Boston Bruins Game Recap: From Detroit Disaster to a Statement Week at Home | Ep. 120

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

0:03 Speaker 2: I need something to do.

0:13 Speaker 1: All Jack send it out and talk about going to say today, here's a chance, pop right down with goalie scars. Oh my one a move by the rookie to on one plaster not moving in Marsha get it. Jot on his own oil dances in podcast wat home right away corner, Pastern Chest.

0:40 Speaker 2: What's that for? Boston?

0:51 Speaker 3: Welcome in everyone to another episode of Bruin's Tape to Tape. I'm your host today, Caroline with a K and it is just number eighth that we're recording. And my goodness, are we in the thick of everything hockey all the time? People are getting injured left and right. It is the chaos of a condensed season ahead of the Olympics. So I'm welcoming in my fantastic co host Maria from Watertown to talk about it.

1:17 Speaker 1: How's it go with Maria? It's going, it's going. Yeah, You're right, it is. It is utter madness and chaos at this time of the year.

1:26 Speaker 2: It's all fun stuff, you know.

1:28 Speaker 1: We everyone has their their holidays in whichever manner that they celebrate them, but it still lends itself to chaos.

1:38 Speaker 2: And then trying to.

1:39 Speaker 1: Squeeze in the viewing of hockey games in addition to all the festivities it is.

1:44 Speaker 3: It's it's a tough time for everybody, no matter what, no matter what you're doing, whether it's the holiday things or the hockey things or what have you. So we're trying our best to stay on top of our snapshots. But if we don't have out there, you'll know why because it is December and there's just a lot of hockey games that we have to try and keep up with.

2:07 Speaker 2: So and not.

2:08 Speaker 1: Only that, you know, we have families, we have lives. We're not making any excuses, but this is the time of the year where some things take a little bit of priority over hockey. What jocking that's never happened before in my life. Plasma's coming from.

2:25 Speaker 2: Me, I know, I know. Well, let's dive in. We'll set the table.

2:29 Speaker 3: There's just so much happening, Like I said, so many injuries, some crazy news out there, not just for the Boston Bruins pretty much really now, it sounds terrible to say scraping the bottom of the barrel, because I don't think that these guys are terrible, but they're literally reaching for their final backup players at this point. And we've also got the Olympic decisions are going to be coming out very soon, so lots to talk about, but Bruins will some updates on the most I don't know, intriguing significant injuries because they are to our two main leaders.

3:09 Speaker 3: David Pasternak, we've just seen today again it's Monday, middle of the day that Pasta was at practice, but he is in a red no contact jersey. Yeah, he was skating before on his own, yes, so he is in a red no contact which is interesting. That was a little bit of a surprise to me. And then Charlie McAvoy, we know he's been skating and he was at practice on Friday in a no contact jersey, but today Monday.

3:45 Speaker 2: Regular jersey. Yeah yeah, regular jersey.

3:48 Speaker 3: That's kind of pretty big news, especially since we all learned on Friday when he went to practice for the first time and met with media that he had lost twenty pounds in that first week and a half thanks to the all liquid diet.

4:02 Speaker 1: Yeah, eating a steak and drinking it doesn't carry the same benefits, right.

4:07 Speaker 2: Yeah, I could have told you that it doesn't really work.

4:11 Speaker 1: It stands to reason, right, it just stands to reason, Yes, he would have lost weight, so you know, and it's a losing of weight I would realize goes along with stamina, yes, strength, all of that that he needs to kind of rebuild.

4:26 Speaker 3: Right well, and keep in mind, you know, it's twenty pounds and in his case, that's twenty pounds of muscle effectively, so he also has to bring that back up. He can't have solid food for six weeks post surgeries, presumably, even if he were to rejoin the Bruins this week. I mean, that guy is still on a liquid diet, so that's.

4:49 Speaker 2: Going to be interesting to see.

4:51 Speaker 3: Can he can he even actually join the team yet, I'm assuming no, he's I think he he's really lucky he didn't have to have his jaw wired shut, because I can't possibly imagine having to play NHL level hockey and have your jaw shut.

5:09 Speaker 2: I would venture to guess that if you're the Growings, you might want to hold off on getting him back in knee a line up until they come back lay at home before the Christmas break.

5:20 Speaker 3: The other big kind of Ruins news is, as I mentioned, it's December. Olympic rosters are now being decided by the various nations, and not surprisingly, Morgan Gegee's name has been coming up in Olympic roster talk. It'd be very interesting to see if we do see him make his way to Milan in about two months. He's just the most on fire player the man. Every time he touches that puck, it's finding the back of the net, it's going exactly where he wants it to go. I mean, I hate to say it because it almost sounds disrespectful, but honestly, like, I still can't wrap my head around it that he has just gone from you know, zero to one hundred in seemingly no time at all.

6:07 Speaker 3: Like, no, it's it's a cliche and it's it sounds insulting to him, but I can't help it.

6:14 Speaker 1: No, And I think it's even more impressive for from my standpoint that he's still still popping in goals, he's still assisting on goals with David Pasternak out of the lineup. Yeah, so you know, he he is taking his role and running with it, which is it's it's a beautiful thing to see. He's certainly making a case for himself to be talked about as you know some type of an alternate on Team Canada. Whether that comes to fruition or not, we'll see, right And and he's also being very very humble about what he is doing thus far this season for the Boston Bruins.

6:54 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I agree.

6:55 Speaker 3: It's We're very lucky because I think we've talked in the past that, oh man, the Bruins just need someone who can play with Pasta. They need someone who can play with Pasta because Pasta is this elite level player that Boston hasn't really had another player of his caliber, and all of a sudden, here he is, out of seemingly nowhere. Yeah, I think we finally do have that person who can play with David Pasternak and actually can do pretty darn well without him too.

7:26 Speaker 1: And I think we have to give, as much as I hate to even say this, we have to give that Queenie a little bit of credit for seeing a bit of a diamond in the rough. And contract that Morgan Geeky has is just so team friendly, so I think it was a good fit for both sides.

7:45 Speaker 2: I agree.

7:46 Speaker 3: I agree for our listeners who tuned in last week, we had run out of time to get one of Maria's classic hot takes about the current Bruins leadership situation, we very briefly alluded to there's not been any further conversation. I mean, granted, I certainly am not expecting any further conversation until the postseason, but this leadership vacuum and the fact that we are continuing on this season without a captain, and Maria, you've been giving this a little bit of thought.

8:18 Speaker 2: Take us on the journey of your hot take.

8:21 Speaker 1: We heard initially Dan Swaeney and even Marco Sturm alluding to the fact that they wanted someone to emerge as the leader basically earn that. See now, how many games and we're thirty close to thirty games in this year. We've had Charlie McAvoy now out of the lineup unfortunately for an extended period of time. You know, when his play has been it's been better, it's been better. Pasta hasn't been lighting things up crazily either, and he's had some time out of the lineup, no, for the first time in his career.

8:55 Speaker 1: Yeah, and I'm looking at a particular player to me who showed signs of an emergence at the end of last season, who has carried that emergence forward with not only his play on the ice and making changes to the way plays, but the fact that he has said and done I know who you're going to say all the right things as far as I'm concerned throughout the course of the season and continues to be a leader.

9:24 Speaker 2: And I'm talking about Nikita Zadora.

9:27 Speaker 1: And I don't understand why if that if it was me, And I'm looking at this in you know, the way it was presented to us by the Boston Bruins organization. Yeah, and you're saying you're waiting for someone to stand out and take that leadership role on I don't give him the sea.

9:45 Speaker 2: Give him the sea.

9:47 Speaker 3: I don't know if I'm one hundred percent there with giving him the sea, because i do want to keep going and seeing because I'm nervous just because of the whole year that we saw last year, just because of that, and I'm a little bit more conservative on that end. But I agree in terms of the leadership. The fact that at the start of the season, Bruins management, I don't know who really made the decision obviously, but that they decided they were not even going to introduce any degree of rotation in any sort of way.

10:22 Speaker 2: We've seen in the.

10:23 Speaker 3: Past that one of the alternates was rotated in and out. I think is a fantastic motivator and reward recognition for a guy who maybe is really contributing in that time. So I've always been a fan of that idea. I don't have a problem with there being, you know, a captain and then an alternate who's just like that steady right hand man, as has been the model for a number of seasons in Boston. I'm also a little bit surprised that they opted again for here's our set three when we've seen other other teams and other iterations of the Bruins when they have been without a captain handing out more than three a's and then rotating some of them in and out, because obviously you can only have a max of three in a game.

11:17 Speaker 3: But again, I will point to the New York Rangers from a number of years back, where they had five alternates. Name I believe it was the late sixties early seventies Boston Bruins that had multiples right where there was obviously one chief he had it all the time, but you know, rotating in and out. So I think it's weird. I kind of question the reasoning and logic behind the way that they have put it together. Because to your point, Maria, if you want to say, we're gonna let nature take its course, which is plausible, right, and we're gonna see who rises to the occasion, either you were just I don't know, feeding us some bs, which is also very likely, right,

12:05 Speaker 3: or like, how could you possibly expect that to happen if then, tacitly you've already said it's these three guys, it's going to be one of these three guys. Like I think, to Zadorov's credit, he is I think a genuine leader, and I don't think.

12:24 Speaker 2: He cares if you have a letter or not.

12:29 Speaker 3: He's going to come in and be the leader that he is, showing us that he can be right. He's not going to necessarily, like automatically.

12:37 Speaker 2: Defer to the letter.

12:39 Speaker 3: I fully expected him to if they were going to do some degree of rotation, that he was going to be one of the guys who had it. And it's shocking to me that he only just recently got that recognition, like the fact that they went Hampus Linnholm Elias Linnholm and then him Yeah.

12:58 Speaker 1: And he's likely not it. And the team itself seems to be unconcerned about who has a sea or who doesn't have the sea. I'm just making the case based on what this organization said that they were looking for in terms of, you know, the next captain of the Boston Ruins. Like this guy is showing me that he has the capability of doing that.

13:28 Speaker 2: I agree the at its core.

13:31 Speaker 3: While you and I may disagree with the timing with which to hand out the sea, I will say right now, in my eyes, in what I see both on the ice and off the ice.

13:43 Speaker 2: He's the leader. He's the guy right now.

13:47 Speaker 1: Yeah, it's just kind of hit me and I thought, could we potentially go through the whole season with that one?

13:51 Speaker 2: It looks likely that we might. Right, we made very well go through.

13:55 Speaker 3: I expect that for sure. Definitely this food for thought, very interesting food for thought. We want to hear from our listeners.

14:04 Speaker 2: Is he the guy? I don't know. We'll find out.

14:06 Speaker 3: I guess we'll find out as the season goes on. Let's just take a super quick tour around the rink again. These injuries, My god, the number of players who are getting It feels like these ACL injuries, Oh my god, left and right. Because you've got Kyle Paul Mary. We talked about him and his ridiculous play that he assisted on last week, me whatever situation happening with Connor Hellibuck.

14:34 Speaker 1: And now poor Tyler Sagan. This kid can't catch a freaking break. I went down and looked at his injury history. Not easy injury. No, he's had achilles hip surgeries, now a torn ACL. I mean it just like, at what point do you sit down and evaluate and say, what am I doing to my body here? I know that these hockey players are the ultimate competitors and don't want their bodies to ever quit on them.

15:07 Speaker 2: But my god, and he's he's only thirty three.

15:11 Speaker 3: I thought he was maybe closer to thirty five because in my mind, you know, when I think back to the twenty eleven Bruins, I think of him and I think of Marshy as like this pair, but not really actually realizing how much older Marshand is than Sagan.

15:29 Speaker 2: Tyler Sagan wasn't even drinking age.

15:31 Speaker 3: I know, yeah, it's at first when I saw that, I was like, oh man, that's going to be the end of his career time.

15:39 Speaker 2: I mean, he's thirty three.

15:41 Speaker 3: By no means, especially in this day and age, is that particularly old.

15:45 Speaker 2: It's older.

15:47 Speaker 3: But I think you're seeing a lot of these long term guys making it to thirty five. So we will see if he does, because that's that's a tough one.

15:56 Speaker 2: That's basically that's it for the season for him. Yeah, it's it sounds like it's it. Is it for the season for him. Yeah.

16:02 Speaker 3: And the other big piece of news that's kind of around the rink.

16:07 Speaker 2: Is the speaking of rinks.

16:10 Speaker 1: Yeah, literally is the Joe It's laughable at support.

16:16 Speaker 2: That is the Olympic ice rink in Italy.

16:21 Speaker 3: It's shocking to me because a Italy, you know, Milan, they've known that they've had the Olympics since twenty sixteen. Italy last had the Winter Olympics in two thousand and six. So the fact that they are effectively still constructing an arena early December of twenty twenty five is first of all shocking, Like what.

16:46 Speaker 2: Is going on?

16:47 Speaker 3: I mean, yes, there's always corruption and bated pricing and stuff when it comes to the Olympics, because like whatever, that's always a thing.

16:56 Speaker 1: No, the IOC is farious organization as far as I'm concerned.

17:02 Speaker 2: So the biggest issue is the fact.

17:05 Speaker 3: That if you haven't heard the news somehow this rink size, So an NHL rink is two hundred feet in length and ninety feet in wit. An Olympic or international ice surface is slightly wider and I think a slightly shorter. It's a little bit ultimately, it's a little bit bigger square footage wise, this is now going to be smaller than the specs or an NHL rink with And you may be thinking, all right, well, what's what's three to six feet? Honestly, what difference does it make? The difference is at this particular speed of play, these players have learned how to play almost with instinct, at a very very high speed on a very particular size of rink.

17:57 Speaker 3: It can pose a significant scene set issue when you take away two four six eight of feet in length, and this is not an ice surface that they have spent much time on. So that's kind of the biggest concern and part of me and Marie I want to get your take on this. The NHL primarily, you know, Gary Bettman has basically come out and he's said there's no backup plan. This is all on the on the IOC to get sorted out. Now, my take is, my initial thought is why the heck is the NHL being so passive aggressive about all of this?

18:35 Speaker 3: Because you would imagine after the massive, massive success of the fore Nations and the NHL is always looking to continue to capitalize on opportunities that really get the NHL's name out there for him to be passive aggressive about all of this. The only thing I can think of is that truly, deep down they don't want the players to go, which I think is true. I think that Betman he always is working for the owners. However, money is everything, Right, if there's an opportunity for the NHL to make money, they will pursue it, right.

19:18 Speaker 3: That's capitalism and the amount of money that they could make, if not directly from the Olympics long term off of the Olympics. Right, the new fans, the excitement around it. People are going to be tuning in to see maybe who these players are before the games, and then they'll follow after the games because they just saw and fell in love with XYZ player from this team, like from Team Canada or whoever. Right, So, I'm surprised that even if they're even if he's being passive aggressive, because they really secretly not secretly, don't want the players, like but the money.

19:54 Speaker 2: How could you sing no to the money.

19:55 Speaker 3: I want to hear your take on your understanding of the situation, suation and why the heck is the NHL being so uninvolved.

20:05 Speaker 1: I agree with you, I really don't think that they want the players going be lave itself wants now.

20:12 Speaker 2: Is it a good opportunity to continue.

20:16 Speaker 1: Growing your game, Yes, but the league isn't going to be directly profiting from the Olympics. And I think also the statements made by Bill Daily, I don't want to say that they're disingenuous, but to some degree there might be a little bit of disingenuousness in the statement in saying that, hey, we're supporting our players, but if you don't get this rink built, we're not sending our guys there right to benefit you. Some of that might be pressure trying to put some pressure on the IOC to get this rink, Like, let's get going here, people.

20:57 Speaker 1: You've had so much time to get this rink built, so much time to get this rink built, that there's really no plausible rationale why we're having this conversation right now. What's what's frightening from the player standpoint, And I read this earlier this weekend, comments that Elliott Friedman may is that the players themselves are less concerned about the size of the rink but very concerned about the ice condition because there will be a lot of activity on this one rink and there won't be a lot of time in between to bring the ice surface up to standards that the players have been accustomed to, and that's where it becomes a safety concern for the players.

21:50 Speaker 1: And the fact that the NHL and the league isn't talking about an alternative plan or trying to figure out an altern the plan to keep the players, say, is another problem me. Honestly, I think that the league could give two ships if the players went, oh yeah, well, they've already canceled one one one test event in the early.

22:16 Speaker 3: Par At some point, Gary Bettman and the league, they and you know and Bill Daily, they're gonna have to realize that there's a certain point of no return where if Betman and the league pull the players, the players Association and the players themselves are going to be very upset and you can't you know, like what what that point of no return is date wise, I don't know, but probably not too much longer after final rosters are announced, like they no matter what, they they can't if they can, but they can't, like if they know what's good for them and the relationship with the players and everything, every all that goodwill that they've been building and they got back after all of this stuff with COVID, like they cannot just let it fail.

23:09 Speaker 3: That they are going to potentially have to step in and help make it right because you can't tell them a week, two weeks, four weeks before going that you're now not going.

23:23 Speaker 2: Can't do that for people.

23:25 Speaker 3: Then the NHL needs to do whatever it is that they can do to ensure the success of the Olympics, because the NHL has the world's best of everything when it comes to the game of hockey, right, all the resources, all the brains, all the ability to coordinate and put on events and things like that, so they have what is needed to execute.

23:51 Speaker 2: A an Olympic program.

23:53 Speaker 3: So you're going to get to the point where you have to know it is too late to tell the players you're not going, So then you damn well better do everything you possibly can to ensure the safety and the well being of your players when they go there. And if that means figuring out a solution for the incompetent IOC, then they got to do that.

24:15 Speaker 1: It wouldn't bode well for the relationship between the NHLPA and the league.

24:20 Speaker 2: I'll give you that. However, the league.

24:23 Speaker 1: Has the ability to pull the plot because they need to protect their investments. Can you imagine can you imagine we're already seeing we just talked about injuries to keep players on teams because of and I think a lot of it is because of this compressed schedule to accommodate the Olympic break, right, Can you imagine you send all of these superstars, because let's face it, that's who, in essence is going to the Olympics, NHL superstars across the league from various countries. And now if you've got an ice surface that is not up to standards, not being maintained properly, and then you see superstars going down and they come back injured.

25:11 Speaker 3: To the area, and if you think that Walsh is gonna let it go right right right, because like if they don't either they pull the players, who now they all knew going into this season that the schedule would be compressed. It is harder on them mentally, physically, emotionally, and then to have that taken away from them, that's gonna piss them off, right because they've already said, all right, we'll do this this way for that, we're giving, we're sacrificing ourselves for that. So the expectation is you're gonna sacrifice and let us have this.

25:52 Speaker 3: If they are then finding themselves in a situation where they sacrificed on their side and the NHL doesn't reciprocate in some way, I think regardless, you're gonna see issues between the NHL and the NHLPA. So the NHL, like Gary Bettman and the league and the owners like if they want to play at this pissing context with the IOC find but at some point, right if they need to step in, they damn well better because it's not just the players who are going to be disappointed. All the fans are going to be disappointed.

26:29 Speaker 3: Like that, enough of these games stop being children.

26:33 Speaker 1: I don't know who's playing games with who. It sounds like maybe there's a little bit of game and somebody is. But something concern is the fact that and maybe maybe the league is working on a plan B and you know it hasn't been the tea hasn't been spilled on that yet, but the fact that there's been no information forthcoming about what is the alternative if in.

26:59 Speaker 2: Fact the rink right isn't ready because you know here it is December eight.

27:03 Speaker 3: Well, and I'm not surprised that again the NHL is saying we don't have a plan. I mean that could be complete bs, but they don't want right right right right the ioce to no. And again here we are with the games right. It's ridiculous, but regardless, that's the international around the rink. T So let's super quick do a rundown of the different games that we saw in the past week. We saw Detroit. They were in Detroit. It was a pretty pathetic, as you described.

27:42 Speaker 2: In a recent snapshot, lazy, listless and uninspired. Yep.

27:47 Speaker 3: I would like to describe it as the Bruins have kind of been floating up and down, and that was them kind of going down and touching a toe on that rock bottom that they've been on before and then realizing, oh shoot, You're right, we can't be doing that and then turning around and as you predicted, kind of coming back when they return home to the Blues and the Devil's overall take on that Detroit game, they were zero for two on the power play.

28:16 Speaker 2: Swayman was awful. It was not good.

28:18 Speaker 1: No, no, no, And as I said in the snapshot, it didn't it didn't fall all at his feet. But here's what I'm going to say, the Boston Bruins, the way this roster is constructed currently, if they don't play sixteen minutes in their defensive structure, they do not give themselves a chance to win. And the losses that they suffer are a direct result of the fact that either they don't start strong with this defensive structure, they are unwilling to play their defensive structure because maybe they think they haven't one up on their opponent to do so.

29:01 Speaker 1: So if they're not playing their defensive structure and their goalie is not the goalie whoever it is, that evening is not right on point. They are not giving themselves a chance to win.

29:16 Speaker 2: That's it.

29:16 Speaker 3: I mean, I think that that was a perfect representation this game, in particular, perfect representation of a larger issue that is I don't know, is that like, how do you fix that?

29:27 Speaker 2: Is that a culture shift?

29:30 Speaker 3: Is that just continuing to work on the system, Like where does that land in?

29:38 Speaker 2: How you address that? You know, I don't know.

29:42 Speaker 1: That's something we should ask Marco because I'm sure that when he sees a game like that against the Red Wings where for the first periods, you guys are basically a no show and then you spot any team in the NHL, as I said in a snapshot, you spot any team NHL A three to nothing Lee. I don't know how the hell did plausibly think you're going to come back and win that game because you're not playing the way that you're supposed to be playing.

30:10 Speaker 3: Right, So they go from that game and we've now gotten a couple of guys back. We had Arvidson and middle stat both come back at different points leading up to this Detroit game. I believe we heard remind me which one was it? If not, both had not done really any practicing stat Arvidson prior to their return to the lineup. How much do you think that was a contribution to kind of some of that listless play versus Finally, seeming like by the time they played the Blues at home, everybody.

30:58 Speaker 2: Was now starting to kind of click back together.

31:01 Speaker 1: No, because you know, I thought Arbitson had some decent jump in the game against Detroit. It was the same old, same old in the instances where you know, you've got five Boston Bruins standing around in our own end looking at each other, like, who's going to do what here? That's what's frustrating. Yes, that's the point that I'm trying to make right. It wasn't for a lack of trying to get yourself scoring opportunity. It's what you're doing when the other team is coming into your own zone and you're making things so goddamn too goddamn easy.

31:37 Speaker 3: Do you think then, because what we saw against the Blue was I would say arguably the complete transformation, because not only did they actually start on time, they had contributions all across the lineup, not just coming from Morgan yeeky. Do you think that that kind of turnaround was a result of let's say, knocking heads together and saying, what are you idiots doing?

32:04 Speaker 2: Hello?

32:05 Speaker 3: Remember the system? Or do you think there was something else kind of contributing in that case?

32:11 Speaker 2: No?

32:11 Speaker 1: I think those are instances the game against Detroit, which I have to give credit to the coaches and also you know who, those who are leaders in that locker room basically looking at each other in the face and holding each other accountable and saying, we played like dog.

32:27 Speaker 2: Shit in the first two periods.

32:29 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, we can't play like that and expect to win hockey games. And I think this is the difference. Right when you see the bounce backs, and they have been pretty consistent in bouncing back, it's not they're not doing scenarios where Okay, they have a game like that against Detroit and then it carries into the next game, and then they lose another game and they lose a third game. So to their credit, whoever is taking the bowl by the horn in those instances is getting too other players. My bigger issue is why I don't understand why you're not doing this consistently right when I know you're not going to win every game.

33:17 Speaker 2: It's just not possible, well plausible, right, But when you see instances of the first two periods of that Detroit game, yeah right, and then you say, oh Jesus, we've been playing like crap. You've got to get our leap together. Yeah, well, you know, yeah, you gave it a valiant effort in the third period, but I don't really even think the game was that close.

33:40 Speaker 3: No, And it's and you make an interesting point, you know, why do we keep finding ourselves in that kind of situation where okay, so they have that kind of like, you know, deflated, uninspired play, just ridiculous, like some of these things that we've seen. Then they kind of come back, they come back to life, they're clicking, they're all over the place, they're doing this, that and the other, and then they slowly start to deflate again. Why does that keep happening? You know, why can't they address it after one period?

34:10 Speaker 3: Why is it two periods, three periods before they can like wake up and say, oh, yeah, that's right, we're doing that thing again. I don't know, right right right?

34:19 Speaker 1: Yeah? And and you know, these issues aren't the Bruins aren't the only ones. Ver is struggling with these issues, right, You don't want to make excuses. Yes there have been injuries, yeah right, Yes, their schedule sucks, but you still got to play the game exactly.

34:37 Speaker 3: This was also the Blues game was also Monty's first time back to the Garden. I wasn't really sure how that was going to go.

34:45 Speaker 1: I can't I can't deal with these tribute videos. What did what did he do that warranted getting a tribute video?

34:51 Speaker 2: Yeah, that was.

34:52 Speaker 3: Weird because there were there was someone else recently who came back and all they got was a picture and it was a player.

34:58 Speaker 2: They like, what do we doing here? Right?

35:02 Speaker 1: Something that you know should be quote unquote special, and now we're watering it down so that every person who's a former player or coach gets a tribute video like Monty Listen, right, did he get a raw deal here? Perhaps he did, But what did you do Monty for the Boston Brew? And now, I don't know, just just a little pet pee.

35:23 Speaker 2: I agree. This game.

35:27 Speaker 3: Was I thought it was actually one of their more exciting of the of the three from last week. You know, we had, shockingly a goal from Geeky, but Arbitson and Zaka actually had two and they were power plays.

35:39 Speaker 2: Two goals shocking. Yeah, one was a power play.

35:42 Speaker 1: What was just strength because the power play has been a little bit a little bit of knee mick a little bit lately, so it was good to see a power play goal. And yeah, so Arbardson hit the four hundred point mark ye in that game as well, So that's that's kind of a cool modelstone for a player. Yeah, reach and you know, good bounce back contributions up and down the lineup. Jonis Corporsalo was solid in that he had thirty eight sabs. Crazy, crazy crazy, And I really wanted Jordan Bennington to get lit up so that Monty would have to pull him again.

36:18 Speaker 2: Yeah.

36:18 Speaker 3: Well, I kind of wonder if Monty didn't pull him because of the whole argument that they had last time he got pulled.

36:25 Speaker 2: I'm sure that's why he did. No.

36:26 Speaker 1: No, I'm sure that's why he didn't because he didn't want to have to answer questions two games in a row.

36:32 Speaker 3: Yeah, well, and hey, you didn't want to get pulled, So here you go. You get to fit here and let in five goals. But I've been super impressed with Arbitson.

36:40 Speaker 2: I think I like his game.

36:42 Speaker 3: You know, it took him a little, it took him a minute to kind of get going for Boston, but so far, so good. I think that he's been doing the things that we were hoping to see from him. So I think that's been an incredibly useful Well, I guess technically it was a trade, right, it feels like it was a signing, but it was a trade.

37:00 Speaker 1: No no, But it was a traite no no.

37:01 Speaker 2: And I think he feels like he's in a good spot too.

37:04 Speaker 1: I think, you know, I think he took a lot of heat in Edmonton, some of it probably was not justifiable. Now, yeah, Edmonton's a hot mess. You know, he's he's in a better place. He's in a better place.

37:18 Speaker 2: And then they played the Devils.

37:19 Speaker 3: The Devils came into that game having lost two games prior, both being shutouts, coming into that game against Boston, and the Devils are really struggling without Jack Hughes.

37:32 Speaker 1: It's it's kind of jocket. They haven't won a game yet in December. They haven't won a game yet. And before they after they've played the Bruins, they've been outscored fifteen to four.

37:44 Speaker 3: Crazy because they have so many good offensive players on that team. You know, we know that Jack Hughes isn't the only player who can score goals there. But for whatever reason, that team is now just dropping like a stone. I mean, they were a top ten last month and now they are fighting for a wild card spot at this point, and credit to the.

38:06 Speaker 1: Bruins for taking advantage of a wounded yet team. Those are the kinds of teams, yes, that you do need to feast on.

38:14 Speaker 2: For lack of a better word.

38:16 Speaker 3: Well, and you know, to reference back to Thanksgiving model and saying, you know, the Boston needs to get what would consider be considered two extra regulation wins, and I think that this could be one of those because this is a team, like you said, where they're coming in wounded, whether it's through injury.

38:35 Speaker 2: Or bad luck or what have you.

38:38 Speaker 3: And those are the teams that Boston has to take advantage of and actually get those wins.

38:44 Speaker 2: And they did.

38:44 Speaker 3: I will say the very beginning of this game really not all that interesting. I would say borderline boring. But that was because the Devils twice had extended extend periods of time where they were just smothering Boston. It was almost very reminiscent of twenty five years ago in the New Jersey Devils where they would smother teams.

39:09 Speaker 2: I mean they were trap systems. So all that was happening in the oh.

39:12 Speaker 1: God, great hockey to watch, but I mean it won them some cups. But right, and so this wasn't quite like that, but it was smothering hockey, and so it was a little boring to me. But Boston weathered the storm. They I think they left the first period with certainly fewer than ten shots on goals.

39:33 Speaker 2: They held on. They waited for.

39:35 Speaker 3: The devils to kind of tucker themselves out a little bit, and then they took advantage of it, and Swayman just he was back in good form. I honestly was surprised to see him in net not because necessarily because of how terrible he'd had a time in Detroit, but combined with the fact that, okay, he laid that egg on what was it Monday or Tuesday, and then the prior game Corposalo was so so phenomenal, I thought we might see Corpusolo. But regardless, we got lucky because Swaymen had his twenty nine saves, Andrew Peak finally got his goal for the season with an empty netter.

40:11 Speaker 2: Did you see the got the monkey off his back?

40:14 Speaker 3: And middle Stat's beautiful tic tac toe goal was just you love to see it.

40:19 Speaker 1: That's that to me. I love though I love those kinds of goals. There's nothing there's nothing prettier in hockey.

40:26 Speaker 2: I agree that is.

40:29 Speaker 3: You see that when you've got line mates that are really in sync, they really know where they're going to be, they're communicating. So you love to see that. You love to see the same because of how especially last year, the chemistry, the lack of you know, cohesiveness. You'll love to see this transformation. So Boston is heading out on a mini I mean I call them mini because they're not doing any sort of extensive road trips. So it's Britain but a little visit to the Midwest. They're heading out this week to Saint Louis, then they're going up to Winnipeg, and they're rounding it out in Minnesota.

41:12 Speaker 3: You know, Saint Louis finally turning things around after having lost to the Ruins. But then when they go to Winnipeg, there's no Hellibuck. There's Jonathan Tayes, who listeners maybe have forgotten. He came back after two years away from suffering from long COVID.

41:30 Speaker 2: He's not doing awesome.

41:32 Speaker 1: No, I mean when I looked up that stat today of him being a minus thirteen, this was Jonathan Taves, who you know, patries bergeron Jonathan Taves like such.

41:44 Speaker 2: I know, sound defensively responsible forward.

41:48 Speaker 1: Yeah, I found that to be a little and he and he is played in every game for the Jets.

41:53 Speaker 2: Yeah, so which good Good on him.

41:56 Speaker 3: Good on him for at least being able to play all those games.

42:00 Speaker 1: Here's another instance where the Bruins need to take advantage of a team that is struggling without fin number one goalie. They're without cornor Hallibuck for the foreseeable future. You know, my expectation is win in Saint Louis, Well, take points in Saint Louis, take points in Winnipeg, and then Minnesota might be a different story because that is a legit hockey team.

42:22 Speaker 2: Yes it is.

42:23 Speaker 3: And if you haven't seen their rookie goaltender, they call him the Wall Wolstatt. He's just he's phenomenal. For as fantastic as a rookie goalie, Dustin Wolf was this guy.

42:35 Speaker 2: He's next level as well.

42:37 Speaker 3: So I don't know who they're gonna have in net when Boston comes, but the Bruins are gonna have to really be offensively aggressive as much as they possibly can because they because Minnesota just they have that young netminder who's been phenomenal and of course their defense with Corilla Thrill. You can't you can't forget about him at all. So they're they're a fantastic team. Yeah, they're they're right now. There are top seven, top seventeen in the league, the wild there. So let's talk stick taps.

43:10 Speaker 3: Who who do you want to give a stick tap to?

43:13 Speaker 1: Going with Pablo Zaka for his real performance because you know we've given him a little bit of heat in the past too. It takes a shot but goes high, goes wide, goes here, goes there, right, so good on him.

43:27 Speaker 2: Two goes against the Blues.

43:29 Speaker 1: Morgan Geeky's kind of stay in the stick taps because it's just inevitable that he's just there. And I want to give some stick taps to Victor Arvidson and Elias Lindholm because they in you know, the last handful of games. If they're putting up some points too, since they got me in the lineup, much needed secondary points. Yeah for this team too, you know, so put on them. And honestly, Alex Steves, I don't know how you're going to take this guy out of the lineup when everyone's back healthy.

43:58 Speaker 3: I mean, I don't know what they're going to do because they can't send him down because they'd have to send him through waivers.

44:04 Speaker 1: He's doing, and has done so far, everything that an organization has asked you to do. Earn the opportunity, make the most of that opportunity, and you're helping the team get wins. So how do you how do you take this guy out of the lineup?

44:20 Speaker 3: Guys like him, ask Barrow, these guys who have come up in Boston's time of need, And we say all the time, if you're gonna get called up because somebody's injured or whatever, all that we ask is that you not cause damage. Right, these guys not only have not done that, which is good, they have significantly contributed in a positive way to the outcome of games. Yeah, it's a good problem to have for Boston quite frankly. And I would also throw in, of course, the goaltending. You know, our goaltending for on the whole.

44:56 Speaker 3: Yes, one or two games here and there, individual goalies have not had great games. It's always going to be more amplified when they don't have their best game. Also, if a if the team in front of them isn't really helping them out. But on the whole, the goaltending continues to be a pretty reliable feature of this defense sture.

45:18 Speaker 2: Steady.

45:18 Speaker 1: It's been steady for the most part, which when you're playing the structure that we're being told that they want to play, the lives heavily on goaltender right exactly.

45:27 Speaker 2: In the penalty box though, Bruins defencemen are just not scoring any goals. And I don't know.

45:34 Speaker 3: If that's weird to us because the last few years we've been used to the system where they just they are involved in offensive work. But right now you brought this statistic to my attention. As a group, the Bruins defensemen have only had seven goals. Meanwhile, you've got Jacob Chickrin, he's got eleven just for himself. Yea, even Matthew Schaefer as eight, Like is this first year a rookie?

46:03 Speaker 2: Right? Yeah?

46:03 Speaker 1: So you know, and I think this was talked about before the season even started, about the contributions that we needed from the back end, both defensively and to some degree offensively. While for the most part the defensemen are doing their job, sure defensively, they got to be pushing the pace a little bit more offensively, I think for this team to have to have success, especially when you get Macavoy dock right, You've got you've you got to. You got to see a little bit more offense from from these guys.

46:32 Speaker 2: Yeap, just a little bit.

46:33 Speaker 3: That's what we've got going on ahead this this week. Hopefully we'll be able to get a couple of snapshots out there for you folks for our reactions after these games. They're not like West Coast games, so I expect to be able to, for the most part, watch most of the games in full without falling asleep.

46:49 Speaker 2: I don't know about you, Maria, but I'm not making any promises. But any other final thoughts before we say goodbye.

46:58 Speaker 1: No, it's been a yeah, pretty steady diet of like three games per week here, three games per week, the games per week, So I myself am looking forward to when we get to that little Christmas.

47:10 Speaker 2: Yeah, it'll be it'll be a good thing.

47:12 Speaker 3: But as you've heard us say many times before, make sure you like and subscribe for more content, and be sure to leave a rating and review to help other Bruins fans find us. You can support the 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, and as always, go Bees, Go Bees,