Boston Bruins Take First in Atlantic, McAvoy Injury Raises Questions | Ep. 117

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

0:02 Speaker 2: Please?

0:03 Speaker 3: I need something to do.

0:13 Speaker 1: I stack sending out in frock and sascast.

0:19 Speaker 3: Much today, here's.

0:20 Speaker 1: A chance pop fa right down a goalie scars, Oh my one move by the rookie too on One pastor Not movie with Marsh getting its time on his own Oil dances in bodcast, Hold right away, corner Fasters, what's up for most?

0:51 Speaker 4: Welcome in everyone to another episode of Ruins Tape to Tape. We are recording this episode on Monday, number seventeenth, which is a somewhat different and unusual game day for our Boston Bruins. They'll be playing Monday night against the Carolina Hurricanes. Or we get started with a jam packed agenda. I want to welcome in my co host Caroline with a K and say, how does it feel to be talking about the first place Boston Bruins in the Atlantic?

1:27 Speaker 3: Pleasantly shocked? It almost doesn't feel real. But what I have seen in the last I can't even I don't even know how many days now, ten days, fourteen days. What I see on the ice is not a fluke product, so I shouldn't be surprised, and yet I am no.

1:47 Speaker 4: And we are not alone in that surprise, because I think there are other groups of people who talk and watch a lot more hockey than we do across the league are also in a bit of a whole shit mode when it comes to the Boston Bruins and how much better they are playing than anyone anticipated.

2:08 Speaker 3: Now is it sustainable? Who the hell knows.

2:11 Speaker 4: But all I know is I'm going to enjoy watching what I see for as long as it lasts and take any bad when it comes. But for the time being, we have got a team that is playing some pretty damn good team hockey. So we'll get started by setting our table. So today we're going to talk about the week that was and the week ahead. As we normally do. We are going to talk about some Bruins roster transactions that just came across our wires earlier.

2:48 Speaker 3: Today.

2:49 Speaker 4: We will also talk about some milestones that were reached by a couple of members of our Boston Bruins, and some injuries that are starting to pile up which have necessitated the roster transactions that we'll be talking about today. But before we start taking our deep dive into the Bruins, let's take our usual spin around the rink, and we'll start with our old friend who will always be a Boston Bruins in many of our eyes. But Brad Marshan, who hit the one thousand point milestone, unbelievable.

3:28 Speaker 3: You should have done it in a freaking Bruins uniform. But I'm not going to go back there. I'm still bitter.

3:34 Speaker 4: I'm still pissed off at both sides that they couldn't get it goddamn figured out to keep him here. But congratulations to Marchhand. A thousand points is something to talk about.

3:47 Speaker 3: Every single day that I see a picture, a video, someone making a post any mention of Brad Marshand. Every single time, it's like a tiny dagger to my heart. And I'm so sad that he's no longer in a Boston Bruins uniform. But I love this player. I'm so thrilled for him. I saw a great quote from him where he perfectly summed up his entire career in saying the one thousand penalty minutes represents the first half of his career and the one thousand points represents the second half of his career. And no truer words have been spoken about this player's path he's he's gonna be a Hall of Famer.

4:35 Speaker 4: There's there's no he's his name is on a Stanley Cup twice. Now, he's his name is etched in the Boston Bruins record books. He's now reached a thousand points. There's a no, it's a no brainer that he is a Hall of Famer.

4:50 Speaker 3: Yep, exactly the trifecta. Thousand games, thousand points, thousand pimns. What more could you ask for?

4:57 Speaker 4: So yeah, congrats to him. And the other little tidbits from around the league is that I don't know if you were aware of this. I had totally forgotten about this, but the Global Series happened this weekend in Sweden, where the Penguins and the Predators played two games. The first game went to the Nashville Predators in a little bit of dramatic fashion where they were down one to nothing. They tied it up and Steven Stampcos netted the game winner and overtime. The second game was all Penguins all day, all the time.

5:35 Speaker 4: They waxed the floor with the Predators board enough. But I had totally forgotten that this game was even happening. You know, one game was on at nine o'clock in the morning and it's on at two in the afternoon. But it just doesn't seem to me that the NHL really did that much in terms of marketing.

5:55 Speaker 3: Unless we were all asleep at the switch, which I mean also could be passed. But I feel like I'm chronically online enough and that I have my one of my socials algorithms set up to basically be just pure hockey stuff. I didn't see it. I saw all of the stuff afterwards, but I didn't see much ahead of time, so I don't know what to make of that. Yeah, yeah, anyways, wanted to touch about that.

6:25 Speaker 4: There are a couple of significant injuries threwing in the league right now, none of the least of which is a story that has me wondering is there more to the story that meets the I with the injury to Jock Hughes, we're going to be out for two months after having to undergo finger surgery, and the story itself saying that it was somewhat of a accident at a restaurant. Now again, right, I love the drama of this stuff. I'm a woman, I'm going to admit to it, but this sounds dearly similar to a story that occurred with our David Posternach oh a few years ago, where there was an event that David attended and he apparently slipped and fell on the streets of the North End somewhere and ended up injuring myself and is here correct correct?

7:21 Speaker 4: Now? There were different stories that were told about David Posternach's condition at the time of leaving this event. Mm hm, So I just wonder if there's more to this story than meets the eye. But having having Jack Hughes out for two months, it's huge Joe the New Jersey Devils, that that's going to be a tough one for them to overcome. And the other injury, although that might have settled itself, is Austin Matthews has been out of the lineup since they were in town on Tuesday night to play the Bruins, and as we recall, and those of us who watched the game recall, Nikita's door off hit him pretty good.

8:06 Speaker 3: And it seems clean to me. I'm not playing Homerism. It seemed clean to me.

8:12 Speaker 4: And Matthews looked a bit wobbly as he got up, and then I believe he then tried to get the door off, and he tried, and then that did and then that didn't go. That did not end well for Auston Matthews. He ended up having to lead that game and he did not return. So that is and the Toronto make beliefs are struggle. The lame mightily right now. Struggling mightily right now.

8:40 Speaker 3: I wonder, and this is pure speculation, I wonder if this is at all related to his lengthy injury issue last year that happened I want to say, decemberish, and he disappeared for quite a while. He went to Switzerland or something and then came back, and I don't know. It just makes me wonder because he clearly he was still struggling with whatever that issue was even after he came back, and so I almost would be I would be worried if I were a leaf stand which I am not, so I'm not worried, but I would be worried that it was.

9:16 Speaker 3: It's the same thing that just hasn't resolved itself, and that honestly, who knows. Who knows?

9:22 Speaker 4: But again, you know, one of the stars of the league, right he hasn't done much for them, And then I haven't been able to find anything online that tells me what Austin Matthews status is.

9:33 Speaker 3: Me know, Jack Hughes is going to be out for the foreseeable future, but at least to me, he's not even He's not even on he's not even on IR correct correct.

9:43 Speaker 4: So yeah, And I also want to make note of the fact that our Boston Fleet are preparing for their season. They have preseason games. Actually, they had one preseason game on the fifteenth. Their scheduled to play another preseason game today on Monday the seventeenth. Their season regular season begins on November twenty third against I'm sorry it starts in Lowell at the song Is Center on the Revenant twenty third against Montreal. And unlike the Boston Bruins, the Fleet have named a captain.

10:19 Speaker 3: That's right, because there's she either left or was traded as part of the expansion.

10:23 Speaker 4: I think their captain of last season was traded due to the expansion.

10:28 Speaker 3: Correct.

10:29 Speaker 4: So Megan Keller will wear the seed for the Boston Fleet this year, and her assistant captains will be Jamie le Rita and Alana Euler nice. So we wish them well and we'll try to provide updates in our spin around the rink as their season gets gets underway. Exactly right, We've got games to talk about, games and games, ten more games. This schedule is absolutely bonkereds absolutely bonkers.

11:00 Speaker 3: It is well and on top of all of that, with the injuries that have been occurring, either because of the sheer pace of play that's been happening with these games every other day, downtime, recovery time being less, who knows. But officially now we have a number of players who have been injured. They've had their injury status kind of upgraded, primarily at this point for a combination of cap related purposes. So for example, Jordan Harris is officially now on LTR, so his paycheck kind of is off the books at this point.

11:36 Speaker 3: We know he's not going to be back for a while anyways. Obviously that makes it a lot of sense. But we've also now seen Victor Arvidson and Casey Middlestap both elevated to the injured reserve again as a reminder that doesn't their paychecks are still on the books. However, this means that Boston can now fill their spots on the active roster. Is important because after the game against Carolina they're heading out West three games. Yes, they need to have that full complement of players and then some.

12:10 Speaker 3: So we've seen Bluemel getting called up, likely as a replacement specifically for Arvidson. This is one guy that I am very excited to see. We've talked about a lot of people are, but they're just quite literally wasn't room for him based on the position that he most excels at, and with Arvidson out, he can finally pop up and actually show us what he's got. So I'm very excited to see him play. And then we've also got Riley Tufty coming up. Likely he's just the extra because you know, you can easily I say easily, but relatively easily play a game down a defenseman.

12:44 Speaker 3: But considering Boston really still needs to be focusing on making sure that they can convert on offensive chances, they're bringing up an extra forward, so we've got him.

12:57 Speaker 4: And then the other bit of news that happened while we were pregaming before the podcast is that the Bruins have waved Johnny Beecher. Now, our speculation is that, according to the Bruins website, he is being waived with the intention of assigning him the Providence, but there's always the risk he doesn't clear and someone could claim him exactly because the Bruins currently and.

13:24 Speaker 3: Of course by the time this airs, I don't know what time he went on waivers exactly, but his fate will be known. But it's likely that he was placed on waivers for the purposes not just obviously of being sent to Providence, but for cap related reasons because right now he is still on the books in terms of his paycheck, and so the Bruins are actually over the cap by two hundred plus thousand dollars and so obviously they need to get into cap compliance and he's an easy one. He's been injured, so it's kind of a win win because then he can go back down to Providence, he can get plenty time, he can get conditioned up as well, and it's enough.

14:03 Speaker 3: You know, it's a risk that they're willing to take with rights and it doesn't seem like I mean, based on the fact that he does some type of an injury right now, and honestly, his foremance has been a little bit underwhelming. Yeah, it's it's likely that he will will clear. Weavers.

14:19 Speaker 4: The other injury that is still a gray area is Charlie McAvoy. And for anyone who didn't watch the game on Saturday night, shame on you, because it was a hell of a game between the Canadians and the Bruins. It reminded me of the days of old because genes. But Charlie McAvoy took a puff to his face.

14:44 Speaker 3: John's tooth come flying out in the slow right right.

14:48 Speaker 4: So the update from Marco Sturm earlier today was still rather vague and unclear in that Charlie was still undergoing medical valuation or doctor's appointments. Nobody seemed to know whether or not he would need any surgery or what his status will be. He's likely not going to play tonight. Sounds like Henry Yokiharu is going to draw back in. I would be a little concerned if they make that West coast trip without Charlie Matt in the lineup, given the way that he's been playing of late.

15:25 Speaker 3: Yeah, well, the thoughts that kind of run through my mind. It's obviously anytime a player gets a puck into the face, and obviously he has lost some teeth. We don't know the degree to which he's been injured. Is it a twenty nineteen, Chara leveled broken jaw situation, although of course he came back like as soon as humanly possible and that involved. But he's not human, right, He's not a human being. He's clear he's not human. Or is it more akin to what happened to Mason LORII a couple of seasons ago in Columbus.

16:06 Speaker 3: He had to kind of roll up his stick and smacked him in the mouth and he also lost a couple of teeth. But he didn't break his jaw. He just had to get he just had to have oral surgery, which you know, the turnaround time on that is different. I am also concerned if he's not going to be able to make the trip out west, only specifically because of the turnaround time. So this is going to be this is actually going to be a really, really tough California trip because there's only one day in between the Monday game for Carolina and then they play Wednesday in Anaheim.

16:42 Speaker 3: If there was an extra day, I would say maybe he'd be able to get out there or have whatever he's done. I don't, again, not knowing if he were talking about a broken jaw or if we're just talking about teeth situation, but I'd be worried that he's not going to be out there. Do I think the Bruins, the way that they've played over the last several games, also having Hampus Linnholm there, do I think they could still walk away with points. Absolutely. I don't think that they will totally blow it. But then again, I thought the same when they went out West at the start of the season, but the team was very different at that point and they were also without Linnholm.

17:23 Speaker 3: I don't love it, but I really hope he can.

17:26 Speaker 4: Let's face it, Jeremy Jacobs can fire up the jet and fly Charlie Mack out to California separately if you wants to so.

17:34 Speaker 3: True, Yeah, because they didn't put him on IR. They didn't put him because because the other thing is by being placed on IR, while it doesn't take the salary off the books, it does take the player off the roster for a set number of days. They certainly don't want to put him on IR. If, okay, if they were able to get him in for surgery today, if they can get him on a plane tonight or Tuesday during the day, if he misses a game, but they can get him out there. I don't know. I feel like they would try and get him out there.

18:08 Speaker 3: Yeah, hopefully we'll.

18:09 Speaker 4: Know more if there's an update for Marco when he meets with the media before the game tonight. A little concerning injuries is starting to pile up a little bit at a time, at a time where this team is figuring things out, they're working well together, the lines are gelling with each other. So the timing of this is our injuries. Is there ever an ideal time? No, but every team has. Every team faces this, So I suppose if you're going to pile up injuries, I guess I would rather have that happen at the front end of the season as opposed to the back end if you're fighting to be in a playoff spot.

18:50 Speaker 4: But for the time being, we've got some good stuff to talk about here, we get some good stock. We'll start with the Leafs game that occurred on Veterans No. I was last Tuesday eleven eleven, same score as the game in which they played on Saturday night.

19:05 Speaker 3: Ruins won five to three.

19:07 Speaker 4: Anthony Stolars was pulled for the second time, and they came against the Bruins. It seems that this change might have been made as a result of maybe there was an injury to Stolars because he wasn't on the bench for the remainder of that game. A lot of speculation in Toronto about was it an injury? Was it because he was pissed off at Arubay for getting pulled again?

19:32 Speaker 3: Well, the hell knows. That team is in a bit of a disarray right now. And you know what, I love it.

19:38 Speaker 4: I love it.

19:38 Speaker 3: I love it. The schadenfreud is just delightful at this point to see them completely crash and burn. The Bruins were everything that the Leafs were not in this game. It was a copy paste situation from Saturday to Tuesday. The Bruins were dominating in the faceoff dot, they were dominating with rush chances. They were just commute. You know, they're we heard about how good, which is fine.

20:06 Speaker 4: You look at the stats. Okay, I'm not faulting anyone for that. Oh the Leaves are so good in the faceoff dot, so good in the faceoff dot. And you're right, the Bruins pretty much dominated them. The other thing was that the Leafs were so undisciplined in that first period here in Boss very undisciplined. It was almost like they were trying to play a similarly aggressive game as the Bruins play.

20:31 Speaker 3: But I are not built in that, man, No. And I think again, the way that the Leafs are playing right now very very similar to what we saw in Boston last year. Those kinds of undisciplined penalties, the way that they're kind of performing out on the ice, the lack of chemistry, the lack of a cohesive team, that's exactly what we saw last year. And we've preached this on the podcast since the dawn of time that it's not just having the skills to be the good hockey player out on the ice. You have to be a good team.

21:07 Speaker 3: You have to have the right culture, the right mindset to come together and play the right way. And when you don't, it shows on the ice. Things start to happen that you don't want to see happen, like these undisciplined penalties, those stick in fractions like we saw last year, where they're doing it because they got beat they couldn't keep up, or they so And we've also said for a number of seasons now that the Leaf's problem isn't the lack again of skill, and talent and the right players necessarily.

21:42 Speaker 3: The team culture is absolutely garbage and it's been like that for years. I mean, Rache Parner was never truly the problem, and clearly that's been proven out in his absence that oh wait a minute, the team issues continue and now we don't have is talent. Whoops. They made clearly made a mistake.

22:03 Speaker 4: So I will never understand the rationale for taking the sea from John Tavirus and giving it to Austin Matthews. I don't I don't understand it. I don't see what the stoken purpose of that was.

22:16 Speaker 3: But be that as it may.

22:17 Speaker 4: You Knoworov seems like on a mission, on a mission to single handedly just send guys to the to the the cold tub, to the cold tops in a quick, quick hurry. I mean, not only did he hit spot Lattin in the game Saturday night and sent him back to the dressing room, Austin Matthews was lost for this game as a result of a Nikita well the initial hit from Zadorov and then Matthews might have tried to like stick up for himself and which to me says like, why isn't someone else on your team?

22:53 Speaker 3: And I get it, do only try?

22:55 Speaker 4: Yeah, well that was stupid, stupid maxt Dolemy to his credit, brying to engage with Zadorov, and you know, much to my surprise, pleasantly surprised, Nikita is ador of like saying to himself, this is not worth my time.

23:10 Speaker 3: We're going to win a game. This is not worth my time. Bite this guy.

23:13 Speaker 4: So that game was another solid in game from the Bruins. Jeremy Swayman was unbelievable in the third period of that game. The Leafs did try to make it interesting and push the score to four to three in the third period, but Swayman was he was he was locked in.

23:36 Speaker 3: He was locked in.

23:37 Speaker 4: I will say, I will say penalties are a problem for me. Oh yeah, to continue, But what's a bigger problem. There's two things that pissed me off. Too many men on the ice, penalty lots of things pissed me off. On the top of my hockey list, too many men on the ice penalties kissed me off, and giving up shorthanded goals.

23:56 Speaker 3: Yeah, kiss me off. Yeah.

23:58 Speaker 4: So in the first period of that game, as well as the Bruins played, they had a power play opportunity again due to an undisciplined penalty taken by the Maple Leafs, and Charlie McAvoy had an egregious, egregious turnover. Egregious, there's no other way to describe it. And I would have liked a save by Jeremy Swainman on that short handed goal, but that ended up tying the game. Now, those can be huge momentum. As much momentum that you can gain from a good power play unit, a team can also gain the same momentum from a short handed goal.

24:38 Speaker 3: Just cannot let that happen. Absolutely not. No, I agree that was nerve wracking to say the least, and a little unsettling to see that happen so quickly in but considering that Boston was able to recover as quickly as they were, While it didn't completely absolve him of the sin of the turnover, it was great to see Boss turn the page after such a big mistake, and then not just turn the page to move on, but turn the page and take back control over the game.

25:10 Speaker 4: They did make the Leafs pay for being undisciplined, and by the same token, the Leafs were only one for five on the power play, and one of which I thought they had a five on three for a period of time in that game. Not ideal to allow a team like the Leafs who has a lot of fire power offensive fire power in its work two five power play opportunity. Yes, and huge milestone in that game. David Pasternak, He's climbing his way up to the top.

25:39 Speaker 3: And I would expect within three years or so we might be looking at three to four years, we might be looking at a new leader of career goals. Keep an eye because this kid, he's not even thirty yet.

25:54 Speaker 4: Else he scored goal number four hundred and goal number four hundred and one in the same game. Now, I just want to say this to people, those of you who were butt hurts or bitching about the fact that the Bruins came off the bench to celebrate Pasta's four hundred, I say, get an efting light. Can we not celebrate anything anymore? Can we not have a little bit of god damn fun?

26:17 Speaker 3: What are we doing here? Me a freaking break? So we're going and I digress. It's a great thing. Boston has has been going through it for the last year, and they're finally in a good place and they want to celebrate. You go ahead and celebrate, because you know what we have last year, I say, celebrate whatever the hell you want.

26:44 Speaker 2: This season exactly exactly, yeah, great, well, and what I what I what I will also celebrate as a little bit of a slight tangent, is the fact that going into the Ottawa game, all right, we're now pushing our luck with the number of wins that we've had.

27:03 Speaker 3: This is a team that has had our number. Is this going to be a scheduled loss? How are they going to show up to it? And then how are they going to rebound after the possible likely loss against Ottawa? And I'm going to celebrate that whole situation because even though the Senators, again they have had possib number for whatever reason, the hell yeah, and yes, there was a large number of self inflicted wounds that the Bruins did not roll over and give up. They pushed and they they didn't just let Ottawa take it and run.

27:44 Speaker 3: And coming off of that, they went to Montreal and that was one of the most solid games I've seen them play this season, and they've already had a number of very solid games. It was is a very competitive game. It was very evenly matched, Yet I felt that Boston was cool under pressure. They were calm, collected, doing their thing, playing their game and not getting ruffled by the constant chances also by the Maple Leafs and getting caught up in the history of the rivalry and what it means to play in this cathedral of hockey, that you're not only playing against the Montreal Canadians when you go to the Bell Center, you're also playing against the Pans and the officials.

28:35 Speaker 4: And it started than the game on't okay that the officials in the game in Ottawa absolutely sucked? Yeah, absolutely great stucked. They weren't much better in Montreal. And if you're not going to recall embellishment penalties when we can all see them on our TVs, then why the hell is the rule even in place like Timston's is a master of ceremonies. Now when it comes to embellishment and the fact that the officials, it's so siet, you should be efing embarrassed.

29:13 Speaker 3: So bad?

29:15 Speaker 4: Now? Is that not the reason why the Bruins lost that game? That game was a bit frustrating and maddening, because again, you could have taken a point out of that game because you were your own worst enemy, because you allowed yourself again to get into a potential run and gun with Ottawa, who clearly has more speed than you do, and therefore checking game is better right now than yours is. So you had self inflicted wounds in that game. And also Ottawa kicked the crap out of you in the face offs like a sixty percent you know, forty years It was bad.

30:03 Speaker 3: It was bad.

30:03 Speaker 4: It was bad, so and they ended your wind streak. We all knew it'd had to come to an end sooner or later. But the fact that the mistakes were self inflicted, I think is still a bone, a little bit of a bone of contention with this team. It's it periodically rears its ugly head. But that game in Montreal to me was Chef's kiss.

30:28 Speaker 3: Yep yea.

30:29 Speaker 4: How long have we been waiting for this rivalry to be reignited again and it was on Saturday night.

30:37 Speaker 5: It was awesome, one of the most fun games of the season. Yeah, I mean, that was exactly what I have been hoping for. When I say that I hope that Montreal can get it together.

30:53 Speaker 3: When I say that, I'm I'm rooting for them to some extent that they can get better, that they can be better, that they can be competitive, because it means that this rivalry can come back to life. I'm of a generation where the last time the Habs were really really good, I mean I was in elementary school the last time that they won a Stanley Cup. In my lifetime, the primary rival for the Boston Bruins has been the Toronto Maple Leafs. That's the team that I've seen the Bruins fight against time and time again, year after year, especially in the postseason.

31:32 Speaker 3: Now, yes, there have been times when we've had those classic Montreal run ins you know that we had that was excellent, but not consistent to the degree that it's been with Toronto. And it's when it comes to hockey in that sense, I'm a purist. If we're talking Original six, we got to have those old rivalries continue to exist. I hope it's sustainable so that it is a long term rivalry that we can keep seeing because especially if the Leafs are going to be going down the toilet, we need somebody, we need something.

32:04 Speaker 3: Well.

32:04 Speaker 4: I think it's given the historical aspects for both teams and the epic playoff series that have occurred, you know which in those playoff series have had some long standing impacts on each franchise. If the Bruins didn't pull out Game seven in twenty eleven against the Montreal Canadians, yes, I venture to guess that not only would Claude Julian have been fired, I would say that the entire management corps might have been fired at that point. So, you know, these teams have a long standing history with each other, and it's good for business and it's good for the league to have original six franchises be relevant and competitive again.

32:53 Speaker 3: So that game had everything.

32:56 Speaker 4: And the tone was set right from the drop of the pup by none other than Nakita's adoraf to, which is like, we're in Montreal.

33:04 Speaker 3: Why not? Exactly? Yeah, why not? Well, obviously it was a planned situation. And I got to say, my favorite part about that particular fisticuff if you caught it. At the very end, they gave each other a brief hug, like good job, like you know, a pat on the back, and I was like, that's excellent. I love this. I love this so much because it's not just about Boston going and playing Montreal and having the fights and the and the scrums and stuff. Because like, yes, that's great and we love it and it gets the crowd going, and that's that's an aspect that has always existed, even when one team was good and the other team wasn't.

33:40 Speaker 3: What really made this game truly special and excellent was the fact that this was an exciting competitive game. Yeah, I'm not mad if Boston beats the Habs nine to one, but I'd much rather watch the game that was this weekend because that was just it was fantastic. It had everything, It had everything you could want.

34:04 Speaker 4: It felt even even watching it at home felt like a playoff atmosphere.

34:10 Speaker 3: You know, Tanner Janeau wasn't shy about getting involved in the physicality. Mark Castelik wasn't shy. You had guys laying themselves out the block shots, and Charlie McAboy I think had a crushing hit on someone in the game. Mason Lorii blocked a shot, you know. The The one drawback was the number of penalties that the Bruins took in that game. They were perfect seven for seven on the penalty kill, but two of those penalties were five on threes that lasted well over a minute. That the Bruins did a great job killing them off, but again not ideal, and the Macavoy injury occurred in that in that game.

34:52 Speaker 3: The statistic that actually surprised me the most going into this game at the very start they mentioned and it and it is still the same today is that Boston went into and left that game sixth in the league in their power play percentage six with twenty five point four percent sixth, sixth. Maria, I know.

35:15 Speaker 4: We've gone from years where is this team ever going to score? God being power play goal Reddit to the coach who's now taken over.

35:24 Speaker 3: Mm hmm.

35:25 Speaker 4: The power play units, they're they're swinging the puck around, thank god, a lot.

35:31 Speaker 3: Faster and they four. The movement is great, the entries are good. Yeah, it seems like everything is starting to finally come together, that whatever Sturm's plan was is finally coming together. And you could reasonably expect at this point that what you want to see happen out there, whether it's power play PK five on five, it's gonna happen that they are actually able to execute on the plan. So that's just it could be happier. Yeah, So a lot of things to give stick taps to this week. For sure this week.

36:07 Speaker 3: Yes, so my stick taps.

36:09 Speaker 4: Know, if people are going to find this shocking, I am going to give a little stick tap to Mason laura Yeah, because since he has come back in the lineup. Now he's been back for four games, he's registered four points and he's not a minus player right now, and he's been good. He's been solid, he's been good, and he's making quicker decisions with the puck, especially in.

36:38 Speaker 3: Our own end. Mm hmm. Yeah.

36:41 Speaker 4: And I think this is the guy, this is the player that the Bruins invested in when they gave him that extension, and he needs to understand that there's a balance that he needs to reach between being a good defenseman and contrybuting to the offense.

37:02 Speaker 3: Yeah. Well, right now, Mason Laurai per your favorite player stat, he's a plus two and he's second in plus minus. So there you go. He's you know, I think it just it was just a matter of putting him in a position where he could be successful and challenged enough where he can still do what he naturally wants to do, which is obviously be a little more offensive. He's had a number of assists, he got a goal, so I think, and I'll be curious to see what the long term plan is ultimately over the course of this season, But it seems like they're trying to find that happy medium of there are certain things that maybe they just can't change about his game at this point, even though he's a young guy and if that's his natural inclination, it's it's not fair on him, and it's probably not a reasonable expectation to assume that, Okay, well, we're just he's just going to be able to change his game and it'll be fine.

37:59 Speaker 3: They're probably trying to figure out, how do we still give him the opportunity to play the game in the way that he likes it, but also learn this system, learn how to become more defensive, be more responsible on the puck, and eventually move your way up in the pairings so that way you can then continue to be challenged and be that defenceman that they clearly see the potential in for him. But you know, if that means he's got to be on the third line for much of this year, Okay, we continue to see improvement, we continue to see him contribute offensively, because there's nothing wrong with him doing that is as long as he's doing that and being a defenceman like that's his primary job, then I think we will still continue to see him kind of move up the ladder.

38:47 Speaker 4: I think part of the plan for him and part of his projected contribution is to eventually be the quarterback on one of.

38:56 Speaker 3: The two power play units for this tusse yep, but she's big, so.

39:01 Speaker 4: When you're you're struggling with your defensive responsibilities, you can't be a liability out there.

39:10 Speaker 3: I'm going to throw in maybe a little of a surprising stick tap VL. This is a guy So I was watching the game and his name came up a couple of times, and I just want to give him a stick tap because this guy, he is a completely different player this season. When we saw his name on the roster after camp, I thought, you people have to be insane. This guy is such a major liability. There's nothing for as much as I agree with you on I hate, you know, the allowing a shorthanded goal. I hate pointless fighting because it's it's it's a tool.

39:53 Speaker 3: It's it's supposed to serve a purpose at a certain time, and there's a time you do it and a time you don't. Do it, because sometimes if you choose the wrong time, it actually can be very damaging to your team. It can really cause problems and cost the game. And so last year he had come up fewer than a handful of times, and every time he came up, every time he came up, he was dropping the gloves almost immediately for seemingly no reason. And maybe whoever was making that decision thought, well, we need a tough guy.

40:30 Speaker 3: We need a tough guy. And so it really makes you wonder what the heck were they telling this guy to do last year, or what they were saying his role was what was expected of him, right, And I have to say stick tap to him this year because he's not doing that. He's contributing positively. He's where he needs to be, you know, he's not out there helping out David Pasternak like Mara Husnadinov is. But just considering the change and the difference and the fact that he's no longer this like just crazy liability, stick tabs to him for taking on this different role, this different job and just continuing going to play and earning his spot.

41:14 Speaker 3: That's fine, I'm good with that. Stick tap. Yeah, penalty box for me. I'm the again.

41:22 Speaker 4: It sounds like we talk about this week in and week out, But the penalties that they've got to stop.

41:29 Speaker 3: Like, you can't give a team like the Leafs five six power play opportunities.

41:36 Speaker 4: You can't give the Montreal Canadians seven power play opportunities, two of which were five on threes. Now, I understand that in some circumstances i e. Refs who are inconfident and in and allow the crowd to make the penalty calls for them. Be that as it may, you still have to kill them off. Now you've been lucky. You've been lucky because your penalty kill has been operating at a very good pace. Yes, the problem with that is you don't get David Pasternak on the ice as much as you need him, or Morgan Geeky or anyone else who's not on one of those three K units.

42:20 Speaker 3: Not to mention that.

42:21 Speaker 4: You're fatiguing the players who were on those penalty kill units. So please, can we stop or stop with the five, six and seven penalties?

42:33 Speaker 3: Again? A funny thought did cross my mind as I was watching that Montreal game. At one point, there had been a series of Bruins' penalties and finally Pasta was out there, either for five on five player or power play, I don't remember, but he had a lot of jump and the announcer, I think Jen was saying, He's like, well, he hasn't been on a little bit, and I just remember thinking, oh, that explains why he's got so much energy. He's just been sitting there insting. I mean, that was nice, but I don't want that on a regular basis at all.

43:07 Speaker 4: I mean again, you know, Jeremy Swayman was spectacular in that game against Montreal, and I could be talking out of my butthole, but I don't know that he's ever lost in his career to the Canadians.

43:20 Speaker 3: That would be fun. I'll have to check that out.

43:22 Speaker 4: And another milestone in that game is that Victor Ardbudson scored his two hundred career NHL goal. Okay, and before anyone goes crazy, Bruins didn't leave the bench to celebrate, just making note of it, two hundred goals in Victor's career.

43:39 Speaker 3: The final penalty box. I mean, you kind of have said this just we're throwing the rafts in because the number of times that David Pasternak has been assaulted out there and received zero calls. It's because it's getting to a point that it's becoming a little egregious. I think I.

43:58 Speaker 4: Agree with you, I agree with do and you know the fact that the refs are being duped in many circumstances by the embellishment and why they don't call the embellishment is mind boggling to me. But that's that's a story that we could do a whole freaking podcast on them. All Right, So we alluded to the week week ahead, the Bruins are facing the Carolina Hurricanes. The last time these two teams faced each other was on November first. Now Carolina is coming off of back to back games that they played Friday night and Saturday night.

44:36 Speaker 4: Both games went into overtime.

44:38 Speaker 3: They're still very very strong on the shooting side of things. They but the Bruins that game that you alluded to, that's really when we saw the Bruins defense kick it up a notch because Bruins were able The Bruins were able to hold the Canes to under thirty shots on goal. And this is a team that to that point had been averaging thirty three shots on goals. So the fact that the Bruins were able to not allow that to happen. Was really when you noticed, Okay, this defense is actually starting to do things.

45:13 Speaker 3: As long as the defense can do its job, it's going to be a low scoring game, just like the other one. But hopefully if the d can smother the offense for Carolina, the game will go by quickly. Because that is, it's going to be a boring game.

45:27 Speaker 4: So, as my friend Caroline alluded to, the Bruins, after tonight, we they're heading for their annual trip out west. They play the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday night at the ripe old time of ten pm Eastern Time. Then they face the Los Angeles Kings on a rare Friday night game which is ten thirty pm, oh good Eastern Standard Time. And then the twenty third, which is a Sunday night. This schedule just bites. Anyways, eight pm all games on Nessen and my hope, my hope. There's a potential six points there.

46:07 Speaker 4: Yeah, I would like them to come back with at least three points. I mean, I would love them to come back with more than that. But you know, the game against Anaheim, they should want to seek some retribution after Anaheim embarrassed that at home. That was the seven to five loss at home, and I think that was the big turning point, the straw that broke the camel's back in terms of the ship way the team was playing.

46:36 Speaker 3: No, that was Ottawa, I know, I know, LA.

46:40 Speaker 4: I mean, that was just demoralizing, absolutely demoralizing. But up until recently, Anaheim was one of the hottest teams in the league. But since they've lost three games in a row, so they could be right, they could be right. For the Pickens, I think they are getting some good goal from Lucas gostel Is at how to say it right now? I took this goalie standings this morning. He's third in the league with a point nine oh three save percentage, but right behind him is Jeremy Swimming yea, So maybe we'll see a goaltending duel in the Anaheim who knows, yep.

47:23 Speaker 3: Or the Bruins will do what they do best and make the Anaheim goalie look like as the candidate I know, I know. Let's hope they don't.

47:31 Speaker 4: Let's hope they don't, and then you know they're off to face the LA Kings, who are top top sixteen in the league. Right now and before their game tonight, they are winners of four in a row, so they're on a bit of a roll. And then they finished this trip in San Jose with the likes of macclin Celebrini, who no surprise, he leads the Sharks in points. He's got ten goals seventeen assists. I'm not sure about their goaltending situation there because San Jose is right now one of the bottom seventeens in the league.

48:05 Speaker 4: So they're just going to have to fight against long travel and time change. That's that's the that's the wild card that you just never know how the body is going to respond. Otherwise, I feel confident that if they were playing in Boston, I would have no qualms with saying they should easily walk away with.

48:24 Speaker 3: Five points, if not six. But we've seen them struggle, and it's not just Boston, it's it's any East Coast team that has to do such a quick turnaround in California with hardly any time for acclamation. It can be such a New York Rangers.

48:41 Speaker 4: They can win anywhere but Madison Square Garden apparently, So yeah, it'll it'll be interesting to see how they what what how the tone gets set for this this trip, but until then, we're going to enjoy the fact that the Bruins are sitting in first place in the Atlantic.

49:01 Speaker 3: Crazy As always, 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 all of our socials at Tape to Tape MK and on substack at Tape to Tay, Tape to Tape MK dot substack dot com. As always, go Bees, Go Bees.