I think Rod is a great coach, but I think his one drawback is that he is convinced that the team just needs to play "the right way" and they'll win. I'm not sure how many adjustments he is willing to make to that strategy when it's not always working. He'll jumble the line-up around a bit, but from what I can tell, that's about it. In fairness, at this point in time, there's not a lot of adjustments that can be made given they've played that way all season, but seeing what works and doesn't work, particularly on the PP and PK (but even 5v5) and then trying to adjust is something that the Bruins seem to have done in the playoffs year after year.
Of course, the #1 thing is staying out of the box and not taking dumb penalties, but can they do that? I like their chances if they can.
See, I actually agree with him in relation to this series, because it seems it’s about willpower - and matchups. We’ll see Staal out versus Bergeron and they whitewashed the perfection line at home.
I’ll preface the next part by saying, I really really like Rod as a coach. I love his post-game talks … and I can only imagine his pre-game ones being just as good. I like his systems, and I like how he deploys the team (the overwhelming majority of the time). However…
I think RBA’s biggest weakness is, he acts like a player behind the bench. His physical reactions to calls that don’t go his way hurts his reputation with the refs. And there is a reputation.
And I believe the players see this, and in their heads believe they don’t deserve a ton of the calls that are made against them. So when *we* say stop taking so many penalties, well, I’m of the mind that in some small sense, the coach has sort of let them know it’s not their fault. Not on purpose, not using words, but through his behavior.
And they keep playing the same way. When (I think) it’s fairly obvious there are some players who need to change it up just a little in regards to their discipline.
