Final score: Toronto 5, Bruins 2
Seguin was the lone bright spot/By S. Bradley
As a solid team guy and a rookie, Bruins defenseman Steven Kampfer probably wasn’t laughing tonight.
But he did get the last laugh.
As the healthy scratch on the Bruins’ back end, Kampfer was the only Boston defenseman spared of any blame for the club’s defensive debacle tonight in Toronto. Boston fell, 5-2, in a game that wasn’t as close as the score.
Just as egregious as the play of the defensemen was Tim Thomas’ goaltending, which featured four goals allowed on his first 14 shots face. Thomas was pulled in the second period but reinserted for the third. He was just all over the place, which has to make some wonder if he got too much rest while sitting out the Bruins’ last two games.
This was a Maple Leafs team trying to get away with turnover machine Brett Lebda and former Bruins first-round pick/folk-guitar player Matt Lashoff as a third pair on defense due to injuries. Well, they got a laugh in too, as Lebda was plus-3 with an assist and Lashoff was plus-2.
Here’s a glance at the box score and some analysis:
•The Leafs were as strong as the Bruins were bad, led by goaltender James Reimer. The rookie made 35 saves on the night, including several spectacular stops. With the Leafs up just 2-1 early in the second, Reimer denied Bruins forward Tyler Seguin on a breakaway — a play that can easily be highlighted as the turning point of the contest.
•Joey Crabb (his real name, not his Dick Tracy-villain alter-ego) recorded one goal and two assists, while Nazem Kadri scored his first NHL goal and added an assist.
•Was there any light among all the doom and gloom tonight? Well, how about the play of Seguin? He led the team with five shots on goal and threw two hits. His second hit on Luke Schenn on the forecheck below the goal line caused a giveaway that helped the Bruins put on a little offensive pressure. Unfortunately, Seguin was at the end of his shift and after he left the ice the Bruins couldn’t do much more than just pass the puck around as though it was one of their impotent power plays (they were 0-for-2 tonight).
•Andrew Ference’s return to the lineup after nine games out could’ve gone a little better. He was minus-3 in just 14:17 of ice time.
•Tomas Kaberle was obviously overwhelmed by the Leafs’ video tribute to their former teammate. He was point-less with a minus-1 rating and one shot on goal. His attempt to slow down Mike Brown after the puck got by at the Toronto blue line looked more like he was brushing against someone on the T, and Brown went on to score the fourth Leafs goal. The Bruins’ power play is now 2-for-34 in the “Kaberle Era.”
Why not give Seguin more time? Better to have a guy learning and making honest mistakes than guys just mailing it in like they are.
The worst part of this season may have been that Ryder never got sent to Providence like everyone projected. Especially after he admitted that he had trouble finding motivation last season. Maybe its better that he didn’t poison the prospects, but his early mirage has killed this team.
Jay, I like these moves a lot. I think the lines right now are performing exactly how they are setup, one scoring line and 3 checking lines. Claude needs to back off his normal approach and make the 2nd line focused more on offense and speed, stop trying to make each line as balanced as possible. Your moves make 2nd more offensive minded plus Bergeron is able to play all 3 zones. Like you said, the 3rd line becomes a normal checking line with Ryder who drives me insane, but serves as a small offensive threat on the line. Best of all it leaves Marchand back to the Merlot line which is where he really needs to be, adding the scoring touch that Paille is never going to have.
Look, Ryder is ruining shifts for Bergeron and Seguin. I don’t think he gels well with either guy. How do we solve this? We need to put Seguin with Bergeron and put Ryder with others.
This means that we need to split up either Seguin and Peverly, or Bergeron and Recchi. I say go with the latter. I really like the idea of a Seguin, Bergeron, Peverly line. This would leave us with Ryder playing with Recchi and Kelly. This is a bang bang on the boards and get puck possesion line that would make Ryder the main goal scorer. Recchi and Kelly forecheck like champs, and they can win the battles and bail out Ryder when he makes a mistake. As long as Kelly and Recchi do the job of keeping the puck out of their own net and dish it Ryder, we can get some goals out of this line.
With Seguin, Bergeron and Peverly we get speed on the attack and speed to come back and help. Both Peverly and Bergeron have great hockey sense and responsibility with the puck and Seguin is getting there and will get there much faster when playing with guys like this.
I like this idea, what do you guys think?
As far the powerplay goes, nothing fancy, keep the lines the same the 5 on 5 combos and just see what lines work best when on the man advantage and sit the ones who aren’t performing.
Try putting Chara in front of the net on the power play. It will tie up two players from the defending team and open up the ice. This is not complicated he is the biggest player in the leauge and would be a human screen not to mention he could grab rebounds.
Mike I kind of wonder if Marchand back on the 4th wouldn’t be a bad idea, but I don’t want to see Ryder with Bergeron and Recchi-that line is terrible together.
Ryder and Seguin have pretty good chemistry though but not sure how they would look with Kelly.
Right now there is something wrong with this team-whether it is player attitudes, coaches, being tired-but something and they need to get it fixed now, because going into the playoff winning only one or two of last games (the pace we appear to be on currently) isn’t going to help when the play offs start.
Wow! This is not a good situation!
Seguin’s line looked like the best line all night, except for Kelly, who attempted some bonehead passes. I say put Kelly on the 4th line when Marchand is back. Put Ryder with Seguin & Peverley to form a “minus” line lol. Probably a defensively poor line, but there seemed to be some chemistry with Seguin & Peverley. I wouldn’t mind seeing Marchand back on the 4th line either with Thornton and Campbell. Marchand didn’t seem to have such an ego then.
Worst game to watch yet. For the first time this year; I stopped watching half-way and am not going to finish watching to this pathetic effort.
Oh and I meant to say I totally agree on Seguin. I think paired with Peverly he was really able to shine tonight. Their line seemed to be the only one really clicking tonight.
Well Ryder looked terrible. I think Ryder is terrible with Bergeron and Recchi anyway. Not sure what it is about them, but together there is no chemistry-even though I think with a different winger Bergeron and Recchi generally have very good chemistry. Recchi seems like he is tired-there just doesn’t seem to be any kick in him.
But honestly thinking about it-I am hard pressed to say anyone had a good game.
Seguin Looked a little better tonight at times, though at others he showed a little too much Ryder.