely helps you boost up your numbers a little bit. But I think he's been steady in the top six.
18:55 I don't know if he's a permanent fixture there, but he can kind of be that,
18:59 you know, Riley Nash, Swiss Army knife kind of player that's step that can step up and can kind of perform his role all across the lineup.
19:07 So I think he's been good. Patra, you know, what you wait to see it when he gets back,
19:11 but had a really good first game against Tampa. Again,
19:13 I think you take the you take the victories when they're available for a 19 year old kid like Patra,
19:18 who I think is still a year ahead of schedule.
19:21 And even if he goes through the bumps this year of, you know, hitting the rookie wall or fighting through the physicality,
19:29 I think you've got a really strong player that's going to continue to develop where all of a sudden you go to next season.
19:34 Kids still 20 years old. He's got a full year under his belt, knows how to train, knows what to expect.
19:40 I think it only goes uphill from here. So I think as a whole,
19:44 as much as that's very scary to go into a new year when you don't have two fixtures and Bertrand and Crecci in place.
19:51 I think that's probably been the thing that's really stood out to me so far is the center depth has really held its own.
19:57 And even with all the mixing matching with these lines, whether it's,
20:01 you know, guys signed to bargain deals like Geeky or James Van Reemstuyken or Dan Hynan or,
20:07 you know, Trent Frederick really starting to heat up and asserting himself as a middle six fixture.
20:12 I think Jake DeBrus is playing a better game as of late, which is huge.
20:17 I think as a whole, is this team going to be like a top five offense?
20:19 No, but you're seeing a couple more guys, I think,
20:22 starting to pull on the rope here and having a pretty capable offense that obviously starts with guys like Parson,
20:28 I reckon, Martian. But this offense, I think, has the potential,
20:32 especially these guys keep on building their games being a lot better than I expected going into this year,
20:37 where I thought maybe we're looking at, you know, top five in goals against in 15, 16,
20:44 somewhere somewhere around that in terms of offense.
20:47 It's kind of almost been the opposite in terms of maybe just the optics, at least to start this year.
20:51 So that's been my biggest surprise. Before we start looking at maybe the flip side of that,
20:56 in terms of maybe what's been a little bit disappointing out of the gate.
20:59 Let's take another quick break here and listen to our friends over at Factor Meals.
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22:13 All right, looking at probably the negatives of this year.
22:19 Listen, I think we can talk about maybe the individual play of, you know,
22:23 guys like DeBrusque who was really slow out of the gate.
22:28 You know, have his lintelms, I think probably individually has kind of maybe taken a step back,
22:34 even though I think he had really unrealistic expectations off of just how elite he was in every facet of his game last year.
22:40 Last year was, you know, I had him, I think, second on my Norris voting.
22:45 I think he was just money every time he was stepping over onto the ice.
22:51 So he's maybe taking a little bit of a step back, even though he's getting a lot of D-zone starts as well.
22:54 You got guys banged up like Grislyk, who seems like he's at least offensively settling in a little bit more.
22:59 I think he's got five points in his last seven games, gets the goal in Vegas.
23:03 But I think probably the biggest surprise that's been a disappointment, just the overall D-zone coverage, D-zone work.
23:11 You look at the personnel there. This is a team that I think we all expected.
23:17 The goaltending tandem was still going to be very strong, if not, you know, building off of it from last year.
23:22 Right. Where how young Swammon is that he can take another step forward and make that that tandem even better in 2023, 24.
23:30 You looked at the personnel on that decor, the fact that the Bruins identity has been rooted in a really strong stingy zone defense for years now.
23:40 Those two things in place, even with the question marks about who is going to be playing down the middle, you know, these younger players, are they ready?
23:47 How do these kind of bargain bin guys fit into the lineup?
23:50 Are they still, you know, as JVR passes prime as Frederick was last year in aberration?
23:55 You know, he had all these question marks up front. I think we were expecting a lot of one goal games,
23:59 but the Bruins to be on the winning side of most of them.
24:02 Right. Just in terms of how good they have been in the past defensively.
24:06 And again, they haven't really been buried that much.
24:10 And it helps when you've got two really good goalies in all American swimming, bailing you out.
24:14 But they've been decidedly middle of the pack so far this year in terms of, you know, rush chances.
24:21 They've been pretty low in terms of tracking those.
24:24 But high danger chances, they're right in the middle of the pack, if not trending more towards the bottom of the pack in terms of just how many quality looks are giving up.
24:33 You know, playing at the net front has been an issue.
24:36 It's just doing things that make things way too easy for opposing teams to get good looks against, again, two really good goalies.
24:43 But it's unsustainable and you're running into a lot of trouble when you get to especially the playoffs when teams thrive down low.
24:49 And, you know, a lot of these teams that have success with these physical forward checking teams like Carolina and Florida and what have you,
24:56 if your net front and your D zone coverage is still out of whack by then, it doesn't matter if you've got, you know,
25:02 Hasik and a few other, you know, Hall of Fame goalies all on the line.
25:05 You're going to get buried in a couple of those games.
25:07 And it's all a lot of it's going to be self-inflicted, as was I think a lot of the miscues and goals against you saw last year in the postseason.
25:14 So, again, I think any offensive contributions you have, these three, four or five goal games, you absolutely take them.
25:24 That's how you're working with house money, I think, at that point.
25:26 But you look at the way this team is built and how the blueprint of how they can go on a run.
25:32 It's all going to be rooted in your two goalies staying hot, bailing you out of a couple of games,
25:37 but also your defense holding, holding tall and standing tall against some really good offenses.
25:43 And you land the punches where you can offensively.
25:46 I think that's kind of the blueprint for this year, at least, as you're in this kind of successful bridge season of trying to kind of wade the way through this and get to next year when you got a crap ton of cap space to spend and younger guys are getting better.
26:02 There's optimism on the horizon for, you know, really aggressively retooling this team in the years ahead.
26:08 It's already a pretty good foundation in place, but the way this team is built with their cap limitations last year, this team's bread and butter is going to be rooted in its defensive identity, both in net and especially their play right in front of their goaltenders.
26:21 And I think that's been lacking so far this year.
26:24 So, again, it's not going to get any easier.
26:27 You're going to have a whole lot of situations where these guys are going to be playing a lot of games down the stretch here.
26:32 It's going to be less and less practice time, which is kind of concerning because I feel like the Brogues need a couple of sustained long practice sessions where they can really kind of fine tune some of this work.
26:43 It's been a recurring issue, but if you ask me right now, again, Burns, I think have exceeded expectations have been playing at a really high level this year.
26:51 But all that's going to fall to the wayside if it ends up being another very disappointed first round exit.
26:57 And if your D zone coverage doesn't fine tune and fix itself up between now and then, you put yourself in a pretty awful spot against whoever you draw.
27:05 It doesn't matter. Any team in the playoff can beat anyone else.
27:09 If your D zone coverage is lacking, you're letting pucks hover on the net front, not cleaning up that area of the ice, you're going to get buried.
27:16 So I think that's definitely an area of emphasis for this team going on down the stretch.
27:21 All right, well, that will do it.
27:22 That will do it with this episode of Poke the Bear, episode 194.
27:27 I want to thank you guys all for tuning in, listening, whether it be on Spotify, listening in your car, wherever it is on YouTube, of course.
27:39 We'll be back at it next week with Evan and Ty running through, you know, getting back to a few home games finally as this schedule pick up a little bit before we get into the all star break in a couple of weeks.
27:50 So be plenty more to talk about as we turn the calendar to February trade deadline, all that fun stuff.
27:57 I know you guys love to love to talk about as well.
28:00 So if you want to read any of my stuff, please go over to Boston.com.
28:06 We have you covered every step of the way this season, whether it be recaps, features, columns, breakdowns, all that good stuff.
28:12 And you can follow me on Twitter, X, whatever it's called now at Connor Ryan underscore 93.
28:17 So once again, this was episode 194 of Poke the Bear.
28:21 You listeners have a great rest of your week.
28:24 [Music]