Playoff spot obviously not enough for clinched Bruins

Tampa relies on their PP way too much, and for good reason. Its evidenced by how much Tampa tries to draw penalties. They don’t have much depth and their defense/goaltending is suspect. Even better for the Bruins is usually refs are more lenient calling penalties in the playoffs.

Lundqvist scares me most if he is hot. I question whether he can stay on his game for enough games out of 7 and I am not convinced the rest of the team can carry him if he has a bad game.

Montreal has had our number all year even though we totally killed them in that last game of the series. Then there is the whole Chara/Pacioretty hit to be brought back up again which may distract. I do suspect that the Habs have pretty much burned Carey Price out and I am not sure he will get and stay hot. So I almost would rather see a Montreal match up over a New York one. I also think if our skating game is going, and our physical game is there the Habs just can’t compete.

Buffalo scares me, but not as much as New York. Miller is good but he hasn’t been great this year and I think we can get by him. Buffalo has some good players though-if they are hot they may be hard to shut down-and they have the hat trick boy who seems to score a hat trick every time we play them. I think I would rather have the Habs.

The match up I would want most is a Tampa one. I think Tampa’s offense is something our defense can shut down-and if Thomas is hot they will have a hard time scoring. Their defense isn’t much to speak of. But this match up isn’t going to happen IMO.

The odd thing is that we actually have the better records against the teams in the top half of the line-up and 5th place Tampa than we do with the three likely bottom seeds. Of those three I think MOntreal is probably the most beatable for us, but who really knows.

@RF , I agree the Bruins are better than all the current 5-8 teams and should beat any of them in 7. I have to be honest for some reason Lunqvist scares me more than Miller does but I don’t have a real basis for it. Although I used the teams that Jay listed, the real matchup I’d like to see is Tampa, they are struggling right now and have the weakest goaltending among the playoff teams.

@ George, I see your logic and as far as potential match-ups in net, Miller is the toughest of the bunch. But like I said earlier, the Bruins are better than all of these teams and should show that in a 7 game series.

There is no doubt that if this team does not reach the conference finals we will see significant changes, starting with the coach and possibly PC.

I’d love to see them get the second seed but I thing #3 is more likely. I’d have to agree with Jay, I’d rather not play a division team in the first round if at all possible. The Rangers have excellent goaltending and a good defensive philosophy but they don’t scare me at all. B’s would take them in 5 or 6.

However, this team should be good enough to get by any of those three mentioned.

RF

Out of those three teams, I ask to you and all…

“Who do we want to play?”

Best thing going for all these teams? Goalies. You look at Ryan Miller, Cam Ward and Carey Price and thank the hockey Gods that we too have confidence between the pipes. But beyond that, what do these three have in store for the Bruins come playoff time?

Montreal will bring the emotional series to the Bruins. We do not want this, we have proven that if we keep our emotions in check, we can beat these guys. Having said that, it is very difficult to do so. I would rather NOT face this team in the first round, but would more than willingly face them in any of the later rounds, since the emotion will be there no matter who we play.

New York is a team that we just recently lost to, but it was a game that we could have won. We turned it on at the wrong time and would have scored if we had just played more like we did for more of the game. The Rangers have proved to be unsuccessful in the playoffs as of late and I can’t see them putting us away. I feel that our teams are very much alike, which I am fan of, because we love playing our game, and as long as it is better than their game, which it has been this year, (hence us being in 3rd) we will take the series. So, I would want to play this team.

Buffalo goes back to last year, and in my experience of watching playoff rematches that are back to back, players sledom forget the past. Buffalo would have extra incentive, and like the Montreal series, that is not what we need right now. We are better than all of these teams without any extra stipulations, so it is the smartest idea to stay from any factors that could take the advantage away from us. I would rather play Buffalo over Montreal, but the Rangers remain my top opponent, unless Tampa Bay slips.

If we somehow match up against Tampa Bay, it will be an easier series than any of the previous three mentioned. A team like Tampa Bay cannot last against the same team night after night. It is easy to figure them out within one or maybe two games and then it is all downhill from there.

What do you guys think? What would our most beneficial matchup be against?

I’m hoping this is because Ryder has looked like crap for a while now, and really has no chemistry with any of the lines right now. Saguin has looked good with Peverley and Kelly even if the goals havent come yet. And Paille looked good last night and is a whole hell of a lot more motivated than Ryder is.

When is Ryder’s surgery to give him a new spine?