I blame the goaltending.....

[Number8]

Before you shoot me, hear me out.

I think that the goaltending this season was so elite, that it covered up some flaws in our game that, in hindsight, definitely needed addressing.

There were so many games this season that I did not feel we played great but regularly won nonetheless. I think you have to attribute that to all world goalkeeping. And as a result I suspect the Bruins as a team probably got "used" to being able to pull out wins despite maybe not always playing well.

When the goaltending fell back to earth in the PO's (and I suspect Linus was at least somewhat hurt at very end of season) we never corrected -- and maybe it was too late to make the changes that could cover up a newly found weakness.

I guess it doesn't matter. But it's such a shame. This team had everything: goalkeeping, defense, offensive depth and balance, unity, leadership, Cup winning experience. If you are going to build a team in the Cap era, hard to see how you could build a better one.

Still, that ship has sailed. Age, retirements, Cap, UFA, depleted picks is going to make 2023/24 a very very different year.

 

[finchster]

A Refeshing and novel take, I didn't think about that.

 

[goldnblack]

I think it's allowed to be a lot of things all at once.

19 players play the game on any given night. We can comfortably say that 14-15 of them played WAY below their regular season level. You can't overcome that.

On Florida you could argue that 14 guys probably played OVER their regular season level. That made for one hell of a battle. And it turned into the biggest upset in the history of the playoffs. That really did just happen.

 

[BruinDust]

This team had everything: goalkeeping, defense, offensive depth and balance, unity, leadership, Cup winning experience. If you are going to build a team in the Cap era, hard to see how you could build a better one.

If I'm looking at the players and finding blame it starts with..

1) Boston's butter-soft D-corp

2) The centers not performing up to snuff defensively, mostly due to age and injuries.

3) The goaltending


Management built this butter-soft D-corp that isn't designed for playoff hockey.

Management decided to lean on two 37-year old high-milage centers to try and win a cup. The coaches went along with it, placing both in key roles despite their injuries.

The coaches decided to toss away a strength of the team (two solid capable netminders) and try to roll one guy night after night until it was too late.

They say you win in the playoffs with your C, D and G. And in all 3 aspects the Bruins didn't live up to expectations.

The group of wingers on this team did their job for the most part. They weren't the problem.

 

[WickedPegJets]

The 2011 Stanley Cup Championship seemed like a very long time ago. Guys like Marchand, Bergeron and Krevci are old grizzled veterans who are very long in the tooth. This may have been the last hurrah for the latter two.

 

[wintersej]

If I'm looking at the players and finding blame it starts with..

1) Boston's butter-soft D-corp

2) The centers not performing up to snuff defensively, mostly due to age and injuries.

3) The goaltending


Management built this butter-soft D-corp that isn't designed for playoff hockey.

Management decided to lean on two 37-year old high-milage centers to try and win a cup. The coaches went along with it, placing both in key roles despite their injuries.

The coaches decided to toss away a strength of the team (two solid capable netminders) and try to roll one guy night after night until it was too late.

They say you win in the playoffs with your C, D and G. And in all 3 aspects the Bruins didn't live up to expectations.

The group of wingers on this team did their job for the most part. They weren't the problem.

Can you elaborate on 1? They obviously struggled with the forecheck all series. That included guys like McAvoy and Orlov who have been the best D on teams that made it to the Final. Are they soft now? I really think it was execution not how the team was put together.

Krejci and Bergeron being on the ice for one 5 on 5 goal combined all series hurt a lot, too.

 

[BruinDust]

Can you elaborate on 1? They obviously struggled with the forecheck all series. That included guys like McAvoy and Orlov who have been the best D on teams that made it to the Final. Are they soft now? I really think it was execution not how the team was put together.

Krejci and Bergeron being on the ice for one 5 on 5 goal combined all series hurt a lot, too.

Which was the bizarre part.

I've never looked at McAvoy as some gritty hard-nosed defender anyways. He makes a nice open ice hit from time to time. And you don't need 6 rock-solid killers to win playoff series. Although I think it shows how important Chara was to that 2019 run.

Orlov I thought was a all-around beast in 2018 and have no idea what happened to that player. Played too aggressive offensively for my tastes, got caught out of position often. Wasn't as physical as I thought he would be.

Carlo was Carlo. Great stick, good positioning. Lots of bad decisions with the puck even when not under pressure.

Lindholm crumbled under the pressure and his physical play was non-existent. Couldn't believe how many times he fell down during puck battles down low.

I don't think I really need to dig too deep on the softness of Matt Gryz.

And even Forbort despite his size wasn't a physical presence out there at all. Another big but soft defender.


Overall I'm just disgusted with this D-Corps and I think it needs to change to have true playoff success.

 

[EverettMike]

1) The coach - Forget not putting his players in the best position to win, he often put them in the worst possible position with his cockamamie lines and defensive pairings. Started experimenting when they were up 3-1 and never adjusted his attack. Never took advantage of his depth and spread out his best players too thin, neutralizing all of their inherent advantages.

He also royally f***ed up playing older players late in the season during absolutely meaningless games. His playoff failures started there, and he made it worse by inserting injured players into the lineup when he didn't need to while sticking with an injured goalie way too long.

2) The defensemen - A pathetic showing where all of their individual flaws got exposed. This was also an organizational failure as Mike Reilly was banished to Mars during the season, but his skill set would have been so much more valuable than 3 (I'd say 4) defensemen they relied on in this series who couldn't move the puck out of their own zone if the Panthers had only two players on the ice total.

3) Ullmark - He was clearly hurt so I don't blame hi too much for saying he could go, but even a B- from him and they win this series.

4) Fourth line - What kind of depth do you really have if your fourth line is essentially unplayable?

 

[Therick67]

I'd like to know where all the 'leadership' was? We constantly here about the 'leadership in the room' being so great...is it really?

 

[Healthy Wrap]

I agree with the general premise. The team definitely played loose all year and the goaltending bailed them out more often than not. If they get slightly better performances from Ullmark/Swayman, they win this series. With that being said, it can't be understated just how awful the defense, or lack thereof, was in this series. Lindholm legitimately looked like an AHL-level player. The Panthers forechecked hard all series and for whatever reason, the D couldn't handle it.

The only solace I can take in this loss is knowing that we did not deserve to win. At all. We weren't screwed by the refs. We weren't the better team and still lost, as has been known to happen in hockey. The entire team, to a man, played like a bunch of lobotomized shitheads for 3 straight games. Even if they had better goaltending and won the series, we weren't going to make it far with that level of team-wide play. So thanks, I guess, for getting the choking out of the way early and not stringing us along for the next few weeks.

I'm going to take up bird watching or some shit

 

[Riverfront]

bruins D faced pressure, Carlo played probably the best of all of them.
McAvoy and Orlov tried to do too much, overthinking instead of letting plays happen
naturally, Lindholm struggled, Gryzlyck , Forbert, & Clifton can all be replaced .
Forwards totally disappointed in Coyle, played decent the first 4 games of series but
last 3 games was awful. Played on the perimeter way to much and never took shots on
goal as usual when had a chance to. For a 6 million dollar a year player, could be
expendable, does not create enough, even though he is a Boston native i would look to
trade him and keep Bertuzzi.

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

If I'm looking at the players and finding blame it starts with..

1) Boston's butter-soft D-corp

2) The centers not performing up to snuff defensively, mostly due to age and injuries.

3) The goaltending


Management built this butter-soft D-corp that isn't designed for playoff hockey.

Management decided to lean on two 37-year old high-milage centers to try and win a cup. The coaches went along with it, placing both in key roles despite their injuries.

The coaches decided to toss away a strength of the team (two solid capable netminders) and try to roll one guy night after night until it was too late.

They say you win in the playoffs with your C, D and G. And in all 3 aspects the Bruins didn't live up to expectations.

The group of wingers on this team did their job for the most part. They weren't the problem.

Games 3 and 4 center defense was outstanding, Coyle and Zacha.

 

[BruinDust]

bruins D faced pressure, Carlo played probably the best of all of them.
McAvoy and Orlov tried to do too much, overthinking instead of letting plays happen
naturally, Lindholm struggled, Gryzlyck , Forbert, & Clifton can all be replaced .
Forwards totally disappointed in Coyle, played decent the first 4 games of series but
last 3 games was awful. Played on the perimeter way to much and never took shots on
goal as usual when had a chance to. For a 6 million dollar a year player, could be
expendable, does not create enough, even though he is a Boston native i would look to
trade him and keep Bertuzzi.

I wonder how Coyle felt after having 4 strong performances and seeing his role reduced because a couple of injured 37-year olds were supposedly OK to play.

Maybe he just took the increased responsibility and opportunity and it fueled his better play.

Games 3 and 4 center defense was outstanding, Coyle and Zacha.

Totally agree.

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

bruins D faced pressure, Carlo played probably the best of all of them.
McAvoy and Orlov tried to do too much, overthinking instead of letting plays happen
naturally, Lindholm struggled, Gryzlyck , Forbert, & Clifton can all be replaced .
Forwards totally disappointed in Coyle, played decent the first 4 games of series but
last 3 games was awful. Played on the perimeter way to much and never took shots on
goal as usual when had a chance to. For a 6 million dollar a year player, could be
expendable, does not create enough, even though he is a Boston native i would look to
trade him and keep Bertuzzi.

Remarkable but true.

Lindholm scoreless in 7 games, but he and Carlo (4 points) the only plus Dmen (+2). Carlo carried him.

Orlov with 8 assists, McAvoy with 5, both -3. Played like Rovers instead of defensemen.

Clifton -4 in 3 games (and scoreless). The worst.

For as much crap as Forbort takes, he was only -1 while being saddled with Clifton in that terrible Game 6.

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

Was Foligno this year's Backes?

Sitting for a useless Frederic.

Maybe could have added a little fight, a little heart.

 

[wintersej]

Was Foligno this year's Backes?

Sitting for a useless Frederic.

Maybe could have added a little fight, a little heart.

He wasn't good since he got hurt. Bergeron and Krejci were not good either. I think we all knew there was a risk that the olds would break down over 4 series... just didn't think it would be so quickly.

 

[ODAAT]

during the regular season, the team in front of both Ullmark and Sway played with far more focus and getting shots through wasn`t nearly as easy as it was vs the Panthers.

Did Ullmark or Sway make a big save when they needed it the most? Nope, nor did we see this team give up the puck unforced like they did vs the Panthers

 

[DarrenBanks56]

Was Foligno this year's Backes?

Sitting for a useless Frederic.

Maybe could have added a little fight, a little heart.

i wouldve played greer over frederic or foligno

 

[Johnnyduke]

Was goaltending the reason the Bruins got annihilated in OT? Like completely run off the ice. This team was good enough to overcome some goaltending struggles. I mean just look at the slop Florida had in net. Instead the team fed into the problem by playing horrific defense. Even with average defensive play the Bruins win the series.

 

[BruinDust]

i wouldve played greer over frederic or foligno

I'll take Greer back next year with his uber-cheap salary and the Bruins will need warm bodies on a cap-strained roster.

Foligno's NHL career should be over. Any GM or scout who saw how far behind the play he was in this series wouldn't touch him with a 10-foot poll if your expecting playoff success. Maybe some rebuilding team who needs a veteran-type will offer him a contract.

Trent Frederic's time here should be up. 3 consecutive seasons where he was basically an everyday player in the regular season and a healthy scratch in the playoffs. Has arbitration rights and will get a decent raise based on his regular season production, more than I'd be willing to pay. The guy has never been and will never be that big hard-hitting power winger they consistently try to turn him into. Bring him back to center the 4th line or not at all.

 

[13Hockey]

 

[missingchicklet]

Good to know when the Bs had the 4th best save pct leader in the NHL on the team, one who outperformed Ullmark in the playoffs last season. f***ing hell.

 

[13Hockey]

Good to know when the Bs had the 4th best save pct leader in the NHL on the team, one who outperformed Ullmark in the playoffs last season. f***ing hell.

It’s infuriating

 

[GahdenRinkRat]

Not even a little surprised to see this…

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

Wonder if it was a back problem.

Seems most likely when you can't stay on your feet or be able to get up.