Post-Game Talk: Stars 7 Bruins 2

[Knight]

Who are the keepers, long term?

Pastrnak
McAvoy
H. Lindholm
Swayman

For me, definitely Pasta. Maybe Hampus for the medium term, he always plays like a #1 when McAvoy is out.

McAvoy would be my first choice for the painful franchise altering move.

 

[DaStinger]

Who are the keepers, long term?

Pastrnak
McAvoy
H. Lindholm
Swayman

Depends on the goal. If it's full rebuild I think you have to listen to all offers and then decide. If you can find a plan for a 2-3 year restructure then you keep Pasta and maybe Sway... Maybe.

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

Marchment pushed McAvoy down when he didn't have the puck, which contributed to the whole sequence.

Please, no one thought that was a penalty.

McAvoy fell down.

 

[SPLBRUIN]

What I don't understand is what in the world has happened to the Bruins well entrenched structure, it has completely disappeared. As shocking as that has been, the ST's play is absolutely atrocious, the worst PP in the league and a bottom 5 PK. These coaches are completely failing at whatever message they are trying to get across, it is a complete gong show. They or someone else have to get them back to Bruins type hockey, the kind Julien originally instilled. There hasn't been much turnover from last year so there is no excuse as to why this train is coming off the track at breakneck speed.

 

[ae530]

Jay Leach has come aboard and ruined the team’s defensive structure. John Gruden had them playing good defensively last season and the system Leach is implementing is a disaster

 

[Carl Hungus]

Jay Leach has come aboard and ruined the team’s defensive structure. John Gruden had them playing good defensively last season and the system Leach is implementing is a disaster

is there an edit - undo button we can press

 

[Gee Wally]

After their biggest win of the season, Bruins get blitzed by Stars in Dallas - The Boston Globe

The Bruins return home for a rematch against the Blues Saturday afternoon at TD Garden.

www.bostonglobe.com

DALLAS — So much for the era of good feelings.

One game after pulling off their biggest win of the season, the Bruins failed to ride the momentum, falling flat in a 7-2 loss to the Stars Thursday night at American Airlines Center.
The Bruins were outplayed in every facet by a red-hot Stars squad that has scored seven goals in each of its last two games.

By comparison, the Cowboys, their football neighbors, managed just 6 points last Sunday.

“We lost every battle. Soft on the puck. Soft everywhere. Not finishing checks,” said defenseman Nikita Zadorov. “Just got embarrassed today.”

Boston had trouble matching Dallas’s speed and quickness all game.

The Stars consistently got to loose pucks first and kept the Bruins on their heels for large stretches, most notably during the second period, when they effectively put the game out of reach with three goals to build a 5-1 lead.

“I thought we did a lot of good stuff in St. Louis and today we were just, we weren’t there. Our effort wasn’t there,” said Zadorov, who was hit with a game misconduct following a late slashing call. “[We were not] hard to play against. It wasn’t there. So that cost us a game. They have a lot of skill up there. They bury their chances.”

Similar to what happened in St. Louis on Tuesday night, the Bruins fell behind, 2-0, and lost one of their defensemen to injury. It was Hampus Lindholm against the Blues and Brandon Carlo against the Stars.

The Stars set the tone early when Mason Marchment got a step on Charlie McAvoy, who had stumbled and beat the Bruins defenseman to the puck behind the net.

Marchment curled around and left the puck for Matt Duchene, who one-timed a missile to the top shelf past Jeremy Swayman’s blocker for his ninth of the season at 1:09.

Swayman kept it that way for a bit, making dandy saves on back-to-back one-timers from Logan Stankoven and Marchment.

Dallas doubled its led on Evgenii Dadonov’s penalty shot.

Dadonov had a partial breakaway, and Mason Lohrei tied him up and clipped the puck away but was called for the infraction.

It was a borderline call, at best.

“I didn’t think it was a penalty, but I understand why they called it,” said Bruins coach Jim Montgomery.

The Bruins lost Carlo when Stars captain Jamie Benn crunched him from behind and into the boards behind Swayman’s net.

As Carlo tried to collect himself, Zadorov went after Benn.

After some sweater tug-o-war that included Benn swiping Zadorov’s helmet off, the big Bruins defenseman got loose and landed some powerful overhand rights that buckled Benn.

“My teammate is laying on the ground. I think that’s a good response,” said Zadorov.

Carlo gingerly made his way to the locker room with the medical staff but was able to return to start the second and finish the game.

“He’s a tough competitor,” said Montgomery. “One thing about Brando is he wears his heart out there on the ice and he’s a Bruin.”

The Stars had the Bruins on their heels for much of the second, with Swayman (31 saves) keeping Boston in it with his glove work.

It seemed inevitable Dallas would increase its lead, and it finally happened with a two-goal blitz late in the period.

Montgomery thought about lifting Swayman at that point, but after talking it over with his assistants, he stuck with his All-Star.

Roope Hintz scored in the first minute of the third to boost it to 6-1, before Pastrnak and Marchment traded goals for the final.

“It’s been frustrating all year that we haven’t been able to string like, three to four consistent games where we feel like our habits and details are consistently there,” said Montgomery.

Though Swayman expressed frustration about his performance, he maintained a positive outlook despite the loss.

“It’s just like any game. It’s giving myself a good position on the first shot and trusting my abilities on the second shot. And I didn’t do that tonight, so I think I’ve got to fix that,” he said. “And I’m excited too, and we’re going to make sure that this is a building block for us, not a step back. And that’s on us to do so.”

 

[Gee Wally]

Also:

Johnson out of lineup​

Bruins winger Tyler Johnson was not in the lineup for an undisclosed reason. Montgomery said Johnson “had to attend to a family matter, so he went back home.” His spot was taken by Patrick Brown, who was called up earlier in the day. Brown had 3 goals and 7 points in a dozen games as Providence’s captain .

 

[DoubleBack]

Please, no one thought that was a penalty.

McAvoy fell down.

There was a lot of falling last night. By Bruins.

 

[Boston Bandit]

 

[HumBucker]

Coaches? Players? Both?

The defensive system has collapsed. That's on coaching, I have to assume.

Special teams are a mess.
The putrid PK might be pinned on coaching, but maybe we're also missing players like Heinen and Forbort more than we thought we would.

We have enough talent to have a decent power play – or at least one that's better than this. Gotta be coaching?

The number of times we've seen players attempt a half-hearted stick check instead of a more fully engaged effort – it's disappointing. Case in point, Frederic's weak battle attempt in the neutral zone which the Stars player easily won, resulting in a goal. Not to single out Freddy. Lots of blame to go around. Pasta also needs to show more battle. He encounters some resistance, and just backs off.

Not enough forwards seem willing to go to battle to generate offence. Exceptions are the 4th line, Marchand (most nights) and I think Coyle also has often shown more battle than most. The rest, meh.

I know it ultimately falls to the head coach, and likely Monty will take the fall, but I doubt the coach is telling the players to give a half-arsed effort in those situations. On the other hand, the coach sets the tone for the team. On the other other hand, what's he supposed to do, bench 3/4 of the team?

I don't blame management as much. In the off-season they landed two prime UFAs - a big, punishing D-man and a legit top-6 centre: both things we all said they needed. (Kudos to Zadorov for going at it with Benn after the hit on Carlo.) Kastelic and Koepke seem to be good adds - two of the rare bright spots so far this season.

As much I think Monty is a good coach, maybe a new coaching regime is what is needed to shock these players into shape.

 

[22Brad Park]

Monty still here I see

Jay Leach has come aboard and ruined the team’s defensive structure. John Gruden had them playing good defensively last season and the system Leach is implementing is a disaster

Jay Leach is definitely shouldering blame

 

[Beyonder]

What I don't understand is what in the world has happened to the Bruins well entrenched structure, it has completely disappeared.

Personnel. The team has changed significantly from the 2022 juggernaut/disaster. A lot of key players and role players have departed. Which probably results in having many new players trying to get a grip on this system or assuming different roles than they used to have, and meanwhile the jury is out as to whether this is the right group to implement Boston's traditional structure.

 

[TP70BruinsCup]

Monty still here I see


Jay Leach is definitely shouldering blame

I thought he was the ‘next great thing’ when they hired him? The structure is awful

 

[Bruinaura]

I think it will be more fun watching the 2011 team playing the charity game in a couple weeks than the current edition of the Bruins

 

[22Brad Park]

I thought he was the ‘next great thing’ when they hired him? The structure is awful

They have a few issues for sure like special teams, but last night took the cake giving up seven 5 on 5 goals.

 

[KillerMillerTime]

In case you weren't watching 1973-2006 was an awful stretch of mostly boring, not fun to watch hockey with a brief contender window in the early nineties.

Bruins with Orr\Esposito in 1974 were favorites in SCF. How was that team boring?
The Cherry back to back SCF were boring? Between 1987-88 thru 1991-92 they went to 2 SCF and 4 ECF.

 

[frankiess]

Seems odd that in a post-game thread after a loss there isn't any crapping on the refs. So I will address the two big calls.

Dallas gets a penalty shot when Lohrei is called for mauling from behind. On the replay in slo-mo it looks like he did a great job stopping the breakaway. But the ref doesn't see the reply and in real time it looked like Lohrei impeded from behind and stop Dadonov from getting a shot off. Thought they did the Bruins a favor calling a penalty shot, thinking better chance of Swayman stopping it than Bruins PK killing it.

Carlo boarding a completely different story. Refs get to see the replay. Calling that a minor is unjust. The definition of a hit that needs to be taken out of the game. No excuse for that one.

Carlo and Lohrei, the two victims, both ended the game at -3. Zadorov, Pasta, Zacha, Geekie all at -2.
Pasta with 5 giveaways, but he got his meaningless goal.

Unfortunately, the Bruin player with the most energy was Patrick Brown. His 4 hits led the team and he was the only forward with 2 blocks. Brazeau led the team with 4 shots on goal.

And the slewfoot on MaCavoy. That's intent.

 

[Terrier]

 

[DavidK]

Please, no one thought that was a penalty.

McAvoy fell down.

You sure you're not just repeating what the Dallas broadcaster said? I watched the replay and it seems clear to me that McAvoy was interfered with. But I won't belabour the point.

 

[Thomas 11]

Stars Goal #1 – Matt Duchene is allowed to skate into an empty space the size of Texas in the right circle. Freddy does chase but lacks the speed to get there before Duchene is able to receive and shoot.

Goal #4 – Pasta misreads a play and completely wrong-foots himself, allowing Oskar Back to get open unopposed in the low slot. Zadorov arguably doesn’t play this very well either, and Back scores.

Goal #5 – Lightning McQueen Evgenii Dadonov simply skates away from Zacha and his pathetic attempt at a stick check, and scores unmarked.

Goal #6 – Roope Hintz casually wanders into the low slot and out-muscles the bigger Carlo and Lohrei. Chip in past Sway.

Goal #7 – Keystone cops. Carlo in no-man's land. At least the game was well and truly gone by this point.

Four entirely preventable goals and one gong show caused by poor coverage, lack of effort and sheer doddle-headed failure to do the basics. Topped off by Sway playing deep and timid in most cases, although he is not the main problem. Unacceptable stuff in college hockey, let alone in the NHL. Bad tactics and lack of personnel are one thing, sheer carelessness and insipidity quite another.

The Bruins are now 3-6-1 or thereabouts against playoff contenders, depending on who exactly you count, and 26-44 on the scoresheet. Not good enough, not even close. The roster is flawed, the coaching is sub-standard, but the performance of the players is worst of all. The season is far from a lost cause because the east is so thoroughly mediocre. But if management have any actual ambitions beyond merely earning a few more one and done playoff dollars, they're not going to get there just by making the usual one or two deadline adds. Bigger and deeper change is needed. Time for Sweeney to start earning his $$$ and make some hard decisions.

Great post! I agree with everything, except I didn’t think it was a penalty in real time. Let alone a penalty shot.

 

[nORRis8]

Bruins with Orr\Esposito in 1974 were favorites in SCF. How was that team boring?
The Cherry back to back SCF were boring? Between 1987-88 thru 1991-92 they went to 2 SCF and 4 ECF.

Cannot agree more.
Incredibly physical, tough, skilled plus entertaining with tons of heart.
Plus they played in the Old Garden

 

[veganbruin]

I want Monty, Leach and Kelly gone asap.