Reacting to the Bruins Shaking Up Their Lines w/ Bridgette Proulx | Bruins Beat - video Dailymotion

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In the latest episode of Bruins Beat, host Evan Marinofsky is joined by Bridgette Proulx to delve into a range of topics related to the Boston Bruins. They discuss Jim Montgomery's plan to roll out some new lines and debate whether this move indicates desperation. Additionally, they highlight one positive aspect of the team's current situation, evaluate the overall state of the team, and consider the best possible first-round matchup for the Bruins in the playoffs.  Topics:   - Evan and Bridgette mourn UMass losing to Denver   - Jim Montgomery plans on rolling out some new lines   - Is it a desperate move?   - The one good thing   - What to make of this team   - The best first-round matchup   This episode is brought to you by PrizePicks! Get in on the excitement with PrizePicks, America’s No. 1 Fantasy Sports App, where you can turn your hoops knowledge into serious cash. Download the app today and use code CLNS for a first deposit match up to $100! Pick more. Pick less. It’s that Easy! Football season may be over, but the action on the floor is heating up. Whether it’s Tournament Season or the fight for playoff homecourt, there’s no shortage of high stakes basketball moments this time of year. Quick withdrawals, easy gameplay and an enormous selection of players and stat types are what make PrizePicks the #1 daily fantasy sports app!

Transcript

00:00 Bruins Beat is powered by PrizePix, the exclusive daily fantasy partner of the CLNS Media Network.

00:06 And welcome into the Bruins Beat presented by PrizePix. Use code CLNS to get up to

00:15 $100 back on up to $100 deposit. 25 to get 25, 50 to get 50, 100 to get 100. PrizePix makes

00:22 everything more fun. Use that promo code CLNS. I'm Evan Marinovsky. That's Bridget Pruld. Bridget!

00:28 What is up? Hi! Nothing much. I was watching some college hockey but taking a break for this. So

00:35 it's, it's, you know, NCAA tournament right now. That's where my head's at. I'll just say,

00:41 I'm the same with you. It's a long, there's a lot going on with that. You and I are both

00:46 reeling. You and I are both mourning. We are, um, we, it's been a tough 24 hours recording this,

00:52 but 24 hours after, UMass fought hard, played Denver well, deserved to win. You know, Bridget,

01:00 you know what's interesting? Um, now that, you know, we're in this field, there, it's rare that,

01:07 uh, you know, we root for teams anymore. You know, like the Bruins, we both cover and we both,

01:13 I, you know, I grew up a big Bruins fan. I assume you did as well. Um, and so you have to put that

01:19 aside when we do these and when we cover games and all that stuff. Um, you know, when I covered

01:24 UMass, even though I was a UMass student, you still had to kind of like play, you'd be a little,

01:28 you'd be kind of unbiased. Yesterday, you know, maybe it's because the Patriots stink now and the

01:34 Red Sox kind of stink, even though they won, uh, Thursday night. I haven't had a game where I was

01:39 on the edge of my seat, like just like, come on, please, please. I need this one so bad, please.

01:46 And that was what I was like on Friday for four hours. I sat on the edge of my couch,

01:51 just sweating, you know, not, I'm like, I'm not moving the dirty dishes right there. Cause

01:56 it's one, one. And so, um, yes, UMass lost to Denver and double overtime. I'm curious,

02:02 would you have that same, uh, were you kind of in that same state?

02:05 Yeah. So I mean, it started at two and it didn't finish until like almost six

02:12 and I started watching it at two. And then I was going on a date and I watched it in my car,

02:17 like I had it on in my car all the way there. And I walked into his house, I'm still watching.

02:23 You're like, shut up, shut up, shut up.

02:25 I was like, wait, wait, wait, we're going to have to wait about a half hour.

02:28 Good for you. No, that's the right move.

02:31 That's a big game. I, I, that's the right move. Um,

02:35 yeah. And then, so what, what this really boils down to Evan is we wanted UMass to move on and we

02:43 wanted our, our counterparts on our podcast to, to just be quiet. Cause we both are working with

02:50 guys from BU Scott McLaughlin. Uh, they come at us a lot. Um, and so we, we have to go for bragging

03:00 rights a little bit, but it didn't quite work out for UMass in that category this year.

03:05 Well, we have the more recent bragging rights, you know, a national championship in 2021,

03:09 we can still hang our hat on. Um, but now when you do, cause I, now when,

03:14 when UMass is out, I root for the rest of hockey East and I root for a local team. So

03:19 I'm actually in BC right now. Um, yeah. And it's hard.

03:24 It's hard. It's interesting. Cause like Maine would have been a good one. That's like an easy,

03:28 like Ben bar, like that whole crew. I would have loved to have seen them advance. Um, I do roof

03:33 hockey East, like with new England hockey journal, local kids like Will Smith and Ryan Leonard,

03:37 obviously want to see those guys kick ass. Um, you know, be, you just had a great goal by the way.

03:43 I saw a div or tweet it and I was like, all right, I gotta, I gotta take a look at this.

03:48 Um, but so yeah, I mean, you know, I, I hope the new England teams do well. Um, you know, uh,

03:54 you know, I don't know. Now I kind of want some chaos. Like you do want to see like a four seat

03:59 somewhere win. Um, so I wouldn't hate that, but it's, you know, it's so exciting. It's such like,

04:06 it's not so cliche, but I do love the NCAA tournament. It is a fun, like couple of days.

04:10 So, I mean, we're all in on college hockey and have been since we went to UMass. So this is

04:16 every year. Um, so this whole week I was trying to figure out if I was going to go to Springfield

04:22 or go to Providence. Um, I might even go Easter Sunday cause that's when the Providence regional

04:28 is. Uh, so if it's BC Quinnipiac, I'll probably go and ruin Easter. Um, but, but you know,

04:36 I'm tempted to go. So, and I would have gone to a UMass Maine Springfield regional, but both of

04:42 them lost. So, uh, that's not going to happen, but in our hearts, in our hearts, I think what

04:49 hurt most is UMass played a phenomenal game. I mean, that was to me, like you were there.

04:55 Scott Morrow hits the post. I know these, uh, Bruins beat listeners are like, can you guys

04:59 get onto Bruins stuff, but we got it. It's hockey. All right. It's the big time of the year. So we

05:03 got to discuss that. But yeah, I was told by my friends who were there that when the Denver goalie

05:10 got hurt, some UMass fans were pretty upset about it. The fact that it took so long and

05:15 then he didn't come out and that started a fight in the crowd. So I was really surprised.

05:21 Well, I would, you know, I was shocked he stayed in and then I'm like, all right,

05:24 well, he's staying in. He's clearly not feeling great. If the thing, if UMass can get him moving,

05:29 but Davis was insane. So, um, you know, props to Denver, I guess you move on, you know,

05:35 hopefully Cornell beats them. Um, but, um, yeah, that's our, those are some of our college hockey

05:40 thoughts. It's time of year. Sorry. We'll get to Bruins right now. Uh, so the Bruins are down

05:44 in Washington. They continue this long road trip, uh, towards the end of the season and some news

05:50 coming out of DC is that the Bruins have shaken up the lines a little bit. Um, so they got Marshan

05:55 Zaka posture knock on line one. They've got Heinen coil, Frederick to the breast geeky Brazil on

06:01 three. Uh, and then the Bruins listed JVR, Beecher, Boquist, Lauco, like Beecher slash

06:07 Boquist in the middle. But I saw Adam Pellerin had a Beecher on the left, Boquist down the middle

06:12 and Lauco on the right. And then Benry was like, I'd guy out. I know that Monte's talked a lot

06:17 about, um, wanting Beecher and Boquist, uh, on the same line together. So, uh, you know,

06:23 interesting, uh, there's some stuff in there. I like there's some stuff I'm a little more

06:28 hesitant on. What's your sort of initial reaction? Well, in the deep pairs are different too. So

06:32 that's big. They're going Linholm McEvoy top pair, uh, grizzly Carlo. And then I think they

06:39 had Shatten Kirk Keek as a pair. And then, uh, Laura Wetherspoon was the extra pair. So, I mean,

06:48 that's completely different than, than last game where they already had mixed up the pairings and

06:53 split Linholm and Carlo. And actually on our podcast, um, shameless plug, the skate pod,

06:59 uh, we were talking about how to do that. Yeah. Sorry. I got there eventually. Um,

07:04 we were talking about how last playoffs, it felt like one of the, one of the demises of the team

07:11 was over shuffling and splitting things up and just doing too much. And so our conversation was,

07:18 Hey, are they at risk of doing this again? Or did they learn their lesson? And over the last two,

07:25 two games, like the trip to Florida, and then now in Washington, if this is what they roll out,

07:32 it feels like they might be doing the same thing and, and, uh, messing with, with some things that

07:38 don't need to be messed with. I like the, the normal line with Hein and Zaka and Pasternak.

07:44 I don't, when you split some, some of those lines up that are doing well, I know the, the idea is

07:50 to try to get Marshawn going, but I don't know if putting Zaka, you know, him with Zaka and Pasternak

07:57 helps those two. Uh, so I don't know. I I'm getting this feeling, Evan, that we, we could

08:03 be in for some really frustrating line shuffling in the playoffs again. And it, it, it just brings

08:08 back flashbacks. Well, there's no doubt they will. Um, just given that, you know, with the way a

08:14 series turns and the way Montgomery kind of, as you said, shuffles the lines, I don't really want

08:19 to see, I don't really want to see lines that we haven't seen at all. Like I'm like, okay,

08:25 if you want to tinker with some stuff you've seen earlier in the year, but I'm not, I'm not

08:29 interested in seeing stuff. We've not even one time tried or seen last year, obviously it was

08:35 different when you add guys at the trade deadline that you're trying to figure out where they fit.

08:39 But this year, the only guy you're trying to plug in is, is Pat Maroon in your forward lines. And

08:45 that seems fairly straightforward. It's not like you're trying to find a spot for Bertuzzi, but

08:48 if you're putting guys together that haven't played a whole lot together this season,

08:54 um, I just, I don't like, I don't like the overreaction sometime, I guess would be the

09:02 way to put it. Yeah. I, you know, it's interesting all year. They're taught their bottom six has sort

09:07 of shuffled around. They have never really found a fourth line that's set that's stuck.

09:12 So I'm okay with them doing what they're doing down there. Um, where I agree with you is the

09:17 top six, right? You want to try to have those lines with the ultimate amount of chemistry.

09:22 I think this lineup is not, it's not like last year where you have so many potent scores throughout

09:27 the lineup that could contribute on any night. And of course like Heinen's a great story. We'll

09:31 get to him later and you know, a geeky and, uh, Frederick and some of those guys, but I want your,

09:39 your high end talent, your posture knocks, your marsh hands. I kind of want them on different

09:43 lines now, granted they could come out, uh, tomorrow, Saturday and Washington, and that

09:48 line of Marsha and Zaka Pashnok could score, you know, four goals or something. And it's like,

09:53 all right, well, maybe it makes sense to have kind of a super line.

09:56 And they're probably all foster knock. Yeah, exactly. They're all foster knock,

10:00 but you know, I think when you start to mess with the chemistry and, uh, I know Heinen and

10:06 coil kind of obviously have a history together. Uh, so just coil and Frederick, uh, what I do like,

10:12 but here's the thing, Evan is Heinen coil, Frederick, a winning second line, like,

10:19 no, not at all. That's not a second line for a playoff contender. That's that's why when you,

10:25 when you mix Marsh on back with like, when you don't split Marshawn and pasta up,

10:31 you're looking at lines. You're going, that's a third line. That's, I mean, Heinen was a lock on,

10:35 um, Frederick and coil. I like both of their games, but I wouldn't say that I, that

10:41 you like it on the third line. You like it on the third line, but like it's, it's tough.

10:46 And I think that the fact that van Riemsdyk is either not healthy fully or not playing well,

10:52 complicates the middle six situation even more. Well, again, this goes back to why I don't think

10:58 the Bruins are legitimate cup contenders because you're rolling again, like, okay. So you put,

11:03 you put your big guns to get your big guns on your top line, which is great. Fine. You can do that.

11:09 But then what do you have left? That is to me, that's where like, I agree with you in that,

11:13 like, that's not a real second line. You have Heinen who, you know, was, was fine,

11:18 has been playing fine with Zaka and Ostrock, but Heinen is not, I think you and I said this back

11:23 before the deadline Heinen is not a legitimate top six forward that you would have on a Stanley cup

11:28 contending team. I'm not trying to diminish him. He's been great. He's an awesome story this year.

11:32 What I'll say is he is complimentary to the right top six forwards, but he's not,

11:37 he's like, he complimented, if he can compliment them well enough, then he, he makes it on that

11:43 line with pasta and Zaka, but like, he's not driving the line. He's just making the, you know,

11:48 the simple place to help those guys get to the right positions and, and just keep the play going

11:53 forward. And, and, and he's been good with that line, but this is the only thing I can think,

11:59 Evan, that makes me think this might be a one and done kind of situation for those lines is that

12:05 Washington is very top heavy and they have zero depth in their lineup at all. So, and Wilson is

12:13 still serving a suspension and it's, you might be able to load up your top line because Washington

12:21 is, is a team that is in the playoff picture right now, even though they were sellers,

12:25 it's crazy. They're in the second wild card spot right now. And like could, could easily

12:32 make the playoffs, even though they sold away assets at the deadline and they're

12:35 not as deep as a cup contender. But either way, my point is that maybe you stack the top line

12:43 because the opponent allows it if you want to look at it. But I don't, I don't think in the playoffs,

12:50 that that's a good way to go about it. Cause then you're allowing teams to really key in on that

12:54 line. You're not able to, to dictate match-ups where, you know, you send out different threats

13:00 in different areas and maybe it works against Washington, but it's not going to work against

13:04 Panthers or, or Toronto, or, you know, you're going to want more spread out scoring.

13:10 You want more spread out. And I also think, you know, even against a team like Washington,

13:15 right. With a heavy top line, a big, big gun top line, wouldn't mind seeing, you know,

13:22 the lines as they were before handle that, you know, DeBrusque and Marshan and Coyle and,

13:29 you know, Pasternak and Zocker and Hein. I want to see those lines handle that stuff

13:32 rather than beefing up the top line just to kind of get a win. I want to see those two

13:37 lines, those two top lines, how they do against a team like that. I there's something I like though

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15:04 I want to say taco Tuesday at one point and I'm hungry already. And now I want tacos.

15:09 So that's, that's the point. That's the point. So totally, totally lost my train of thought over

15:14 there. Yeah. It was to trip you up. That was the goal. What I like about these lines,

15:20 Justin Brazile on the third line. Now I mentioned this to Scott last week and Scott was like, well,

15:26 now granted it was because I said, I liked, I liked the idea of Frederick geeky and Brazil,

15:29 but he's like, well, they played like one game together and they weren't great. And I'm like,

15:32 Scott, I want to see them extended. I think Brazil has more than earned the right. He's

15:37 proved he's not just a fourth line guy. And I'm not saying he's going to be a top six fixture,

15:41 but I'm saying I'd love to see him in an elevated role in the third line, given what he brings,

15:46 what, you know, he's more than just a bruiser. He's not a bruiser. I just, his abilities.

15:51 Actually just a big guy. He's not like, he's not overly aggressive or he's not an agitator. Like

15:59 he's just uses his body the right way to shield Pucks and to get Pucks. And so he's not, he's not

16:05 like a tough guy. Right. But he's, whenever I stand next to him, I feel like, I feel like he's

16:10 like a mega human, like some sort of different species of human. And then there was like me

16:15 and the rest of us standing next to him. That's how big he is. But he's not going to fight. I

16:20 don't think he's, that's not really in his, that's actually really not his personality truthfully.

16:25 Well, what's interesting again, you're right. And I also think, you know, what he's able to

16:29 bring, I mean, you know, Montgomery in the last week or so has talked a lot about guys going to

16:34 dirty areas, winning Puck battles. Some guys not doing enough to do those things. He's been the

16:40 opposite. He's been the guy who has been taking the puck to the net, who has been finishing chances,

16:44 who's been earning chances and who's been winning Puck battles. And I think, you know,

16:48 for what he brings, I would love to see him on a line with geeky. And I know they have DeBrusque

16:53 with, with this line here. I'd rather Frederick, I would rather because of what he brings and the

16:59 elements of his game. DeBrusque is more of a top six forward right now. I know Frederick just,

17:03 you know, I think what he get his 20th goal, which is great. But at the same time, like,

17:09 I just think Frederick's game compliments geeky and Brazil so well. I mean, that's a heavy line.

17:15 That's a line in a playoff series that can kind of grind you down. Can you work below the line?

17:19 Yes. Yes. So I like the idea of Brazil with geeky. But I don't, you know, I think I'd rather

17:26 Frederick there than DeBrusque. I don't want to breast there at all. Yeah. I don't. I think so.

17:33 You can see that, like the whole Brazil, Frederick thing works together because the very limited

17:40 amount of power plays recently that Frederick and Brazil both played on the second unit.

17:46 It's been successful. It'd be good. We're just throwing pucks on net and picking up rebounds

17:51 and beating people to the front of the net. And they're, they're both really like intense, like

17:57 pock hounds and they get there. And that could be what that line brings. And geeky is good at

18:01 puck possession as well. And he's, he's actually very large too. It's hard to tell on TV, right?

18:06 Because they're staying next to other people that are very tall. But then when they're standing

18:10 next to someone like me, it's like, no, a guy is huge. So that would be a really big line.

18:16 That's hard to take the puck away from. DeBrusque doesn't fall into that category. So the identity,

18:23 if that's what you wanted for the identity of a line, a third line, you would probably

18:27 put Frederick there, flip him with DeBrusque, put DeBrusque with Heinen and Coyle, which I don't

18:33 think sounds like a bad option. I think it sounds like a better option than what they're working

18:37 with in this middle six. Maybe this is just a one-time thing. I personally don't like

18:44 this much tinkering. It kind of shows desperation. And I feel like that was one of the reasons why

18:51 it didn't work in the playoffs too. It was like, okay, you don't trust us the way things are.

18:55 It's like a mentality. It's a mental thing that gets in your head. Like what was wrong

18:59 with what we were doing? Like, were we that bad that you needed to make all these changes?

19:03 Kind of take the beating out of it. Yeah. And another interesting part,

19:09 and we haven't even discussed this, is like Van Riemsdyk, I think is going to be the odd man out

19:13 in this crew. And he was dealing with an illness for a really long time. He's someone you'd like

19:19 to get right before the playoffs. And I would think that's someone you'd want to find a place

19:23 for, whether it's the third line, whether it's the second line, because he does have that ceiling

19:28 of, oh, that's a guy who can contribute in a top six. So he's someone that I would love to see the

19:32 Bruins be able to get right before the postseason starts. Me too. I'm actually worried about this

19:37 because I had heard that this illness has lasted a long time. And I believe that it affected his

19:46 weight as well, that he dropped some weight during that timeframe. And obviously that

19:52 comes with weakness and needing more time away from the ice to get stronger and get back to where

20:00 you were before. So some of these illnesses, people don't really think about it this way

20:04 because it's more of the extreme case. But sometimes you, like remember Swayman last

20:09 year at the end of the season, he got sick and he lost like 10 pounds. Sometimes it really

20:14 kicks your ass. And I wonder if that's what happened to JBR. I think that based on the

20:21 season he's had so far and being so consistent up to that point, it makes me think that that's

20:25 definitely factoring in. I don't think he just would have like a sharp decline unless there was

20:30 some sort of physical thing happening as well. It's important to the Bruins to get him back

20:35 because he's somebody that you can flip around your middle six and especially being that front

20:42 weapon on the first power play unit. And that first power play unit has not been getting a lot

20:47 done. So that's where I would tinker would be the power play, like the top power play unit.

20:53 I like the second unit. Brezo's been great. I like the addition of Frederick. Yeah. I like

21:00 the addition of Frederick there. Give him some time. Marshon, they moved him net front. I don't

21:06 mind that. That's fine. Get him moving down low, get him some pucks down low. Maybe that gets

21:12 him going because he's been in a little bit of a slump. So I don't know, but there's certainly a

21:16 risk of they changed every single line and every single deep air. Do you think that's excessive?

21:22 They really did. You're right about that. It's interesting that you mentioned that first power

21:30 play unit and James Van Riem's that can bring kind of a good net front presence to that. And

21:34 I think there's a lot there. I was talking about this with Hags on his podcast like a week ago.

21:41 And, you know, different things they can tinker with like McAvoy at the point

21:45 really hasn't been working out. You know, would Lowry be a better option there? Would that be

21:50 a reason to put him in the lineup come the playoffs? I think they're all interesting

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23:10 off. Now back to the show. We talk a lot about lineup tinkering in this and, you know, desperate

23:20 moves at this time of the year. And I agree with you. Some of the like I'm fine with moving Brazil

23:26 up because he's earned it, you know, and I even the Frederick thing to the second line.

23:29 Like I don't think that's his optimal position. It could be. Hey, he's been playing well lately.

23:34 Let's give it a try. I want to see his poor face. He got he got tagged. Yeah, and he was bleeding

23:44 from like stitches on like under his nose and next his eye. I have a feeling tonight's broadcast

23:51 we're going to see some black and blue and he's a tough guy. He is. He is a tough kid. And he

23:58 I what I love most about Frederick and his fights is he you can tell he gets genuinely angry.

24:03 Like he just is growing up. Never. It's never like taking a punch off or it's just throwing

24:08 him. So I enjoyed that. My theory about hockey fights or I guess any kind of fight is you have

24:15 an edge if you are the one that's crazier. And I feel like he's a little bit crazier.

24:20 He does. He's got a little bit. He got a little crazy to him, which is good,

24:25 you know, which is never a bad thing when you're a hockey player. Yeah. So what do you make of this

24:30 team? I mean, we're you know, we're a couple weeks away from the playoffs. They're shuffling

24:37 the lines. Bruins continue to find ways to win. I know they obviously had that loss at Tampa on

24:44 Wednesday night, but I mean, they're still, you know, they just clinched a playoff spot

24:49 first in the Atlantic. Ninety nine points. They are not in the president's trophy. They're not

24:55 president's trophy favorites right now. Thank God. But they are first in the Atlantic. What do you

25:00 make of this team right now? I mean, have your expectations of them changed at all?

25:03 Well, so I'm just like looking at the standings as well while we're talking about this. And

25:09 if the playoffs started today, they would play Washington, which is what we're going to see

25:14 tonight. So why wouldn't you roll out the line, the lineup you want to roll for the first round

25:20 of the playoffs? If this might be your first round opponent, that's what drives me crazy, right?

25:24 I think that Washington has given them trouble this year. So that's your first round matchup.

25:31 Obviously, there's a little bit to be concerned about. They're, you know, kind of a team that

25:37 has some pests on it, but on paper, you should be able to beat them. But they put up some stinkers

25:42 against Washington this year. And that's why you want to see what that lineup would actually look

25:49 like. Granted, like I said, Wilson's not playing for them today, but yeah, I mean, what's my take

25:56 on them and their chance to go all the way? I will say I was encouraged by the game they had

26:03 against Florida. Agreed. Same here. That's the kind of way they need to play in the playoffs.

26:09 That level of intensity needs to be there every night, not just when Mack and Chuck

26:14 annoys the hell out of you. So you lose your cool. But like, I am concerned that

26:23 that we don't see that intensity often enough. I know it's the regular season. I work with Andrew

26:30 Raycroft for our Sunday skate and he's not worried at all. He always says, yes, you know, there's

26:37 so many games in the regular season. You can't be that intense at all when you wear yourself out.

26:42 So calm. He is so like, just chill. And then there's Scott who's like, the sky is falling.

26:50 And then there's me just watching them go back and forth with each other and

26:54 antagonizing it occasionally. But I'm somewhere in between that because I don't think that you

27:03 can be completely calm and like, it doesn't matter to the playoff start. No, you need to

27:08 figure out your life, your line. You need to figure out how to reach that level of intensity.

27:13 I mean, the discouraging thing this week was that they had they had two low energy games,

27:19 followed by a low energy practice that Montgomery decided to run them. And

27:24 then they responded with it. Well, actually, they didn't start the game against Florida well,

27:29 but they eventually got there, took them about eight or so minutes. But then you saw the the

27:36 emotional side of the game that they can bring if they do that every game, they'll be OK. But

27:44 they still it was only a one goal win against Florida. But I don't know. I'm not entirely sold

27:50 on this being a team that makes it to the cup. And I really think and it sucks. But last year,

27:59 this was true, too. It depends on the first round matchup. If they had matched up against anybody

28:03 above Florida, if it was the Penguins that got in instead of sucking at the end of the season.

28:09 Yeah, you want to want to want a series of the Penguins. But unfortunately, if you don't want

28:15 it to be the case, but there there's a lot riding on who they match up with in the first round.

28:21 And then once you get your feet under you, usually you kind of settle in and you're you're

28:26 off and running. But that first round is hard. It can be. They should win a round. They should

28:31 win a round to be first in the East. Excuse me, in the Atlantic. You have expectations. You have

28:38 the core pieces there. Like, obviously, Washington's hot right now. And also,

28:42 the other thing to watch is like there's only a point as of Friday afternoon.

28:47 There's only a point separating Philly and Washington. And Philly's been struggling lately.

28:52 So does Philly then fall into that second wildcard spot, which in that case, that would not be a bad

28:56 matchup for the Bruins, because, you know, that's a team that has been, you know, kind of was hot at

29:02 the beginning of the year and is kind of, you know, in the last month or so started to be more like

29:07 what they should have or what we thought they'd be this year. It's hilarious to me, by the way,

29:11 that like teams like Philly and Washington, who were both sellers at the deadline and did not

29:17 have huge expectations for the season are in the playoff picture. But teams like the Islanders,

29:22 the Penguins, the Devils, these teams with real playoff hopes and legit rosters are out of it,

29:28 but they should win a round. To me, it's like they should win a round. I know I said they were

29:33 legit Stanley cup contenders mid season when things were good. I think over the last two

29:37 months, I've seen more and more with this roster of it's not a bad roster and that the sky is not

29:42 falling. They're not, you know, they shouldn't have been sellers of the deadline, but you know,

29:47 realistically you see what happens in the second round. I think that's really where I expect them

29:53 to be. You know, if they can get to the second round, that's, you know, they, cause again,

29:57 like ha I said this on Hags podcast before I probably even said it on Bruins beat. I lose

30:03 track of where I say what stuff, but it is sort of a bridge year. I mean, it's, it's a transitional

30:09 year. Um, and you know, again, you're first in the Atlantic, you have those real expectations.

30:13 You should definitely win a round and then you should be uber competitive and potentially win

30:17 it in the second. So I have them somewhere in this. I have them in the second round.

30:20 That's where, yeah. If they draw Philly, that should be a first round win.

30:25 That should be, I agree, but they should beat anybody like your first plan.

30:30 I don't know if they will. That's what I'm trying to say.

30:32 No, no, I agree. I agree with you. So I completely agree. Like if you

30:35 It's an exercise we do at the end of every season in the last month or the last two weeks

30:40 or whatever, it's like, who should you be most afraid to match up against? And that's kind of

30:46 what we're doing. We're like ranking. Okay. What team is a more short thing? Like what team does

30:51 Boston match up best against who they match up worst against. I don't find the flyers to be as

30:56 scary as some of the other options for, for wildcard teams. Um, and believe it or not,

31:02 I feel like Washington, though their depth isn't there might be a harder matchup for Boston and

31:06 then the flyers are, um, and we don't like, obviously we still have about a month left.

31:13 No, well, less than a month left. Right. So a couple of weeks. Um, so a lot can change in that

31:20 timeframe too. I mean, a few teams like Boston just clinched playoff spots and then we're watching

31:25 more and more teams fall out of the playoffs, like the mathematically eliminated from the playoffs,

31:30 which San Jose has been for a long time. I mean, 16 wins and 47 losses, guys. I think you're going

31:39 to need to do better than that. You might get mathematically eliminated pretty early.

31:42 That is incredible. I have not paid any attention to the sharks in months because we need the year

31:48 they lost a million games in a row. So it's like, Oh my God, this is like all time terrible. But now

31:53 I haven't paid that much attention at all. Like Macklin celebrini please, please. But then you

31:59 look at like, okay, Detroit, Troy, it's another one there right on the outside. There are two

32:03 points out as again, a Friday afternoon Bruins have had trouble with them all year. Um, and I

32:08 think any issue you run into with a lot of these wildcard teams outside of Philly, because Philly

32:13 has been in that Metro, those three teams in the Metro for a while that they would have, they would

32:17 have to fall out. Uh, but a lot of these teams that you're seeing fight their way, they're playing

32:21 playoff hockey the last month, month and a half of the season. And this was sort of a problem with

32:26 the Panthers last year where they were playing round one hockey games from, from month. And

32:31 that's sort of, I think now a new fear unlocked for Bruins fans of like, if you play Detroit

32:37 or the Islanders or Washington, or, I mean, even you could throw in like New Jersey,

32:42 these teams are playing playoff hockey, trying to claw their way in. And once they get in,

32:46 it just is a continuation of what they've been doing. So, um, I, you know, I don't think that,

32:52 you know, Philly's probably the easiest matchup. I also wouldn't mind them playing Toronto in

32:55 round one, you know, sort of like the devil, you know, as well as the devil, you don't.

32:59 Yeah. I would love that. I would love that. That, I mean, every TV station would love that.

33:06 All of us, you, me with podcasts with, with media. Yes. We would, I would do anything for

33:13 that in the first one. I think it'd be terrific. It'd be great for ratings. It'd be great for,

33:18 you know, it's just entertaining hockey and two really passionate fan bases that dislike each

33:23 other. Uh, and the Bruins have won those matchups. And it also, it makes me think like, what do you

33:30 do with goaltending? Cause Swain has been great against them this year, but all marks play. I

33:34 personally think all mark is playing better than swimming right now. Um, and we've had this whole

33:40 debate. Do you rotate evenly? And do you, it's, you know, we, we do this all the time, Evan,

33:45 this is, and, uh, this is another thing with razor and Scott that they fight about because

33:50 razor says no rotation will not change his mind. Scott says rotation tries to get raised

33:55 it to change his mind. And it's just like, even in the commercial breaks are like,

33:59 you know, we don't change it. All right. We still argue in the commercials. Like

34:03 I would expect. I like that. Scott, uh, I like that Scott puts up a legit fight on that. That's,

34:10 uh, that's, uh, that's what Scott's great for. Scott's great at, at speaking his mind. And he

34:15 didn't used to be, he's like something, something came over him in the last year where now all of

34:19 a sudden he's, he's, you know, he's got some sass to him. He's great at that. He does have some sass,

34:25 which is nice. I think I accidentally pulled it out of him. I think I pulled it out of him.

34:30 Yes. Um, but so, yeah, I mean, I think I just back to the Bruins playoff thing to finish this off.

34:41 Um, they should win a round. Like, I don't know. I agree with you. Like Washington, Detroit, those

34:47 would be, you know, difficult match-ups. Those would not be five game series. Um, I S if they

34:53 lost to Washington or Detroit, we would rip them. Like I still go back to that. Like they should

34:58 win a round. Um, if you're going to be that good at the regular season, you better at least went

35:05 around in the playoffs. So that's where I'm at. We're not just still scarred from last playoffs.

35:14 I mean, this is true. This is, I was, were you at game seven? I was, I was at games five and seven.

35:19 Yep. So I was at all, all the home games in that series. Game seven was one of the worst feelings

35:28 I've ever felt like from a collective group of fans. Like the, the air was out of that building

35:35 before the game was even over. Then they came back and it's like, Oh, they might actually win.

35:39 And then they lost. But, um, you could hear a pin drop at one point when they were losing in

35:43 that game. And it felt like there was no oxygen in that building. It was one of the worst,

35:47 ever been involved in, in sports. It may be the single worst atmosphere I've been in at the garden

35:54 ever. And that was before they lost. Um, and then obviously in the locker room after was

36:00 genuinely like, I've never seen anything like it, how upset, like, and I'm a sympathetic crier.

36:07 So I had to stop myself from like, get like, if I see other people crying, sometimes I cried.

36:12 It was just like seeing grown men cry, not the best. Um, so we are all scarred from that

36:18 situation. We didn't want to, fans do not want to see it. Um, it's tough to cover as a, as a media

36:24 member as well. Like people are upset and you're asking them questions. They just want to be left

36:28 alone. So, um, it's, let's just, but we're all like keeping the bar at a certain level so that

36:37 the pain just isn't as much as it was. Well, the bar last year was when the, I mean,

36:42 I was convinced last year they were winning the cup. Like, and, and I said it everywhere.

36:46 I was open about it. Um, that team was a wagon. Everything was working. Um, you had all the pieces,

36:52 all that stuff. I was shocked. Um, I will challenge though, that I have been at a worse

36:58 environment there and it was game seven in 2019 Bruins. Okay. Well, yeah, I wasn't, they went,

37:03 they went down early and that, that building was, it's sad because people spend so much money on

37:10 tickets and to have it just deflate, it was two nothing after one. It was like, well, this is over.

37:14 And I felt the same way last year. Cause it was, what was it? Two, the Panthers were up by

37:20 two goals entering the third or they were up. And then the Bruins came back, took the lead.

37:25 I'm like, Oh my God, like, obviously this is how it's going to end. The Bruins are going to win.

37:28 I went down to level nine. I went down to the third level to get ready for like, um,

37:33 availabilities and stuff. Cause my God, this is a bag. And then we get down there and I'm like,

37:39 Oh, it is not. Um, so hopefully things end differently for the, for Bruins fans sake this

37:44 season. Um, before we go, Bridget, you got a lot of stuff going on. What can people look forward

37:48 to from you? Um, so as long as the Bruins season keeps going, we have Sunday skate on WEI every

37:56 Sunday morning, nine to 11, um, on the skate pod with Scott and Brian as well. And I, even though

38:04 college hockey is done for me, uh, I still have a few more broadcasts left for PWHL Boston. So I'll

38:09 be broadcasting both their last two home games of the season, which that season is actually coming

38:15 to an end kind of quickly. They have a big break here for some international games, but then come

38:21 back and, uh, yeah, I got both of those and unfortunately they're not in a playoff spot

38:26 right now. So not really sure if I'll have any more broadcasts for the playoffs or not.

38:30 Hopefully you do. Hopefully they, they stick you in the,

38:32 they yeah, they're right there on the line. Four out of six teams make it, but I don't know if

38:38 they're going to be one. So they should, you know what, they should send you to wherever,

38:42 uh, the playoffs are and have you broadcast. I think I, I, you have my support. Um, I will,

38:47 I will openly petition for that to be the case. I'm going to need you guys all to sign a paper

38:50 that says that. Yes, we'll start the, the, uh, it's not, it's not go fund me. What's the other,

38:56 uh, website petition petition website. Yeah. Yes. We'll start, we'll start that like a hundred

39:02 thousand signatures. They're like, all right, fine. We'll do it. We'll let them get that.

39:06 Yeah, exactly. We could, we, I think we could do it. Yeah, exactly. But anyways, Bridget,

39:14 it's always a pleasure having you on. Thank you for joining. Um, everyone go listen to the skate

39:19 podcast, Sunday skate, um, on Sunday mornings on the EI. Uh, and yeah, that's from this episode

39:24 of Bruce beat, by the way, before I go, I will not be here next week. I will be on vacation.

39:29 There will be a mystery guest host, uh, hosting both episodes next week. It's the first time I've

39:34 not done two episodes since I started doing this. Uh, but there will be a guest host next week. So

39:40 you can look forward to that. It's not Connor. It is not Connor. Connor has poked the bearing

39:44 is enough going on. So it's somebody different. Uh, you will like this person. I know you guys

39:49 like this person. So, um, they're smarter and better than I am. So enjoy that. Um, but, uh,

39:57 anyways, that's been this episode of Bruins beat you, Bruce beat listeners. Have a great rest of

40:01 your week.

Reacting to the Bruins Shaking Up Their Lines w/ Bridgette Proulx | Bruins Beat

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