What’s gone wrong with the Bruins? | Poke the Bear

Name: What’s gone wrong with the Bruins? | Poke the Bear
Uploaded: 2024-02-19T18:12:18+00:00
Duration: 19 min 17 s
Channel: CLNS Media Sports Network

CLNS Media Sports Network

6 months ago

Conor Ryan of Boston.com rides solo for a new episode of Poke the Bear following the Boston Bruins 4 game losing streak. The Boston Bruins play the Dallas Stars after losing four in a row.

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00:00 Poke the Bear is brought to you by FanDuel, the exclusive wagering partner of the CLNS Media

00:06 Network. And welcome into Poke the Bear, episode 204, presented by CLNS Media and sponsored by

00:12 our good friends over at FanDuel and Factor Meals. My name is Connor Ryan. And once again,

00:18 we are riding solo today for this episode. And I think when we talk about the Bruins and how

00:25 they've played as of late, they're kind of similar to how I'm feeling right now, which

00:29 if you can't tell from the congestion, probably the multiple coughs you're going to hear on this

00:33 podcast, feeling pretty crappy. And I think if you're a Bruins fan and you've watched this team

00:39 over this extended homestand, probably say they're playing kind of a similar way, aren't they? Right?

00:47 And you look at just, I mean, we're recording this Saturday night. So an up to date podcast

00:53 by the time this one drops, Bruins have now lost four straight games at home, which is kind of hard

01:01 to believe they've fallen into a rut like that. And five of six, they had that one really good

01:07 win against the Vancouver Canucks kind of sandwiched in between there, which made you feel

01:12 like this team was going to kind of come out of this and out of this little rut they had. But

01:16 they had that win. But in between that four game losing streak, you had that awful loss to the

01:21 Calgary Flames. It feels like it's one of these games or one of these homestands where

01:27 if you're a Bruins fan and you've gone to one of them, you feel bad for people who've like had to

01:32 pay money for a couple of them. You look at like that Flames game, that Seattle cracking game on

01:37 Thursday, just low event hockey, nothing really going on, not a whole lot to show for it. And I

01:45 think you look at this past game on Saturday against the Kings, 5-4 overtime loss. It's even

01:52 more frustrating, right? Because I think Jim Montgomery said it best post game. He said,

01:57 "That's a game we should win." The execution wasn't where it should be. Give them credit.

02:03 They never stopped competing. That's what desperate teams do. And it's true. The Bruins

02:07 aren't really playing like a desperate team right now where you've had multiple opportunities to

02:12 really put that game away and just couldn't get the job done. It's frustrating the fact that I

02:20 think the Bruins, their previous four losses had scored a whopping four goals. They finally get

02:25 four goals in a game. And whether it's just the saves not being there, the penalties, the special

02:31 teams play, this team just couldn't get out of its own way a lot of the times to lift themselves to

02:38 a victory, which is very frustrating. And I think when you look at, especially in this game, right,

02:47 you have the power play, which finally cashes in a little bit earlier on in the game. JVR has a

02:53 really strong game, which is really encouraging. But this is still a power play that has been

03:00 really out of whack the last couple of games, extended drought that really put them in a spot

03:07 where they couldn't either extend leads, claw back into games. And then even in this game,

03:11 yes, it's great. You get a few of the power play goals early on, but you get a power play

03:15 opportunity in overtime. Feels like a gift wrap two points right there, right? And Bruins aren't

03:23 able to convert, aren't aware of the fact that Brent Clark's coming out of the box there,

03:30 bad pass, you know, Pasternak has the shot, feeds back, all sudden Clark has a breakaway.

03:38 Great set of moves by him to beat Allmark, but still that's just a sequence that can't happen,

03:42 especially for a team that is so you'd think would be tuned into, you know, sticking to the

03:48 stronger details of the game and putting games away. That just really can't happen out there

03:53 for the Bruins in that situation. So even with the positives in this game, like the power play,

03:59 still not enough to get two points out of it. The PK, again, which has probably been one of the most

04:04 surprising things that, you know, I think since really like the holiday break, the PK has taken

04:10 a huge step back. This is a group that for years now has been a really, really, you know, foundation,

04:16 a strong foundation of this team as to why they're so successful is really strong PK work. And it's

04:22 really just eroded since the holidays. Last six games, they're operating at 68.8%. And then even

04:32 look at this game, right, you have the ozone infraction from Zaka leads to a critical PK late

04:37 in the game where again, even if this team's been struggling in shorthanded situations, that is a

04:42 play that you have to, you know, that is a sequence you have to capitalize on, you have to kill the

04:47 play. And it just didn't happen for the Bruins in that situation, right? You know, they're able to

04:55 get the game time goal go to overtime. And it just, you know, once again, compounds the issues

05:00 with this team as of late where, you know, you can look at some of the positives, right, you look at

05:07 the third line had a really strong game. You could point to the fact that Poster and I kind of a goal

05:12 wiped off of a goalie interference call, which I feel like we could probably talk for about 20

05:17 minutes on that as to where exactly that best, you know, where that ruling is there. I didn't really

05:24 see the need to take that goal off the board. But again, you you spin the wheel right when it comes

05:29 to video reviews and stuff like that. But I just think when you look at this team, and also Anthony

05:36 Mishara gets a goal, you know, good play by him. Good play by that fourth line. But regardless of

05:42 whatever positives you want to put towards the game, and there are some of these games where I

05:45 think you'll, you'll take a strong effort like the Tampa Bay game back and forth. You come away with

05:53 a point there, you know, you'd like more, obviously, but this wasn't the case. But I think you see how

06:03 that game kind of played out. And you view that as like kind of building your game forward. It's

06:08 what Montgomery mentioned after that game against Tampa Bay where it's like, all right, we were

06:12 pretty much run out of the building in that Calgary game. You know, we, we lose, we beat

06:18 Vancouver lose to a Tampa team that's playing really well, you'll take that to then kind of

06:23 have a no show against a team like the Seattle Kraken, who another snoozer of a game and then

06:29 a game like the Kings where again, you have some positives, but it's not winning hockey when you

06:34 can't capitalize in those situations. So you know, when you're not aware of when times expiring on

06:40 your power play in overtime, where it should be a layup of a opportunity there for you to get two

06:44 points, when you're not killing penalties late in the game, when you know the team's pushing

06:49 all those situations there, I think just make for a really, really rough product out there.

06:59 And it's again, some of it has been bad luck. I think you look at like that Kraken game where

07:03 it felt like the Bruins had three or four quality chances that either, you know, hit off a crossbar or

07:10 pucks that like right on the goal line, what have you. And again,

07:16 that happens over the span of a long season. But it's still a situation right where

07:25 the way this team is playing right now, it's not good enough for a whole 60 minute game to

07:29 consistently win. And that's that's the whole thing. This team, as constituted has the talent

07:35 has the goal tending to, you know, fall into quite a few two point victories, right? You can rely on

07:41 a guy like David Pasternak. You can rely on a guy like Brad Marshall, and you can rely on

07:46 Swainman or Omar getting hard at the right time. That's great and all but when you're straying so

07:52 far from your details in so many critical areas of the game and so many other players aren't pulling

07:56 on the rope, then you do get into the situation where you're staring at a very real possibility

08:05 where you're playing a pretty good Dallas status team on Monday where you could end this, you know,

08:11 seven game homestand with one regulation win, which I think would, you know, I think if you're

08:17 a Bruins fan, you'd be shocked by that considering how well they'd really had played since the

08:20 holiday break. But that's kind of the hand they've been dealt and a lot of it's been self-inflicted

08:25 in terms of just not executing in critical areas of a game when, you know, the momentum can swing

08:31 back and forth, you know, whether it's not getting that kill, whether it's not capitalizing on that

08:36 power play, what have you. The Bruins, you know, mostly has themselves to blame for kind of the

08:40 situation they're in. So we'll dive into a little bit more of the a few of the positives we drew

08:46 from that game. But before we do that, listen to our good friends over at FanDuel. Get buckets with

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09:07 your favorite NBA players and teams with things like quick bets, live same game parlays, exclusive

09:13 props and a whole lot more. Just visit FanDuel.com/Boston and shoot your shot. FanDuel,

09:20 official sports book partner of the NBA. Once again, shout out to our good friends over at

09:29 FanDuel. So, I mean, in terms of some of the positives, I think the one that you point to

09:35 the third line, you get two goals from them. You know, JVR contributes or you get, you know, JVR

09:42 gets two goals. Frederick gets a goal in the third period. I mean, I think on most situations,

09:48 when you get a third line where you generate two five on five goals, most of the time that leads

09:54 to a victory, right? When you have that part of the line really pulling its weight. And it's good

09:59 to see a few of those guys get going. You know, Frederick had been a little bit quiet since the,

10:03 coming back from the All-Star break. Same with Kiki, I think going into that game,

10:07 Kiki only had, I think, one goal in his last seven games. So, really encouraging to get that

10:13 part of the lineup going, because it shows you how much different this overall team can be when

10:18 you have guys further down the lineup who are driving play, can answer the ball and, you know,

10:23 answer the bell and can really step up when needed. And even looking like Frederick's goal,

10:28 which is right after the Kings tied it there in the third period. Perfect example of just

10:34 the momentum swing of a game and what you need to do to kind of reassert yourself. And

10:39 I really do like that third line of how they play, Frederick, Kiki and JVR. I do feel like

10:47 they complement each other pretty well. And it's one thing where I think the big question mark for

10:52 that line going into the year in terms of maybe each of them individually is whether or not they

10:56 were able to drive play amongst themselves, right? Like is JVR at this stage of his career better

11:03 suited to be like a top six guy where he's with a guy like Pasternak or someone like that? You

11:08 know, is Kiki, does he need to be with elevated line mates? Frederick, same thing. And it seems

11:13 like he put those guys together. Just good things tend to happen when they play kind of smart,

11:17 simplified hockey. You know, they're all three big bodies down there. More Kiki, I know he's not

11:22 really the biggest guy, but, you know, six, two, I think he's second or third on the team in total

11:28 hits, you know, which again is not the ultimate barometer, but does play kind of a more physical

11:34 brand of hockey than maybe some Bruins fans expected. So if I'm Jim Montgomery, that's the

11:39 one line I really don't touch at all. Moving forward is that third line. Now they tell me

11:45 like the fourth line, it's something you have to figure out what exactly the identity of that group

11:49 is. I'm not really going to besmirch them that much off of this game though, when, you know,

11:54 it was good work down low that led to Anthony Richard's goal. It kind of got an assist from

11:58 the goalie there, but a good finish from him after his linemen kind of fish out the puck along the

12:02 end boards. But it's also one of those things where, you know, we've mentioned this time and

12:07 time again, where if you're the Bruins, you're playing at your best when you've got a lot of

12:12 other key contributors rolling in the lineup. And, you know, you look at, you know, a guy like

12:17 Pasternak and what he provides, you know, the usual suspects, but like as good as Frederick and

12:23 JVR and a few of those guys were tonight, like Jake DeBrusque is still a guy that has zero points

12:28 in his last seven games. When again, we just see how much more dangerous this team can be

12:32 when he's really rolling out there as well. So yeah, you'll take, you know, the fact that third

12:39 line is playing well, you finally got a few power play goals you can build off of that, but

12:43 doesn't really feel all that great when you're still, you know, you drop an OT loss to a team

12:49 and you're now, you know, losers of five of your last six games. Doesn't feel all that great when

12:56 at the end of the day, you're trying to build your overall game, trying to get back on track.

13:00 And this game on Saturday really didn't feel like that at all. So we'll dive into this a little bit

13:04 more. All right. So the Bruins now close out their home stand on Monday against the Dallas Stars.

13:09 We are officially, you know, less than a month away from the NFL trade deadline. So

13:15 what exactly should the Bruins do at this point? And I think overall the game plan should be

13:20 in the next, you know, two and a half weeks as you're waiting and assessing options, the deadline,

13:25 I don't think this, the Bruins in changes their overall approach to the deadline in terms of them

13:31 going from soft buyers to soft sellers, where all of a sudden like a guy like the Brus is going to

13:37 get moved for a first round pick or anything like that. But I do think you look at the way this team

13:45 is set up in the next two weeks or so, wouldn't be surprised that they give a younger player like a

13:51 Fabian Licello look, see if just that kind of player can give them a little bit of a spot here,

13:55 somewhere in the lineup, a little bit more of an offensive pop. Maybe you call up low ride,

14:01 but I still feel like the biggest issue with the defense right now is snuffing out scoring chances.

14:07 And I feel like low ride isn't necessarily the best fit there for what they really need. So

14:13 I wouldn't be surprised if they call up a guy like Licello and give him a little bit of a run here.

14:17 Worst case, it's kind of like Markylove where it doesn't have a lot of minutes, doesn't really

14:22 impact the game. But if he does well, one, it raises his trade value, two, it gives you a

14:26 little bit of a spark and you have a guy that maybe you want to keep here long-term. And again,

14:30 worst case, if he doesn't make an impact, you send him back down and that's that. So,

14:35 you know, Licello's had a really strong year, had some early bumps where I think he's continued

14:41 to kind of learn how to play winning hockey in the NHL ranks. And that's been something that he's

14:47 had to work on a little bit here, but I wouldn't be surprised if he gets a look at some point next

14:54 couple of days, weeks, just to give the Bruins a little bit of something here before the trade

15:00 deadline. So that's something I definitely keep tabs on. And then the deadline, I mean, I still

15:06 feel like, you know, we've talked about this multiple times on the podcast with both Evan and

15:11 Ty, where we've said, you know, is it a middle six player? Is it a fourth line guy? Is it a

15:18 defenseman? I think the most pressing thing right now is you need another physical,

15:23 nasty defenseman out there. You know, Derek Fulbert, who again, I think was really strong

15:29 to start the year, was on the ice for three goals against, on Saturday against the Kings,

15:34 really rough game from him. I just think you need more of a steadying presence further down in that

15:39 lineup right now. And again, maybe Fulbert gets healthy and writes the ship, but I think you need

15:45 more insurance back there. So, you know, whether that's a guy like Ilya Lubushkin or Nick Seeler,

15:50 or one of the many kind of third pairing physical defensemen who should be out there,

15:56 I think the Bruins have to be involved there in terms of picking out one of those players.

16:01 So I think that's the most pressing need for the Bruins right now is help on D,

16:05 especially just, just feels like there's too many, you know, weak chains in the,

16:10 in their overall armor right now on defense, right? There's a few guys you can trust,

16:13 a few guys that maybe are underperformed, but you generally know what to expect out of them.

16:17 And you hope that they kind of write the ship. But when you have guys like Fulbert,

16:20 who are really struggling, Grzyk struggling, there's too many weak areas that line up where,

16:26 you know, we're not even talking about playoffs right, right yet. But even this regular season,

16:31 over this kind of gauntlet of an 82 game season, you got way too many parts of the game where

16:36 you're like, the Bruins have some soft spots here where a team could really kind of take

16:41 advantage of them. So I do think looking at the D that defense has to be their number one priority.

16:46 And again, I mentioned guys like Lubushkin or Seeler, but there's so many different guys out

16:50 there that aren't, you know, we're not talking about the, you know, the Noah Hannafins or the

16:56 Chris Tannhaus, you know, maybe Jacob Middleton, but that's going to be a, I think probably a

17:00 pretty sizable ask for a guy who's probably more of a top four guy, a guy that a lot of players,

17:05 probably a lot of teams would covet as kind of a physical defenseman, 6'3", under contract for

17:11 this year and next, like he's probably going to cost quite a bit, but you know, maybe you weigh

17:14 that risk reward. But if you're the Bruins, and you're able to get out of this deadline with

17:20 a little bit more heft on the blue line, and then I do think you need some sort of

17:25 galvanizing kind of fourth line kind of player, like to put into this lineup,

17:31 just because I think you need more of an identity with that group.

17:33 That's not to say that you need like a guy who's going to drop the gloves or anything like that.

17:40 But I think what this team desperately needs is a tone setting player, a guy that can, you know,

17:47 answer the bell when needed over a playoff run, can drop the gloves, but can deliver a hit,

17:52 can get guys going. And so like, even like a guy like Brendan Duhame from the Minnesota Wilds, who

17:58 really fast skater, hits pretty much everyone when he hops over the boards. I think a guy like that,

18:04 that kind of fits in with like the new NHL in terms of speed, floor checking, that kind of

18:10 aggressiveness over maybe a bigger guy, but isn't going to win a lot of foot races. I think a guy

18:15 like Brendan Duhame is a guy the Bruins should definitely be looking at. So again, the Bruins

18:20 are a rough little rut right now. I don't think it's going to change their overall deadline plans

18:25 or anything like that. But I think it's good. Something needs to change between now and March

18:29 8th. So that's all we have for this episode of Poke the Bear. Hopefully by next week, I'll be

18:36 able to have my actual voice and I won't be coughing into my microphone every single time.

18:41 So hopefully this is a one-off. So thank you for your patience, grinding through this as I have.

18:46 But again, you can find all my stuff over at boston.com. You can follow me on Twitter at

18:53 Connor right underscore 93. Once again, this is Episode 204 of Poke the Bear and you guys have a

19:01 great rest of your week. Transcribed by https://otter.ai

19:06 [Music]

What’s gone wrong with the Bruins? | Poke the Bear

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