Friday, February 5, 2016

Bruins Recap: YOFBP Take-Two

Two days later and we find ourselves in a similar situation: hockey, beers, gambling and Shrek the Musical. Jay had a family obligation tonight but that didn’t stop us from plating Ye Olde Flyers-Bruins Parlay.

A quick (and discouraging) stat that Jay put together: If you took a Flyers-Bruins parlay on every available night this season, you’d end up with a 3-21 record. So what did we do? Threw a little bit on the Bruins moneyline and threw a little on YOFBP.

















A few notes before getting to the Bs game:

On the Road Again

The Bruins find themselves where they have been most successful this season: anywhere but TD Garden. With an absolutely brutal home record of 11-13-3, the Bruins are no longer feared on their home ice. After boasting a combined 45-17-10 home record the past two seasons, the Bruins just can’t seem to get it done at home as was evident by yet another blown lead against the Leafs Tuesday night. Luckily, the Sabres haven’t exactly been giving their fans a reason to drink (happily, at least) while playing in Buffalo, posting a 9-15-2 record at home coming into tonight.

Road Rules (RIP Dave Mirra)

Tonight is the first of a home-and-home between these two teams with the second game being played on Saturday in Boston. The Bruins’ consistency will be tested in the coming month after this home-and-home. After Saturday’s home game, the Bruins go on a six game roadtrip, including an important divisional faceoff with the Wings and a tough matchup against our scorned lover and the Dallas Stars. But what’s crazier is that starting with the Leafs game last Tuesday, the Bruins will not have consecutive days off until March 13th. The good news is that last time the Bs played Buffalo, they entered on a dismal 2-7-1 stretch, came out victorious, and went on to go 5-1 in their next six including three road wins.







Tonight’s Action

Right as the puck dropped, it seemed the Bruins were set out to forget the disappointment of Tuesday night. The boys came out with their skating legs and set the pace through the first few shifts. Kevan Miller even did another good hockey thing and laid the absolute boom on Jamie McGinn. Couldn’t find a gif but take my word for it, McGinn will be feeling that one. But as we all know, Kevan giveth, Kevan taketh away. Because the next goal came on a miscommunication between Pastrnak and K. Miller around the offensive blue line. After seeing the replay, it was Miller’s puck and he should’ve stepped up. But indecisiveness is a real bitch, and Evander Kane took advantage of it like a drunk bar chick. An odd man rush led to pure chaos in front of Rask and the Sabres opened up the scoring.

The Bruins would have a powerplay chance in the first period, but 2-23 on the PP in their last eight games is starting to make me feel like Chicken Little. I don’t think anything has to necessarily change in terms of strategy, the powerplay unit is just not getting the bounces and missing the net at an alarming rate. Krug is still doing what has made the Bruins’ powerplay so good this season by finding space off the puck on the weak side, but I can’t tell if he’s trying to shatter the glass in a Napoleon Complex kind of way or if he’s just missing.

Second Period in Buffalo

I would really like to know what the hell Claude said to this team during the first break because Buffalo came out and scored 47 seconds into the second period. The goal made its way through Rask thanks to a beauty of a deflection by Reinhart. But wait- 47 seconds into the period? Deflection in front of the net? Shouldn’t Chara be out there??? Well….he was. But for a second straight game, the Bruins defense concedes valuable territory to the opponent, screening Rask and allowing a goal. Mind you Sam Reinhart is 6’1/189.

The response by the Bruins told you everything you need to know: I can’t figure this team out at all. They have been so inconsistent and I wouldn’t have been surprised if the team rolled over after a few unfortunate bounces and some quick scoring by the Sabres. But who else to turn it around than my boy Spoons. About a minute after Reinhart put his team up two, the Bruins go to work in the dirty area of the offensive zone which leads to shooting space for Krug. Both Belleskey and Spooner were giving Chad Johnson fits in front of the net on this sequence, and Spooner was able to put away the rebound courtesy of a KrugBomb for his 11th on the season.


The All-Elusive Third Period

The Bruins opened up the third by killing a Zdeno tripping penalty. Coming off the kill, Marchand sensed confusion in the Sabres’ line change and took full advantage. It seems like Marchand does something like this at least once every game: circles around the neutral zone sizing up his victims and then showcasing the dangles through the offensive zone. Tonight was no different. Let’s just admire this:


There wasn’t much action outside of March’s 23rd and game tying goal.

Expensive Hockey

The overtime period consisted of a powerplay for each team which made for some exciting hockey. No goal scored but we saw another wizard-like slap pass from Krejci at the blue-line to Bergeron at the goalmouth. Which led to this…


Spoons

All you have to know is that nobody scored in the shootout except, you guessed it, Spooner. Entering the zone with speed, Spooner opened up his skates once he got close enough, turning Chad Johnson’s brain into mush and:

















Aftermath

Jay was singing Smashmouth at the Shrek Musical so unfortunately, we won’t get a Flyers recap. But they went down to Nashville, bent over Dierks Bentley, and won 6-3. $Money Dance$.

The Bruins struggled on the man-advantage again tonight going 0-4 and only generating 7 shots on net. Again, I think a lot of it has to do with unfortunate bounces and just missing the net all together, but the Bs have to turn this back around if they hope to see the playoffs come spring.

Connolly had a few juicy chances in the slot tonight. This is where Connolly had made a name for himself with Tampa because of his insane snapshot but on both of these chances, Connolly's shots were deflected away by Johnson. At this point, I can’t tell if he’s snakebitten or just sucks.

Also, this:


That’s eight goals in eight games for March. Guy is making $4.5M this year.

The camera was focused on Rask in between overtime and shootout and the fans at home got to see Spooner picking Rask’s brain. I loved this. Chad Johnson was a backup for Tuukka in 2013, so Spooner trying to get an edge on his tendencies was awesome to see.


You dog..





















With tonight’s win, the Bruins find themselves 3rd in the Atlantic with 60 points. The Bruins will look to sweep the season series in Boston on Saturday while the Flyers host the Rags for a Saturday matinee. #FTR
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