I should mention up front that the Bruins won this game and are now up 2 games to 1 because the tone of the rest of this post might not convey that fact. As I've said before, in the playoffs, a win is a win and this win has put the Bruins two wins away from moving on. That being said, there was very little that happened last night that made me confident about the rest of this series. The only thing us Bruins fans have to hang our hats on is that we have somehow managed to win two games with our top six forwards recording one measly point. If those guys decide to show up in the next few games, this should be a breeze. I couldn't disagree more with Julian's attempt to wake them up by switching centers on the top two lines. The lines looked even more out of sorts playing with guys for the first time ever. Lucic and Krejci, Bergeron and Marchand have spent the last two years playing with each other. Why would you suddenly, in the middle of the playoffs, separate these pairs for the first time in two seasons? If he wanted to shake things up, why not use pairings that worked earlier in the season. Swap Seguin and Peverley and you would be adding a new element to a pairing that is familiar with how each other play.
For the past month or so, my Dad's answer has been sit Paille. While he has a point about Paille's talent (let's be honest, if Paille wasn't super fast he wouldn't even be minor league worthy), switching him out with Caron doesn't make much sense at this point. If Paille has any benefit to the team it's eating up short handed minutes and Caron wouldn't play in those situations, so essentially you would be adding ice to a top forward in a situation where they are unlikely to score. I say play Caron, but how about sitting down Seguin or Marchand or Lucic? Let's make a statement early on in what I hope will be a long playoff run that these guys need to step up and make things happen. Give them a shot to look at things from above and maybe they can come back make a difference on the ice. Seriously, three games and one assist from our top six forwards. That is awful! Some one needs to wake these guys up. I hope Karl Alzner's little cry baby gesture will wake up Lucic. I'd like to think that Nicklas Backstrom's cheap shot will wake up the rest of the team, but then again he's had the whole team angered for three games and it's had no effect. Maybe they just need to realize that everything doesn't rest on their shoulders, it is possible for the B's to win with them scoring only 1 point in three games, relax, and play the game they are capable of playing.
Here's some more notes from game three...
-- Seidenberg vs Ovechkin is becoming one of the greatest playoff battles of recent history. These guys are going at each other with huge hits and big plays. The best part is their battles have all been total hard nosed but completely legal. Watching these two go at each other is what playoff hockey is all about. While all the cheap shots, fights and dirty plays are getting all the media attention, these two are putting on a show for the ages. Hey national media! How about talking about this a little! Put the focus on what makes the sport so great, not what makes it so trashy!!
-- I never played hockey, so I have no practical knowledge about face-offs. I've never really understood nor have been totally explained the rules that go with how people are supposed to line up, why someone gets kicked out, etc. That being the case, I find it interesting that Jay Beagle is winning so many face-offs when are more then one occasion the Boston centers have complained to the linesman about something he is doing and then gotten themselves kicked out of the face-off. What is he doing that is getting the Bruins upset? Why are the linesman kicking them out?
-- Dale Hunter knows more about targeting other players heads then anyone in hockey history, so you would think that we should listen when he starts talking about players targeting heads, but I find his claims about the Bruins targeting Backstrom ridiculous. Like I mentioned in my post for the last game, Backstrom has been trying (and succeeding) to get under the B's skins. As we all learned in last year's finals, when Bergeron grabs your face shield you're doing something you shouldn't. To say that his cross check to Peverley face was because the B's have been taking shots at his head is just silly. That cross check was indicative of the type of play Backstrom has been showcasing for three games now and any shots to his head have been in response to his dirty tactics
-- This game gave us further evidence of poor officiating. 1) How could you claim that Holtby didn't throw his stick in the first period? That was as clear an example of a thrown stick as you will ever get and it should have been a penalty shot for the B's. 2) As dirty as Backstrom has been playing, the cross checking call he got in the final minutes against Marchand was silly. There were at least ten more violent and dirty plays that weren't called in that game and to have the game come down to that call was horrible. 3) Dennis Wideman takes a shot at Lucic, Lucic gives a shot back, Hendricks steps in and Lucic and him start to fight but the linesman jumps in which give Alzner the opportunity to come over and mug Lucic from behind and somehow Lucic gets 4 minutes for roughing and Wideman and Alzner get nothing. First of all, why the hell was the linesman stepping into the Lucic/Hendricks fight? He should have let the two go if that was what they wanted to do. Second of all, Alzner instigated the tussle we had with Lucic, how does he walk away without anything? The refs hate Lucic. I don't care what anyone says, there is enough documented proof that they give him undeserved extra minutes any chance they get.
No comments:
Post a Comment