Boston Bruins are Struggling at the Worst Time | Ep. 137

0:00 Speaker 1: Can you start a podcast with me?

0:02 Speaker 2: Please?

0:03 Speaker 1: I need something to do.

0:13 Speaker 3: All Jack sitting out a trop OBOCKNNA says gay lunch today, here's a chance pod from right down.

0:21 Speaker 1: The goalie scars, Oh my one a move by the rookie to on one plaster not moving in with Marsha get it, joins Time.

0:29 Speaker 3: Oil dances in podcast.

0:32 Speaker 1: Wait at home, right way corner, pastors there.

0:40 Speaker 2: What is that?

0:41 Speaker 3: Most? Welcome in everyone to another episode of Ruins Tape to tape. We are recording today on Monday, April sixth. I will be your host today, Maria from water Town. I'm going to welcome in my co host Caroline with a ky.

1:05 Speaker 1: How are you? How is the weekend? Besides some lousy hockey? Oh my god, it was just terrible hockey to watch. But the weather was decent, so that made me happy. Although it was definitely spitting snow this morning. We're not in the clear.

1:22 Speaker 3: Yeah.

1:22 Speaker 1: The Red Sox have a game this evening and I'm in Boston in case people don't know, and it will likely be temperatures potentially as well as in the twenties at Sunway Park. The scene bundle up, folks, It's April sixth and we're still freezing our asses off in the Longlands. Oh yeah, we will be for a while. But I guess given the topic at hand, which is hockey, it's would segue that pulled into hockey talk. So to set our teable today, I want to talk about. Obviously, we will touch on the games that occurred this WEE weekend for the Bruins, of which they played three games and only came away with one lousy point.

2:05 Speaker 1: And so the questions I want to dive into with regard to these games is what's currently right with the Bruins? What is wrong with the Bruins? Will the Bruins be a tuck out in the playoffs, as some who I believe are smarter than I am are speculating, And should the Bruins consider bringing James Hagens up? And the segue for that question is that we are clearly definitely struggling with generating offense five on five and also powerfuly. So those are the topics of conversation for today's podcasts.

2:44 Speaker 1: But before that, I want to do a little housekeeping in that today will be the last that many of you will be hearing from me for the next couple of podcasts because I will be traveling on a beautiful trip to Italy or a few day, so I will be missing the end of the Bruin season and likely the start of playoffs until I get back. But we do have a special guest who will be joining Marline next week, Anna Hudak from prism QUACKI and Anna has joined us before and the timing is impeccable in that Anna can speak very informatively with regard to the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Detroit Red Wings, both of which are still trying to worm their way into a playoff position.

3:31 Speaker 3: Yeah, it's gonna be a good time. It's gonna be a very good time, friend of the pod, good Yes, thank you, thanks friend in advance, Anna for filling in for me. So before we get started on the Bruins, let's do our typical little trip around the rank.

3:46 Speaker 1: And for those of you who weren't paying any attention yesterday, and I admittedly am one of those people because we had a very busy Easter weekend here with all of our grandkids running around the place. But Patrick was fired by the New York Islanders and Pete de Beer's is now their coach, which again, now this is the second coach within a relatively short period of time for teams that have decent playoff positioning who have relieved their coaches. And I'm not quite sure I understand it. I know with respect to the Islanders that they had lost or games in a row and were struggling offensively, struggling defensively.

4:31 Speaker 3: It seemed like nothing was really going right, and that I don't understand what precipitates these changes other than you know, my theory sometimes is you can't fire an entire roster right and still the coach in an effort to maybe send a message wake the team the hell up. This seems a little desperate to me at this time of the season to fire a coach. Yeah, I was at a loss when I read this yesterday. This one confused me because, first of all, it was exactly a week after Cassidy was out from Vegas and Tortorella was brought in in his place.

5:10 Speaker 1: And obviously, as we discussed.

5:12 Speaker 3: It was enough of maybe a little bit of a breathing room. Yes, it was close to the end of the season, but it wasn't that close. And you bring John Tortorella in.

5:23 Speaker 1: For a very specific purpose. I could understand that.

5:27 Speaker 3: I get that as an outsider's perspective and understanding of the team culture, the organization's culture in Vegas. Like, all right, I buy that that makes sense. They're crazy. They'll stab anyone in the back to preserve a season. They were, and I believe are still firmly in a playoff spot, so they had the luxury to do that. The Islanders confused me because they've lost some games. By that account, and by what you've described, I mean, we've seen the exact same thing from the Bruins. I believe when the firing happened at that time, the Islanders were in a playoff spot.

6:10 Speaker 3: They've just been bumped by the Philadelphia Flyers, so they are now on the outside looking in, and they have four games left, so ten ten days.

6:24 Speaker 1: Basically, this seems kind of crazy.

6:28 Speaker 3: I've thought about since we last talked, your point of not wanting to throw away a season, or that you know everything that you've built towards for that playoffs in regards to our conversation about Vegas, and I get that.

6:44 Speaker 1: I buy that.

6:45 Speaker 3: I think that makes a lot of sense, But this one doesn't really make a lot of sense, because what is a new coach going to do other than as we've said, and we typically see this happen much earlier in the season, that when you team is really just falling flat, you fire the coach, not necessarily because the coach should be fired, but because you can't fire the whole team.

7:11 Speaker 1: And as the Rangers proved, apparently you can fire players.

7:15 Speaker 3: However, you can't do that right now because the trade deadline has passed.

7:21 Speaker 1: Those guys couldn't play, So that's kind of the only other option.

7:26 Speaker 3: I mean, I think I'm trying to like come up with a good enough reason in my head, you know, did lose the room that badly that it like they literally could not go on, that they could not be relied upon to perform in the playoffs. De Bor is an excellent coach, but what can he possibly do other than be a body on that bench. They don't play that in their favor, But I think the timing is such that from what I've read a little bit and listen to some folks, it seems like it was warrant is shit are The Islanders were playing more of like a kind of an uptempo game, like a running gun type of front and they were getting and have been getting really really.

8:09 Speaker 1: Good goaltending as a result of that. But I think they've stumbled a little bit in that structure. And I don't know if it was a philosophical thing between coach and GM about the system of play that they wanted to implement, if the GM wanted to tighten things up a little bit, because that's all well and good that system when you're winning games, but when you start losing games, like you know, they had a really bad loss against Penguins eight to three, they lost to Buffalo and they and they have since fired off four losses in a row as a result of that.

8:45 Speaker 1: You know, they lost four to one to Philadelphia and then they lost four to three to Carolina, so you know, and again it's also a timing thing as well, because if you were going to make a change and bring in a new coach, to your point, the Islanders don't say again until Wednesday night, So they've got four days now to get Pete de Beers in and have him implement something, meet with players, meet with veterans. However, they're going to make a subsequent change to try and get them back into playoff contention, So you know, again, it could be an issue like we've come so far, We've worked so hard to put ourselves in a playoff spot to now seemingly have that orl go down the drain simply because you know, we have a coach potentially, and I'm not saying that's what the case is, but if he doesn't want to make changes to the way that they play, then again, you know, sometimes the GM is forced to make a difficult decision.

9:45 Speaker 3: Yeah, but then now you are forcing the team to change the way that they play because our new coach may or may not. I know from my understanding from the other news sources that I could. I believe it was the Athletic Hockey Show I was listening to recently discussing the Tortorella transition over in Vegas and how these are the things that we should be expecting from him. Typically when he comes in and takes over like this, the teams are not necessarily going to see that massive bump that you normally see.

10:20 Speaker 3: But he's also going to basically come in and he's going to take Cassidy's system and basically apply that same system but with his flavor. But that's kind of how he operates, and that's how he's going to be doing And that makes sense because this is a system that this team has been playing in all season. What's the expectation here because this seems very risky and my impression is that some mensa candidate had the Islanders front office thought hey, that is a great idea, not really realizing that the context I think is extremely different.

11:01 Speaker 3: Vegas was in a spot, firmly in a spot because they're in like the worst the worst, so like they could they can't afford to lose some games at the end in that transition with a new coach and any new systems and things that he decides he wants to do. The Islanders do not have that luxury because they also now only have four games and they are currently not in the playoffs because they got bumped out completely.

11:26 Speaker 1: Not only out of their division ranking, but completely out. They currently are third in the wild card. Right, But what are you thinking? I think it was a sign of desperation and I have to do something to stop the bleeding. From the GM's perspective, because the Islanders have played one more game than all the other teams that they're chasing, and so I think when as a GM you sit down and look at that and you're like Jesus Christ, the maintaining our position. Now we keep losing, losing, losing, and oh, by the way, we don't have any games in hand.

11:59 Speaker 1: So I've got to stop the bleeding because that got to get this team back on the right track to at least start getting some points back in here and tightening up this race again. So you know, is it right or wrong? Who the hell knows. We'll find out by April fourteenth, because that's when the season comes to an end.

12:18 Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a massive, massive risk because if you look at who the Islanders are playing in their final four games, they played Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Carolina.

12:27 Speaker 1: They could win two of those games. Is that going to be enough? You're right, it is a big risk, but apparently it was one that they're GM deemed worthy of taking in an effort to salvage the season. And honestly, it's also a way to say, listen, I did my best. I made a change to try and stop the bleeding, Because sometimes I wonder if some of these moves by GM's are also made in an effort to not put themselves on a hot seat when things start going down the shitter.

12:57 Speaker 3: Yeah, but I think a move like this at time, under these circumstances, if they don't make it, this will have I.

13:05 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yea, yeah, blown up.

13:07 Speaker 3: I agree, there's a potential prayer you that have poopball over your face. But it's still somewhat shocking, right to be hearing about coaches being let go. And this is crazy in the NHL, And it's like a revolving wheel. It's like the wheel of fortune. Let's spin the wheel, but then names of the coaches who have lost their jobs and are still out there looking for jobs, and wherever the wheel lands, that's the coach that we're going to hire and bring back in. There's no really you to like look towards.

13:37 Speaker 3: Let's bring someone new and fresh in. Let's just go with what we know.

13:41 Speaker 1: So two other thoughts popped into my head.

13:43 Speaker 3: One, I found it very interesting that in both circumstances for Vegas and for the Islanders, what didn't happen, which we often see is if you see a firing of a coach earlier, let's say November, December, January, they usually just tap a current member of the coaching staff as interim head coach, right, they don't bring somebody new in.

14:07 Speaker 1: This is very different.

14:09 Speaker 3: And I wonder the second thought that I had was maybe not with the Vegas situation, because again, they're a whole other beast.

14:18 Speaker 1: I wonder if with the Islanders it was less.

14:22 Speaker 3: So about trying to save face going into the playoffs and more so about making sure that they get debor as for.

14:32 Speaker 1: The market for to speak, that's a validate point because I'm assuming Craig Ferrovi is probably in a very tentative situation in Toronto because they fired their GM. And typically the way it works is a GM is going to want to pick his own coach normally, so Barovi's on shaky grounds there as well. And what other segues into our next topic, which is teams that have clinched and teams that have been eliminated. You have got a boatload of teams that have been eliminated.

15:05 Speaker 3: Now, I don't think there's any chance that Paul Maurice is going to lose his job in Florida, but the Panthers have been mathematically eliminated. The maple Leafs have been mathematically eliminated. They've met a change at GM, so I don't think Barrubi's coaching position there is rock solid.

15:23 Speaker 1: I don't think he has the room anymore either. The New York Rangers again have been eliminated. I mean Mike Sullivan didn't do a bang up job there himself. The black Hawks have been eliminated, and the Canucks have been eliminated. So those are potentially one two people at five five open spots depending on what these organizations, what direction they decide.

15:46 Speaker 3: To go on. Honestly, I think the only organizations where you might not see really any kind of change in that regard would be Chicago and Florida.

15:56 Speaker 1: I agree with you. I think Chicago is still very much so actively building them.

16:02 Speaker 3: Being eliminated was not a reflection, I think on the direction that the team is going in. I think that's just where they are right now. But they are trending in the right direction. And then again with Florida, I mean, what do you expect. You've been to the Stanley Cup three years in a row. It's extremely taxing on the body. You can't maintain that like you could in the eighties when you would have the Islanders and the Oilers going back to back to back all those times, so I think those are the only two where we're not really going to see any kind of significant changes in those regards.

16:34 Speaker 1: I agree with you. So just an interesting, interesting bit of information on an Easter Sunday to say, holy what I mean? I checked it a couple of times to make sure that it was actually in fact correct, nos.

16:48 Speaker 3: And it was.

16:48 Speaker 1: So with luck to them, let's see what happens. We've got our own concerns with our team lumping into a playoff spot. Teams that have officially clinched a playoff spot, they have an official clinched you know, one their division or whatever other or trophy you want to wave around. But as of today, which is Monday, April sixth, we have Colorado Avalanche, Carolina Hurricanes, Tampa Bay Lighton, Dallas Stars, Buffalo Sabers, Montreal Canadians, and Minnesota Wild all officially clinched playoff spots and they're all one hundred points or more.

17:27 Speaker 1: So yeah, that's that theory stands true so far? Yeah, so far.

17:32 Speaker 3: Yeah, it's also turned into a doodle bug race this final week.

17:38 Speaker 1: This is what you didn't want, but it hasn't fact turned into them and it didn't seem.

17:42 Speaker 3: Like it was going to be one this year because literally a week ago it was this team's winning. Now this team's winning and they're getting in, and now it's like, for the love of God, can like, Boston, do you want this or do you not want this?

17:56 Speaker 1: Because well, the Ruins are very lucky in that the teams that have been been up there plus are also losing. So the Ruins right now seen a solid footing for the number one wild card spot.

18:10 Speaker 3: Better footing than But that doesn't mean we like how it's right exactly, because Boston has played seventy eight games, so that means there are only four games left, so eight points max at this point. But you have other teams in that really really close situation, which now I would argue you've got one, two, three, four, five teams gunning for one spot, Ottawa, the Islanders, Detroit, Columbus, and even Washington is only three points out there. I think Washington is probably less of a threats true than the teams you previously margin.

18:49 Speaker 3: Plus you have Philadelphia, even though they are in the third spot of the Metro. I mean they have the same number of points as Ottawa, different division. So you're looking at the Islanders as their next threat. With eighty nine points. Philly has one more game Detroit Columbus. They've all played only seventy seven I mean, if they were to win all of them, then you're looking at ten points and a bunch of them play each other this final week, so it's it's madness.

19:20 Speaker 1: And again, this is great to the league break for the sport to have because they can point to look at what great parody we have. They're all losing. Nobody wants that.

19:31 Speaker 3: Nobody wants that last spot, Jesus so just because the Kadchuk boys intriguely so they have their own podcasts, and they had Dad on the podcast and one of the topics of conversation was, you know, the back to back games, and he was Dad was comparing back in his day when he played, which was a very different right he played.

19:55 Speaker 1: I mean, let's face it, most of these guys play her. They do play her. They didn't have the back to back they didn't play with the same kind of intensity. James Baster. These players are a hell of a lot stronger than they were back then, and they're likely playing more games than they did back in Bada Kuchuk's day. However, there was an instance where apparently Omar plays for the Auto Senators needed a day off, You needed a day of rest because the man has been open about his mental health struggles and his panic attacks.

20:28 Speaker 1: Like, yeah, I don't want to put words in his mouth, but if you listen to what he said, it creates an issue for Rady because he then needs to answer questions. He didn't have to publish the episode. It's their podcast, right, or just say listen, that's not what I think.

20:48 Speaker 3: If you have a problem with what he said, go ask him directly, or just don't you have the friggin thing.

20:54 Speaker 1: But you know, you get it, asked about it, but it was almost like intimating that and others this whole load management thing, because it's a big deal and a big controversy right now in the NBA, where the league is trying to figure out a way to get it addressed, because I agree with the fact that people are saying countless ridiculous sums of money to go to sporting events to specifically watch their team and watch their superstar or watch the superstar of another team, and then randomly this player is out of the game for quote unquote whatever.

21:31 Speaker 1: Load management well, that doesn't It shouldn't fly. It shouldn't be okay, It shouldn't be okay. So I understand the frustration with that, but players or former players should not be calling out each other when you don't. First of all, not your teammate, not your business, not your lockerable, don't say a friggin thing about it. And you two numb skulls should know better that you know your podcast is gaining in popularity, and you know people are listening to it, including the beat writers that follow your teams because they cover your teams, so they're listening to your podcasts.

22:07 Speaker 1: Do you not think you're going to get asked about it? First of all, nobody should have given those two idiots a microphone. The market is saturated with their faces and their voices. I'm sick and tired of these guys. I think they're terrible people, and I don't want to see their faces.

22:20 Speaker 3: Ever. They do intrigue me. I do find them somewhat entertaining.

22:27 Speaker 3: I would take them on my team. I wouldn't because I don't think that they're good people. I don't even want to be affiliated or associated with them whatsoever. I would almost argue and This is again just my interpretation. This is their podcast. They can edit it however they want, they can clip it out. There's a reason why.

22:46 Speaker 1: They didn't, and I wouldn't be surprised if they agreed with Dad, right.

22:51 Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean there might be something more deep rooted going on in Ottawa and in that locker room, So we'll likely hear more once you know.

23:00 Speaker 1: It's then when there's season after would comes to an end.

23:03 Speaker 3: Also, I'm gonna defend lenas to the end. I'm not saying right, no no, no, no, no no, no, no, you're not. But what I'm saying is, because this is the kind of it's always going to be this specific topic of conversation. To me, there are certain things that should stay in the wrong. This is not about all of it publicly at all ever, And you're one hundred percent right in that. It's fine if you're going to bring somebody on a parent who used to play, or just another player who used to play, to talk about the old days.

23:34 Speaker 3: Great, talk about the old days and your personal experience. But I also feel like it's a betrayal of the code of your part of this fraternity. So it was almost mocking.

23:46 Speaker 1: Yeah, you don't.

23:46 Speaker 3: You don't talk about what the other players could or couldn't do when you played, and you sure as hell don't have commentary on current players because you can't speak to what those other people, either in the past or right now are experiencing.

24:04 Speaker 1: Like you can't do that. You can't do that. I'm sorry. And Tuca was on the TNT desk yes in the game yesterday on Sunday and this specific came up, and you know, again, you want all these analysts to be open and honest and say what they feel. However, they do have relationships with current and former players, and Gernado without coming out and saying it, could tell that he would have preferred that he not have said anything. And Tuca's opinion was that, look, goalies are not going to say that they don't want to play because you get tired.

24:40 Speaker 1: They're going to say they can't play because they're either hurt or they're sick, and he should know that better than anyone else with the sickness stuff, so he's just kind of being They were being a bit dismissive, but they were also taking up for Venus.

24:55 Speaker 3: Yes rasks comment is if a goaltender say or any player for that matter, is taking a day off whatever you want to call it, Like, it's not because he wants to sit around and eat bonbonds. So also, you know, Keith, don't be such a literalist and think, oh, he's needing a day of rest. That means he's resting and he's tired. No, you idiot, that's just like a diplomatic way of saying, look, something's not right. He's not gonna you don't want to talk about why. It's just like you say upper body or you say lower body, like, and he's for airing the brunt of their workload and playing extremely well for the most part for this team, and it gets them into the playoff positioning that they're in.

25:39 Speaker 3: So it just was a bit of distraction and controversy that's likely not needed right now or a team that's fighting to get.

25:48 Speaker 4: Into a wild card spot. Yeah, yep, right, Well, let's talk about the Ruins and how much they're ruins. Okay, So we had that tremendous win against a pretty good, very good Dallas Star team.

26:00 Speaker 1: They cornched a playoff spot already six to three. The Bruins travel to Florida to play games against the Panthers, the Tampa Bay Lightning, and then the very next day turn around and play the Philadelphia Flyers. On those three games, the Bruins managed to only secure one freaking point, and after the Florida game, Marco Sturm was not at all things and I think he literally came out and said that the Bruins basically disrespected their opponent. Now I have said that before.

26:32 Speaker 3: I thought the loss to the Maple Leagues was a bit of your disrespecting your opponent or not taking a lesser opponent quote unquote their quotes. Then we fast forward to the Tampa Bay Lightening game, which was for the most part a pretty good hockey game. Now, I will say in all three of these games, and you you can dispute me if you want, but I don't think you will. The Bruins have gotten and are getting unbelievable goal from both Slayman and Jonas unbelievable goaltender. If it wasn't for Yoni's corpus Salo so in the Philly game, I don't think they would have even secured one fourth.

27:09 Speaker 3: Yeah, I agree, Corpuslo had some unreal saves and Swaymen as well.

27:14 Speaker 1: Both of them played incredibly well. So what's going right and what's going wrong here?

27:22 Speaker 3: Because I can tell you for me, and I've raised this concern the last week or two, the slow starts or kind of falling asleep off the wheel. If they don't play at both sixty minutes, the system and the structure, then Marco Starr wants them to play in their likelihood for success drops inherently.

27:42 Speaker 1: Yes, they have become this team.

27:46 Speaker 3: This team has kind of evolved as the season has gone on, and we've gotten to a point where if they do not play that complete game, it's going to be a much bigger uphill climb.

27:59 Speaker 1: And we've seen them kind of recover in that sense.

28:03 Speaker 3: They played a good forty minutes because they were asleep at the wheel in the first period, which of course then makes I believe.

28:10 Speaker 1: In the Florida game, the first period terrible. Yeah, it was terrible. Yeah, that's right. And so they have to play well.

28:19 Speaker 3: I mean, I'm not saying that they have to come out and score immediately, although that of course helps, But how do you how do you improve upon it?

28:27 Speaker 1: Like, how do you make that be a thing.

28:29 Speaker 3: If they haven't been able to consistently do that up until this point, I don't know are their passengers right now, are there, or at least passengers in the sense of thinking that, well, we've got five points on the next team, so we can we can afford to breathe a little bit still instead of just treating every game like you're only a point ahead of the next team in line.

28:58 Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't know how you games when you're five on five, scoring has seemingly dried up. You can't score on the powers play, and then you have instances where you have scatterings of periods where you can't manage more than five or shots on goal in a period. Oh and by the way, then you wind up having twenty one turnovers or takeaways in some games. And I brought this up last week too, the odd man rushes. It's one thing if you're struggling to generate scoring, but then and again, maybe that's an issue of you're trying to do a little too luch, too many guys to try to do too much, But then you're giving up odd man rushes.

29:39 Speaker 1: So then you're making your goaltender's job even harder. Yeah, to your.

29:43 Speaker 3: Point, against Tampa Bay, Boston had only twenty two shots on goal. They had nineteen shots on goal in Philadelphia. That's it. And not only does that make for a very boring game, and not in overtime, by the way, and now god seeing not one in overtime number one, because in Pasta and I got called for penalty and then Charlie mcavoyd took an undisciplined penalty right after that. Now, again, I get that these guys are trying to be leaders, and I know that Pasta was gassed, you still have to have a freaking awareness ware stick is what you're doing.

30:21 Speaker 1: You know what time of the game, it is, what's on the line.

30:25 Speaker 3: You just can't do shit like that against desperate teams because you're gonna wind up paying for it. And they did. Yeah, well that was the thing that irritated me the most about the Philadelphia game from last night.

30:40 Speaker 1: We hadn't seen this in a while.

30:41 Speaker 3: The thing that drives me bonkers always any team that is playing the way Boston played with the stick infractions.

30:50 Speaker 1: That's lazy hockey. That is lazy ass hockey.

30:55 Speaker 2: When you were getting be on the rush, you're getting caught flat footed, so all you can think to do is to hook or hold or trip play better hockey, be faster, be in your right position.

31:10 Speaker 1: And on top of that, the fact that in this past week you had.

31:16 Speaker 3: Situations where they couldn't enter the zone, they couldn't get set up. I mean, every power play, every power play was basically a winste of time because there was there was no setup. They couldn't get established in the zone. None of the quarterbacks could handle on the point. They lost it every single time. I mean, I'm sitting there and I'm watching it. I'm like, I don't want to watch this because this is just bad hockey. This is bad, bad, bad, bad hockey. And the only reason why they didn't get obliterated that these scores were as low as they were.

31:49 Speaker 3: What was it two to one, three to one, and two to one right the Tampa Bay game was I believe that was one three.

31:58 Speaker 1: One, two to one was because of their goaltenders? Correct? They should have rot six sixty one? Yes?

32:06 Speaker 3: Yes, yes, and yes. So people look at I watched, what are you crabbing about? Really, they've only given up what threes or seven goals? Okay, but it could have been worse if you're not getting absolutely outstanding goaltending from swaymen and still have four more goals than the other kias still have to score more goals in the other right, right, it's and I just.

32:30 Speaker 1: Again that Florida game was a snooze best two, by the way, boring. And when have we ever said that a game between the Boston Bruins spent a long time and the Florida Pansers was boring? Right because Florida literally had nothing to play for, but they're playing for pride. There are young guys on that team that are playing for jobs, you know, other players who maybe playing for contracts to stay there. And I get really bothered when I hear people say, well, it's been a really long grind, that played a lot of hart, they've had the toughest schedule.

33:02 Speaker 1: You know what the schedule is, you know what you're up against, you know what your travel schedule is. But you still have a job to do when you get out there on the ice, and your job is to play a full freaking sixteen minutes lucky.

33:17 Speaker 2: Yeah.

33:17 Speaker 3: I mean, having a tough schedule ahead means that you're playing against teams that have high win percentage or points percentage, and that only should be intimidating if your team is actually that much worse, and I don't think that Boston is, however, because if that were the case, they would be blown out of the water.

33:43 Speaker 1: Right you know.

33:44 Speaker 3: I think that's what makes us all the more frustrating. We are fair matchups and thinking about who they've got coming up next. Carolina and Tampa Bay, I think are the toughest of the remaining teams. And it's not a question of talent. It's gonna come down to are the Bruins actually gonna show up and execute their system?

34:08 Speaker 1: And we don't know because we never know which team is going to show up and do the job. In the Tampa game, it went out before on that powers play. You score one or two goals there, and that can potentially change the entire trajectory of the game. Not only that, what makes it even more frustrating is they're not even generating any good offensive momentum because the power plays are not good. So they're not fluid, they're not getting good shots off, they're not making the opposing goldtender's jobs hard.

34:38 Speaker 1: So not a good time of the year for us to be having these questions popping up in our head. Right, So what is right with the Bruins right now. Other than the goaltending, We've seen this before. We've seen them be able to bounce back and show us right, will show you type of attitude or you know, we're not happy with the wave and play. Let's hope that this is the case with these last four remaining games. But what do you see that's right with them?

35:09 Speaker 3: I mean, I'm gonna have to dig deep here because quite frankly, I'm feeling not optimistic in terms of what I have to look forward to on Tuesday against Carolina.

35:22 Speaker 1: I mean, the one thing that I see.

35:25 Speaker 3: Consistently this season as opposed to last year, and this is just an easy comparison to make because last year was just so bad, is their ability to make change from period to period, whether it's just an attitude change or a change in how they come out and play. We did see this in the beginning of the season, but we don't really see any more an entire game with no play. Again, we can see forty minutes sometimes of really good play, and so I think that.

35:59 Speaker 1: Serves them well.

36:01 Speaker 3: I just am worried that they are going to kind of rely on kicking the can down the road and saying well, we've got still another period to go. We can get that goal back, because again the last three games they've lost by like nothing. And so I worry in that sense that they think that they have more time than they actually do, and then they turn it on a little too late. So like they can turn it on, and I think that that's great, That would be all well and good if you had your five on five scoring a little bit more balance or me that you could capitalize on opportunities.

36:38 Speaker 3: And I don't understand would this power play, because this happens at this time of year every year.

36:44 Speaker 2: What is it?

36:45 Speaker 1: Is it the other teams have just figured us out? Maybe? Maybe how do you go from being the third power play in the entire league? No, like the third worst in six weeks? How how I don't know. If it becomes an instance of either the coaching staff or the players becoming stubborn on their units in terms of how they want to maneuver their powerplay, I don't know. And you know, I've heard the theory of, well, you can still have success in the playoffs without a good power play because less penalties get called.

37:18 Speaker 1: Okay, but on those rare occasions that you do get a power play opportunity. Wouldn't you like to know that it might work to put a game away in the playoffs situation?

37:29 Speaker 3: Yeah, That and the fact that the Bruins continue to struggle on the road.

37:35 Speaker 1: I mean, that is going to be the nail in the coffin. Again.

37:38 Speaker 3: We're coming to that time of year where we figure out what the epitaph is going to be on the tombstone of the season. I am wondering if it's going to be couldn't win on the road, because and they're going to be the away team they if they make it, there's still a chance that they won't. I mean, I think that they need to win two games and get at least one point if they're going to be on the road in the playoffs. And I have no faith that they can actually pull it off. I mean, you know, even the way things are going in the Eastern Conference, I think you've got to be close to one hundred points we get I think so they're at ninety five right now.

38:18 Speaker 1: They have to beat one of the four team or two of the four teams when you've got again Carolina, Tampa Bay, Columbus and New Jersey and they can't disrespect any of those teams because we've seen what happens. So this begs the question, which was another topic of conversation, with the struggles that the Bruins have clearly been experiencing with five o five scoring and play, you bring, should they consider bringing James Pagan up? Now, they can bring him up, but there are consequences to that, right if they bring him up.

38:54 Speaker 1: Yeah, I still say no.

38:56 Speaker 3: I still say no because at the end of the day, it's my understanding that he's still learning, he still has things to learn and work on at the AHL level again, because it's still quite a transition from D one hockey to AHL and then it's a completely different game from the AHL. So how many times have we talked about basically, career ahlers who are phenomenal in that league can't do anything in the NHL. And I'm just I just don't know that he is the solution to any particular problems. And I don't think it's worth burning the first year of his entry level hard track.

39:38 Speaker 3: Just I don't see the benefit right now to doing that. And you've talked about this before where you've got these guys on this team, they've been working really hard towards this. Most of the team has been there in all of these day one, from day one. It's not just that they have earned their spots at this point, but it's also their problem to fix. Like they've earned the privilege to be there, but it is also their responsibility to make it right. No one else can fix this, no one else should fix this except for them, And I don't have the answers.

40:14 Speaker 3: It's like, how can you make them do anything better?

40:19 Speaker 1: How do you you know what I'm saying? Like, the system clearly works.

40:21 Speaker 3: We have seen this work very very well with the guys that we have, But how do you make them play sixty minutes?

40:29 Speaker 1: How do you make them do that? I don't know, because we've seen these cracks, you know, here and there. They're usually not sustained or prolonged crack, right, Yeah, that we see. I think what's alarming right now is, given where we're at in the season, that this was your opportunity right to bolster yourself even more confidently into playoff positioning.

40:53 Speaker 3: And you know, I know it sounds like we're talking as if they're going to fall out of playoff good.

41:00 Speaker 1: Hopefully they will not, right, but they have been in control of their own destiny the entirety of the season, and when they lose, for the most part, it is because of self inflicted wounds. Yes, that this team suffers, and that's what is so maddening to be seeing those self inflicted wounds at this time of the year. Given the benefit of the doubt, if they can come out and beat the likes of the Canes and the Lightning, Okay, then I might change my viewpoints and my level of concern. I think they can if they play sixty minutes.

41:37 Speaker 1: There's no reason in my mind that they couldn't.

41:40 Speaker 3: I may have had those doubts at the start of the season where I genuinely and I said on the podcast, I don't think this team is talented enough.

41:48 Speaker 1: They've clearly learned how to get the most talent out of themselves through this system. It works for them, but they have to play the whole time. You know, it's not an easy system. We have seen it.

42:02 Speaker 3: It requires a good deal. Are smart right for full sixty minutes? Intense smart exactly minutes. If they're not awake and they're not paying attention, then they kind of rely on old habits. Well, I think to some degree they let opposing teens take them out of their game, and sometimes they can't get themselves back into their game.

42:25 Speaker 1: And I don't know why that afference. I think this is why sometimes we see the transition from a shitty first period or a really good first period to their second period. Wall was and it's like, Okay, well, you guys figured it out in this period. Why the hell could you do this during the other periods before you fell behind in a game?

42:45 Speaker 3: You know?

42:45 Speaker 1: Yea or now either someone's got to help poor Morgan Geeki.

42:49 Speaker 3: I feel so bad for him because watching him in the Philadelphia game, his degree of frustration, the number of times he retaped this, I mean, it's palpable, how frustrated.

43:03 Speaker 1: He is, so desperate to try anything to get yourself going. I feel so bad for him.

43:11 Speaker 3: I have been hesitant to do this because he was on such fire at the start of the season, and I credited him for carrying a lot of the offensive load to start the season.

43:22 Speaker 1: He still is the number one goal scorer, I know, but I do have.

43:26 Speaker 3: I did put him in the penalty box now because nineteen games played since the beginning of March, nineteen games one goal.

43:35 Speaker 1: I mean necess for only eight points. Here's the thing. We literally just talked about this earlier. Give it players taking a break right, because.

43:43 Speaker 3: The mental health side of the game, I think is not considered in the same way that some other kind of injury could.

43:50 Speaker 1: He is so snake bitten he is.

43:52 Speaker 3: I don't think it would be the worst thing for him to have a night off, not as a punishment scratch right. He got that under Montgomery before he kind of finally figured out the game. But sometimes you just have to tell someone like I think you just gotta just like sit one out, just take a step back, because you're too You're two in your head, you're two in it, and you maybe can't see how to fix what's going on because you're just so in it. I don't know, but I've been holding off and holding off.

44:24 Speaker 3: But I'm like, we need him, and he probably knows that better than anybody else. She knows that better than anybody else does. But like fair is fair, You're in the box, Morgan, and I might stay there until you finally PLoP one in. Unfortunately, I also have the five word five scoring and even all scoring quite frank, any and all scoring, Yeah, needs to be more scoring. Yeah, I would agree that discipline situation will stick it in fractions. That kind of lazy play just pisses me off. I don't want to see that.

44:58 Speaker 3: I'm also throwing Mason lower back into the box. I feel a little bit bad for him in the sense that man, when he screws up, it's bad, right, Like everybody makes mistakes, obviously, but it just seems like.

45:12 Speaker 1: His fumbleable noticeable and really egregious.

45:17 Speaker 3: Yeah.

45:17 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, my fear, my fear because I might have PTSD from this too. But when Matt Grizzlik was a regular member of the defensive corps and we would get into the playoffs, Yeah, his side of the ice was targeted on a regular, recurrent basis, And I fear that the same thing will happen when the Ruins and it's going to exploit Mason will I The thought did cross my mind as I was watching the Philadelphia game. I think it was that game. I wouldn't be surprised if they deal him this summer. No, I wouldn't be shocked either.

45:52 Speaker 3: I agree with you, and it sounds like you're giving up on a young player that clearly has for a defenseman, clearly has good defensive skills.

46:01 Speaker 1: Yeah, but you're a defenseman. You've got to display the defensive skills on a more consistent, solid basis as well. So is that bear on bear that we want you to be the whole package?

46:13 Speaker 4: No?

46:13 Speaker 3: Sorry, So that's who's in the box for me as well. And I think we're both on the same page in terms of who's getting the stick tabs. It's basically our goaltenders and then the second line.

46:25 Speaker 1: That's it. They're the only ones who are excusing novel zaka Victor Rodardson and Casey Millstatt. Right now, there be goose eggs in these last three games potentially, So I mean r and we had a hattie for crying out. Kudos to them. I do hope they extend him in the off season, but we'll have those conversations when we have more tang. Right now, we just need to get this team into the playoffs, not limping in firing on mostly all cylinders. You don't want to see your team lumping into the playoffs.

46:58 Speaker 1: With that said, I want to thank our audience for listening. Please make sure to like and subscribe for more content, and please feel free to leave a rating and a review. So that other Bruins fans can find us.

47:12 Speaker 3: You can also support our podcast by joining our Patreon or following us on our socials at Tape to Tape mk and on substack at Tape to Tape mk dot substack dot com.

47:28 Speaker 1: So with that being said, I will chat with you all when I return from my drip. In the meantime, I'll hand it off to my awesome co host who's going to carry the load while I'm gone. She gets the final word, go Be's, go Be's