Following another lackluster performance, Conor Ryan and Ty Anderson discuss the Bruins struggles as they reach new lows. What will it take to turn things around for the Bruins? Is this an internal fix, or is outside help needed to light a spark in this offense? All that, and much more!
Topics:
-Bruins no-show against the Flyers
-At least Korpisalo looked good!
-How do you fix the power play?
-Bruins put lines in a blender
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Topics:
-Bruins no-show against the Flyers
-At least Korpisalo looked good!
-How do you fix the power play?
-Bruins put lines in a blender
********************************************************
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SportsTranscript
00:00PokeTheBear is brought to you by PricePix and the GameTime app.
00:07And welcome into PokeTheBear episode 273, presented by PricePix and GameTime tickets.
00:13My name is Connor Ryan.
00:15Once again, we are joined by the esteemed Ty Anderson of 985.
00:19What's up, Ty?
00:20How you doing?
00:21I'm all right.
00:22I'm better than the Bruins.
00:23Again, I can't believe that I'm saying that once again.
00:29But here we are, and it just seems like every day is sort of every game, rather, is like
00:35the same kind of conversation, the same kind of tenor of the conversation.
00:40So yeah, I guess I'm better than the Bruins right now, which is not saying much, as it
00:45turns out, in the Atlantic Division.
00:47Yeah, it's very much like a time is a flat circle kind of thing going on with the Bruins
00:53right now.
00:54It's a very true detective, and the Bruins cannot find any sort of answer.
00:58And I think you look at their last game on Tuesday against the Flyers, a pretty poor
01:04Flyers team that's really been struggling to find their game, come away with a 2-0 win
01:09over the Bruins.
01:10Bruins, and again, like typical John Tortorello team, 28 block shots, I believe, but still,
01:15Bruins didn't do nearly enough to ramp up the pressure, generate urgency in the offensive
01:20zone.
01:21You're trailing 1-0, going into the third period, get three shots on goal the rest of
01:25the way.
01:27Ty, what the hell was that last night?
01:29Because that was, I would say, an arduous game to get through.
01:33Yeah, I mean, you want to use that term, I'll use the term unacceptable.
01:39The Flyers entered that game having given up 40 goals through nine games, the worst
01:44team in the Eastern Conference.
01:46Yeah, they compete hard, and yeah, they battle, but this is why you're the Bruins and they're
01:52the Flyers.
01:53They're a rebuilder who has to win on guts and balls and blocking shots, and you win
02:01because you break that down with your natural skill.
02:04And listen, the Bruins haven't been off to a great year, I understand that part of it,
02:08but if you look at this roster versus that roster, there's no excuse not to work.
02:13There's no excuse not to, when they give you four power play opportunities, including a
02:181-37 of a five-on-three, and you get nothing.
02:23I don't think they had a shot on goal.
02:24It's inexcusable, it's unacceptable.
02:27And I think that's sort of the greater picture here, is that we've been talking about something
02:31just being off with this team, the vibe or the energy, the flow, something is just weird.
02:39And I think even looking beyond the five-on-five, or I'm sorry, the power play, the five-on-five,
02:44what you alluded to, it's a chore.
02:48Watching this team right now is a chore.
02:50They have no synergy, they have no chemistry, tape-to-tape passes are even, that's a nightmare
02:57for them right now.
02:58And so it's just hard to watch this team right now because they look so disjointed and disconnected.
03:03Yeah, and I think also you look at just the lack of getting any sort of momentum, beyond
03:09the chore of how they are executing on the ice.
03:12It's frustrating when you have that game on Saturday where you come away and you beat
03:16the Maple Leafs, you finally get the win you needed against another team like Toronto
03:21that I know is maybe struggling a little bit as well, but still a team you expect to see
03:25in the playoffs, your rival, you get an overtime win there, you bounce back, everything's kind
03:30of go haywire at the end of that third period, you're like, all right, we're still swimming
03:35against the tide, but you get the win, let's get rolling and get a little bit of momentum
03:39here.
03:40And then you just lay an egg.
03:41And I think that's where you said like the vibes are off.
03:43It's like, you don't usually, again, every team goes through ruts, but like this team
03:47and what they've done in the last couple of years, even last year, where that was a team
03:51that was a lot shorter in terms of talent, like they didn't fall into these ruts or you
03:56didn't have these games where like how they played on Tuesday was shocking in terms of
04:02just how they weren't able to carry any sort of momentum against the lesser team.
04:06And, you know, it's I didn't care about like what the opponent is, who they played against.
04:11You weren't going to win or beat any team playing the way they did.
04:14And that was shocking.
04:15I think just their own execution.
04:17And it's the same thing.
04:18It's the urgency is not there.
04:20And that's really concerning.
04:21Yeah.
04:22And I don't know how many more times you're going to have that conversation of like, you
04:26got to get a better start.
04:27You got to connect on the power play.
04:29You can't give the puck away.
04:30You can't take bad penalties.
04:31You've got to be more connected as a five man unit in the defensive zone.
04:37And I think the great crime here is what you let fall off the table, both on the micro
04:44and the macro of you win that game against Toronto, that's a hell of a building block.
04:51That's a win that's worth two wins, in my opinion, given the way it's looked, given
04:55the stakes, the tenor, all of that around your team.
04:59And so to let that not be built upon ahead of a, you know, a three and four this weekend
05:05where you're on the road for two of them and then you get Seattle who can lull you to sleep
05:10as we've seen their visits to Boston in the past, like, like this was a, this was a gimme,
05:16right?
05:17Like the Bruins shouldn't be the get right team for, for another team.
05:21Like the Bruins should be feasting on get right opponents.
05:23And it doesn't feel like that's the case right now.
05:26You get shut out two times in eight days and one of them is by, by UC Soros and listen,
05:33he's a great goaltender.
05:34I'm not gonna take that away from him.
05:35He's had a tough start, but he's a great goaltender, but still they're winless.
05:38He was playing awful.
05:40You get nothing.
05:41And then you get shut out last night by Sammy Erson, who I think he's in a bad spot personally.
05:47I don't know if he's fully ready to be a full-time NHL goaltender, but he is the Carter Hart situation
05:52made that.
05:54But he has an eight and 72, give him five goals and I think 27 shots his previous outing.
05:58Like you gotta win that game.
06:00You gotta, you gotta make life harder than they did.
06:03And I just don't think they made it harder.
06:04I don't think they made it as hard as they could on, on Philadelphia in this game.
06:08And then you also look at just in terms of making things hotter on yourself.
06:11Now that was also a game you needed to have because now all of a sudden you're going up
06:16or going on the road down to Raleigh to play the Hurricanes and that place has been a house
06:20of horrors for you.
06:21So if there was ever a time for you to, again, you take it one step at a time, whatever,
06:25if you're looking ahead, that is not the kind of get right game that the Bruins are going
06:29to have.
06:30And again, you're now on the opposite side of that script where Carolina's probably like,
06:34all right, this team's playing like shit.
06:35We already, we already have owned them in this building before.
06:39Like the Bruins are just making things so much tougher for themselves in terms of getting
06:43any sort of momentum now going into, again, a team like Carolina that going into the year,
06:48you're looking at how many guys Carolina's lost, you know, like, oh, you know, they're
06:52going to take a little bit of step back there.
06:53They're still playing to their strengths.
06:55They're still very structured.
06:56They're still very fast.
06:58Like they're, they're playing to their strengths and the Bruins, like, I think the biggest
07:02issue is like, what, what are the Bruins strengths right now?
07:05Like what is their identity?
07:06Cause I couldn't tell you what it is right now.
07:08It's just, it's not, it's, it's free form jazz is the Bruins right now.
07:12They're just doing kind of whatever.
07:14And it all sounds terrible.
07:15Yeah, no, it's not great.
07:18I mean, I think the other part of that too, is like, are there any players that you look
07:22at right now and say, oh, they're playing at their level?
07:25Like I can't name one.
07:26I think the goaltending, yeah, I mean, it's the fourth line.
07:30I think the goaltending, I think the goaltending has been, has been better than the numbers
07:34would indicate because the play in front of them has been so poor.
07:37I mean, even, even that the, the Tyson Forster goal that ends up being the game winner.
07:42Like I don't love the coverage there.
07:44I don't, I don't love the breakdowns there.
07:46Like a guy should not be that wide open to get that kind of shot off.
07:51You got to block that shot.
07:52You got to get better coverage on them.
07:53Like, like it's just, they're a mess right now.
07:55You know, you look at their numbers, you do deep dives on their analytics and beyond the
07:59raw data.
08:00Cause we know the raw data is not very good, but look at the analytics.
08:03They don't create enough.
08:04They don't defend well enough.
08:05Their only saving grace has been their goaltending at five on five, which has been actually really
08:09good.
08:10Look at their five on five goaltending.
08:11I think it's the eighth or seventh best in the league so far.
08:14So that's the only thing they have going for them right now, it feels like.
08:18And that's not typically a recipe for long-term success because your goaltending, as we saw
08:24last night, as we saw on, on Tuesday night, cannot, you cannot win game zero, zero.
08:28You can't do it.
08:29And so that's a problem for them right now.
08:32And again, you're also further twisting the knife of how disappointing Tuesday's game
08:36was, is that you have Korn Prasalo who hasn't played in seemingly three months.
08:41It feels like, I think it was 13 total days.
08:43He goes in against a team like that and was really good, had a lot of grade A stops, did
08:49exactly what you need from your backup goalie there in terms of giving you a lift and keeping
08:55you in a game that you needed to have.
08:56And the Bruins behind or in front of him did absolutely nothing to support him, which again,
09:01like the bigger picture is the team, but you got to help out your goalie who's, who's given
09:05you a chance to win that game or at least get a point out of it.
09:08Hell, the fact that couldn't get one goal across in that third period and, and try to
09:12get something out of it when you have Korn Prasalo playing at that level, it's a waste
09:16because you got to take, I think every opportunity and make the most of it when he's on his game
09:20like that, as he's trying just to find his footing with this team.
09:23Yeah, 100%.
09:24I mean, if we look at the math right now, Swayman's on pace to start 57, 58 games.
09:31So that means Sway, I mean, that means that Korn Prasalo is going to get about 24, 25.
09:36And so you gotta, you gotta capitalize on those games when he gives you the good ones.
09:41Right.
09:43I mean, I'm not always going to give you the good ones.
09:44I think we've seen that so far where he is going to be prone to an ugly goal here or
09:47there, or a goal that makes you go, Oh, what do you like to save there?
09:50But if he gives you a night like that, 17 of 18 natural stat trick had him down for
09:55seven for seven on high danger opportunities against like, you got to win that game.
10:00Like that, like those porn, those points cannot fall by the wayside mainly because like, you're
10:05not going to have that 50, 50 split that you have with Linus Allmark and Jeremy Swayman,
10:10where if Allmark or Swayman had a bad outing, you had a feeling in your head, okay, well,
10:15they're going to make it up.
10:16Like, they're like, I don't get that same vibe with Korn Prasalo.
10:19It's not a knock on him.
10:20It's just not, I don't think that's who he should be for this team.
10:23Like, he's not going to be the guy who, you know, if, if he, he's not going to save you
10:29most nights.
10:30So, so if he does that, you got to win that game.
10:32That's how I feel about that.
10:33Yeah, no, I mean, just frustrating all around in terms of how the Bruins didn't respond
10:39or didn't build off of what they saw on Saturday.
10:42We'll dive a little bit more into this recent result type before we do that.
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12:29Ty, when you look at the way that game went, I think one thing that has plagued this team
12:34throughout the season has been the power play.
12:37They have four chances on Tuesday, have a prime opportunity to break the game open early,
12:42five on three for a minute 37, end up with only two shots on goal total on the power
12:47play, can't get anything going, again, the urgency, the puck movement hasn't been there.
12:53And there's kind of been a trend since going back to last year, which I think is important
12:57to note, right?
12:58Like they were, I think after the All-Star break, they were 16.1%.
13:02They were one for 16 on the power play against the Panthers.
13:06I think had 14 shots on goal in like 28 minutes of power play ice time.
13:11So not a lot of even the production, you know, whatever, it's like, you're not even getting
13:16quality chances on the power play.
13:17And I hearken back to last year because yes, you have Elias Lindholm in the middle now
13:22at the bumper position, but it's a lot of the same personnel from last year that still
13:27handed the keys to this power play.
13:29Like it feels like, you know, we can look and we'll talk about, you know, the lineup
13:33reshuffling going into this game against Carolina, but man, it feels like that, you
13:38know, it's not like when it was, once you take out the cartridge, blow the dust out,
13:41like you, I think you have to make some actual changes to that power play in it.
13:45Cause you're just not getting remotely enough in terms of even just quality chances, like
13:49let alone the puck going into the net.
13:51Yeah, they're not generating enough.
13:54And I think we're at the point now where I find it a little confusing that Jim Montgomery
14:01will shuffle all of his lines every five and a half minutes, but he'll never shuffled
14:06the top power play unit when it's not producing.
14:10It hasn't produced.
14:11I mean, you look at the goal that they score against Toronto, the David Pasternak one,
14:16that's what they got to do.
14:17And they didn't do it.
14:19You know, it was an aggressive kill.
14:21They took what they could get.
14:22They went down low because of it was an aggressive kill.
14:24And that's how they found their, their magic there.
14:27They don't do that though.
14:28They don't do that consistently enough.
14:29They are way too stationary.
14:32There's little to no movement almost all the time.
14:35It's completely predictable.
14:37I think that at times it looks way too casual in terms of, it's just guys, you know, tossing
14:43a beanbag back and forth.
14:45Like it's no, you gotta get, you gotta get some misdirection here.
14:48You gotta get some movement.
14:49You gotta get killers head spinning and they don't do that enough.
14:52And I am of the, I am of the belief, and I've said this on this podcast and other podcasts
14:57before, like I have the belief that that unit flows better with the lefty.
15:01It doesn't mean that Charlie McAvoy is a bad defenseman, but I don't think he's a strong
15:06fit for maximum efficiency with that top unit.
15:10And maybe he's not a power play quarterback.
15:13There's nothing wrong with that.
15:14Chara wasn't one either.
15:15He was still your best defenseman, but he wasn't a power play quarterback.
15:18I feel like that's kind of where I'm at with McAvoy now, where I just don't see him being
15:23that traditional sort of number one power play quarterback.
15:27And that sucks for him because he's in the age of that guy being the Norris guy, you
15:31know, McCar, Yossi go up and down the list.
15:34Like Adam Fox, like those guys are PP1 QB, PP1 QBs.
15:39I don't think he's that guy and it doesn't mean he's a bad player, but man, is it rough
15:43to watch that top unit right now?
15:45Yeah.
15:46It's almost like for McAvoy.
15:47I think I mentioned this to you.
15:49It's like, would you rather him be a 40, 45 point guy and be like a Jacob Slaven as the
15:55bedrock of your defense and still can do a little bit of everything?
15:58Like not saying you need to be a stationary, stay at home guy like that.
16:03Like you'd rather be a guy that can chip in offensively, can help out on the second unit
16:07or something like that, and can still be kind of that rover out there on defense, can lay
16:11big hits.
16:12Would you rather him try to be like a 55, 60 point guy when again, the case can be made
16:18that a lefty up high is probably better in terms of just, I think it's just like the,
16:23it's not like they're completely stagnant, but there is that half second where again,
16:28you're going up against other pro hockey players.
16:31These guys that are really good penalty killers, that half second can mean the difference between
16:34a puck sailing past, uh, you know, going through a passing lane, going through the slot, anything
16:39like that.
16:40You're just not getting as much of, you know, putting PKers like heads, like, you know,
16:46having them spinning out there.
16:47Like you need kind of that, uh, unpredictability, that kind of versatility on that power play.
16:52That's something you saw like during the heyday with the guys like Krug, like how quick
16:56they move the puck, how they could, you know, bring the puck down along the half wall, make
16:59those things happen.
17:00You're just not, you're not seeing that nearly as much, and you can't just have it all feed
17:04through David Posner.
17:06Even if they're, you know, they ramp up the passing and they're a little bit, they play
17:09with more pace.
17:10It, you still need more than just ending with Posner, like finding a little bit of soft
17:14air to the ice to get a shot off.
17:15You need other guys to step up and I think it all comes back to like the, the urgency
17:20not being there.
17:21I think it all goes back to, as you said, up high with what you're getting from your,
17:25your power play quarterback.
17:26It's again, I don't know if it's, it's not an indictment on me, still a great player,
17:30but I think there's other guys that are probably better suited for what that role entails with
17:35this group right now.
17:36Yeah.
17:37And I think that sort of, I think that McAvoy has an underrated shot.
17:42I think he's probably better as a shooting threat than a passing threat on that unit.
17:47Um, and, and you go back to, I want to say it was, I don't know if it was two years ago
17:52or last year.
17:53They kind of admitted that they didn't think that Charlie Coyle, Charlie McAvoy rather
17:58was the sort of traditional power play quarterback.
18:02And they actually let him be more of like a rover on the power play where he was activating
18:06down low.
18:07He was going to the front of the net.
18:08He was going behind the net, but like it got teams being like, what the hell is this guy
18:11doing right now?
18:13And I can't remember, I'm sorry, I can't remember if that was, if that was two years ago or
18:16last year when they kind of acknowledged it, but then they kind of went back on that
18:19and they were like, no, like, like, no, he's just, he's going to, he's going to run it.
18:25And it's like, okay, well when you got Lowry there, who is the, is their most naturally
18:29gifted offensive thinking defenseman.
18:32Um, and then you have Hampus Lindholm who if I tweeted these numbers out last night,
18:36you look at the numbers, power play has been phenomenal, uh, with him out there with, with
18:41Marcian and Pasternak, like you're kind of hitting the point now where you're saying,
18:46okay, you're struggling to score five on five.
18:49Your PK is on the kill too much.
18:52Your power play is almost going to carry you.
18:54How are we not putting out the best players on that power play for maximum efficiency?
18:59And I think you're kind of hitting that point here soon where like, you're going to have
19:02to make a change to that top unit.
19:04And I think it begins at the point, I think it begins with the quarterback.
19:07It doesn't mean that McAvoy can't play it.
19:09It's just, I don't know if like, I think to your point, like there are times where you're
19:13watching it and you're watching it this year and struggling where he's got the puck on
19:17a stick and the play is just kind of lingering.
19:20It's not, there's like, there's no decision being made and that's allowing the killers
19:23to kind of be like, oh, we know he's not going to shoot it.
19:25So we're just going to, we're going to inch out here higher on Marcian and Pasternak and
19:30you see it, it's a turnover.
19:31It's like, oh my God, like you gotta be quicker thinking, which is so frustrating because
19:35you watch that, that power play goal against Toronto.
19:38Quick thinking.
19:39They knew what they were doing right away.
19:41Too many times it's too stagnant.
19:43It's not, it's not processing information fast enough and I think that begins at the
19:46top there.
19:47Yeah.
19:48So we will see if any changes happen there moving forward.
19:52I think that has to be a big key for this team going into Carolina or whenever they
19:57decide to make a switch there.
19:58But as we wait to see what exactly they do with the power play, they also made some changes
20:02up front with their forward grouping during when we had Wednesday's practice.
20:07Before we dive into that tie though, let's take another quick break here from our friends
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21:31Ty on Wednesday, the Bruins, returned to Warrior Ice Arena before heading out to Carolina.
21:37We've seen Jim Montgomery this year put lines in a blender, changed things up quite a bit.
21:45Wednesday's was pretty jarring, I would say, in terms of what they rolled out there.
21:50I'll just run through it because I have it up here.
21:53Your new top line, Johnny Beecher, Pavel Zaka, and David Pasternak.
21:58Second line, Brad Martian, Elias Lindholm, Mark Kastelik.
22:02Uh, third line, I guess?
22:05Frederick, uh, Potra, Brezzo.
22:08And then your fourth line, Max Jones, Charlie Coyle, and Cole Koepke.
22:13Uh, Tyler Johnson was, uh, there but wasn't really part of any lines.
22:17And Morgan Kiki-
22:17Let's go, let's go home if you're not gonna sign them now, dude.
22:20What are we doing?
22:21Yeah.
22:22Unless they're just banking cap space and they, they sign them tomor-
22:25Like, who the-
22:26Again, I was waiting, I've been waiting for the last couple days.
22:28As soon as Tufti was sent down to Providence, I was like,
22:31all right, when's this gonna happen?
22:32Hasn't happened yet.
22:34Um, but also Morgan Kiki, same boat, uh, skated.
22:37But seems like he's looking at another scratch, uh, moving forward.
22:41Um, but I don't know.
22:45It's, that's a pretty sizable shakeup in terms of, of what you have there.
22:50You're splitting up your fourth line, um, in hopes of, you know,
22:53Montgomery said today that, um, they're hoping that putting those guys on different lines,
22:57guys kind of read off of them and follow their lead in terms of how they want to play.
23:02And then you look at the top line of Elias Lintow and David Pasternak has not worked out
23:08and they've now been split up.
23:09Uh, what do you take away from this latest complete reshovel from this group?
23:14Like, is anything you look at that's like, I'm intrigued?
23:18Or are you like, uh, yeah.
23:23So when I saw this today, uh, full disclosure, I was not at practice today.
23:27I was working on some other stuff.
23:29Um, I, I saw you guys tweeting out these lines and I just went.
23:34Sure.
23:34Like I'm, I'm at that point now where it's like, sure.
23:37Why not?
23:37I, I don't know what more you can do.
23:39I think you've tried.
23:40I think maybe this is Jim Montgomery looking at my tweet last night where I said they've
23:45tried every combination possible and saying, no, I haven't throws this out there.
23:50I mean, sure.
23:50Whatever.
23:51I, I don't think that it's really going to make a difference in terms of like,
23:55you know, we sit here and we wonder why they have no chemistry.
23:57Is this hurting them?
23:58You know, like switching the lines every game.
24:01I don't think there's been a lot of chemistry developed here.
24:04I don't know if certain players fit with certain guys.
24:07I have very limited sample sizes to see if they do.
24:11Um, but yeah, sure.
24:13You want to try this?
24:13I guess, I guess go for it.
24:15Like, like whatever.
24:16At this point, I don't know what more you can do.
24:18Um, you know, when you're with your current roster before you start reaching outward and,
24:22and, and trying to figure out what you have maybe down in Providence or you sign Tyler
24:26Johnson, but are we going to sit here and say, Oh, this is the one like, I don't know.
24:33I have no idea because I have no confidence that these lines that we're going to see
24:38out of the gate Thursday are going to finish the game Thursday being together.
24:41He switches them too much.
24:42So it seems like a waste of time for us to sit here and go, oh yeah, no, this is the
24:46combo.
24:46This is the fit.
24:47Cause he's going to switch it.
24:48He's going to switch it in a period and a half.
24:51That's been the, that's been the, you know, the standard operating procedure here
24:54through the first 10 games of the year.
24:56And so I'm not going to think it's going to change now.
24:59Um, but I mean, let's focus on what happened last night.
25:03You know, last night they give Brazzo right wing, two minutes out of the gate.
25:07By the end of the night, it's Mark Haslick there.
25:09It's like when those are your two go-to options behind David Pasternak on your right side
25:14depth chart, like you're going to have problems.
25:16And that's not a knock on those guys.
25:18They do.
25:18They do their job.
25:19Well, their job, however, is not second line right wing.
25:22It's just not.
25:23Yeah, no.
25:24And I think you look at, if there's one, like maybe duo that's had a pretty solid
25:29sample size so far has been Lindholm and Pasternak and that has not worked yet.
25:34Right.
25:34I mean, you've got the Bruins have had two five-on-five goals when they've been
25:38out there for 95 minutes, they've given up two goals, uh, during that 95 minutes,
25:43the Bruins have given up 24 high danger chances generated 12.
25:48I didn't, uh, become a journalist to become a math major type, but I don't believe
25:52that's very good, especially for a line that is expected to shoulder.
25:58A lot of the scoring burden out of the gate hasn't been there.
26:00And I mean, Montgomery today on Wednesday was pretty much like, I mean, it was asked,
26:06you know, uh, Steve Conrad, the Herald asked, like, are you surprised or what, why they
26:11haven't gelled yet so far Lindholm and Pasternak and Montgomery replied, quote, I don't know.
26:17It should work to smart hockey players, two players that can see the ice really well,
26:21two players that can shoot and pass two players that can skate just hasn't materialized.
26:25So we're changing it up.
26:26Like, and I think, I think that is again, probably the, one of the dominoes that why
26:32everything's out of whack.
26:33Like, listen, we've seen this team, especially in years past, you know, struggled to score
26:38at five on five and they've been bolstered by a really good power play and a really top
26:43heavy offensive output.
26:44It's kind of like what teams like Tampa Bay have been doing for a couple of years as well.
26:48When your top line that has really talented players, isn't carrying, you know, maybe above
26:54what their expected output is, how much can you, again, like, that's why you're now relying
26:59on your fourth line to, to shoulder that burden.
27:02Like it, it is pretty surprising that when you look at just how many lines Pasternak
27:06has elevated, whether it's Zaka the last couple of years, or like Eric Hollow, when he was
27:12his centerman for a year, um, to have it not work so far with Lindholm is pretty surprising.
27:18Yeah.
27:19Would, would you say in your opinion, like, I, and this is where I like, would you say
27:25that's been a product of Lindholm not playing well or Pasternak not playing well?
27:30I'd probably more on Pasternak.
27:31I think Lindholm was like, the details have been, have been there.
27:34Like, I don't think he's, I think you're noticing him in a lot of these shifts, but a lot of
27:38the, the pucks are getting turned over.
27:39They're just dying on Pasternak's stick where it's just, you're not seeing that creativity.
27:44And it's not saying that Lindholm is a super creative guy in the offensive zone.
27:48And they're, they're looking like a 60 Soviet team out there in the offensive zone or anything
27:52like that.
27:52But, um, Lindholm's doing the little things that you notice, especially early on of like,
27:57he's doing the little things that lead to high danger chances or quality shifts the
28:02very least, but nothing's materializing, which is surprising.
28:06Yeah.
28:06Cause like I, I, what I would say is I thought that he generated maybe arguably their best
28:11chance of the night, uh, at even strength, uh, Lindholm did on Tuesday night against,
28:16uh, Philadelphia.
28:17And so I, I just, I'm not against like switching it up here a little bit.
28:23I just, I don't know who I put the blame on there because I think both guys have had pockets
28:29where I think they played really well.
28:32Like I thought that Pasternak was at his best in that Toronto game.
28:35Um, and I thought Lindholm, um, to your point has been really good with the details.
28:40The winning extra battles, maintaining possession, um, just kind of setting guys up, but like
28:47the results haven't been there, but as a line, they haven't been effective so far.
28:51So I actually, there's like, we're starting to see the one thing that I want to see, which
28:56is, which is having Coyle, Zaka and Lindholm center their own lines.
29:03Uh, I think that makes you a much deeper team down the middle.
29:05And if you're stronger down the middle, maybe there's a, maybe it frees up your
29:09wingers a little bit more.
29:10Right.
29:11And, and you're a little bit better as a result.
29:14Um, so I, I don't, I don't hate the idea in theory, but again, like how does that play
29:22out in a game?
29:23How long of a rope do these guys get with their new line mates?
29:27What does it look like?
29:28Because I think that's the biggest thing.
29:29Like you can tinker all you want, but if you're only going to give it seven, seven minutes
29:33before you throw it out the window, I don't really think it matters much.
29:35And I think that's where I'm kind of at here.
29:37Um, so for me, it's like, like, I understand the people online that are like, you got to
29:43fire Jim Montgomery.
29:44You got to do something.
29:45It's like, how many buttons can you really press?
29:48Right.
29:48And I think that you only have so many, you can, you can try, but I think you got to let
29:55them stick together for a little while to get a really good idea.
29:57Like, so I'm on board with breaking up Lindholm and Pasternak for now, but these new combinations,
30:03you got to give more than a period to find out anything, or we're going to be, you're
30:06going to keep hitting your head off the wall again and again, trying to find something.
30:09And you're not really going to be any closer to it, in my opinion.
30:13Yeah, no, we will see how it all plays out on Thursday against Carolina.
30:17A task easier said than done when you look at just how much the Bruins have struggled
30:20down there, but we'll see how much leeway Montgomery gives this, uh, reshuffled forward
30:25group.
30:26So, uh, Ty, before we let you go, where can we read you stuff?
30:30Where can we hear you on the airwaves?
30:32All that good stuff.
30:33You can find me in hell.
30:35Oh my God.
30:37How most of us feel the way this year's gone.
30:39It's unbelievable.
30:40Uh, you can find me at 985 with sports hub.com on the radio.
30:44Now, if I have a sports, uh, a podcast, he sports up underground.
30:48Uh, you can also find me on X at underscore Ty Anderson.
30:51I got to get better about using threads in my Facebook page.
30:54I'm very sorry.
30:55If you follow me on there, I'm not good at it.
30:58I'm trying social media is a nightmare.
31:00I'm trying my best.
31:01Please just, please just trust me when I say that, right?
31:05Right.
31:05And so that's where you can find me.
31:07Uh, there'll be a new app I'm sure soon where you can find me as well.
31:11So yeah.
31:11So, uh, so that's, that's, that's where I am.
31:13How about yourself?
31:14Yeah.
31:14So you can find me over at boston.com and the Boston globe.
31:17We have covered every step of the way with, uh, recaps features, columns, breakdowns,
31:22all that good stuff.
31:23So you can read me over there.
31:25And if you want to follow me on Twitter X, whatever it is, uh, you can at Connor Ryan
31:30underscore 93.
31:31So this was episode 273 of poke the bear.
31:36I'm Connor Ryan.
31:37That is Ty Anderson.
31:38You fans have a great rest of your week.