First Period
Things began with a miserable sequence that ended up with Alex Tuch being left all alone, and that had the Bruins down 1-0 early.
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Then, late in the period, the Bruins were hemmed into their own end, and the Sabres moved in just the right way to give Mattias Samuelsson a perfect screen to beat Jeremy Swayman. 2-0 Sabres.
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Mercifully, the Bruins were able to prevent any further scoring, and the period ended.
Onto the second.
Second Period
Hey did you know David Pastrnak is a Boston Bruin? Sabres defense sure struggles with that concept!
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Can’t ask for much better than that! 2-1 Sabres.
Unfortunately, that was all the scoring in the period for Boston, but Buffalo didn’t score, so things worked out!
Third Period
The goal that killed the season is almost preposterously stupid to describe. Hampus Lindholm forced a pass to David Pastrnak, who could not receive it and had him and McAvoy racing against Josh Doan for the puck, and finding out way too late that they’d unintentionally given Zach Benson unrestricted access to the net-front. 3-1 Sabres.
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The Bruins did their best to attempt to keep up with the Sabres, but at that point it was too late. Even pulling the goalie didn’t help.
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Game, Series and Season Over. Buffalo eliminates Boston in Six Games.
Game (and Series) Recap:
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Your TOI Leader for tonight’s game was Charlie McAvoy, who played 25:09
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The Boston Bruins lost this game the same way they’ve lost nearly every game they played this year. The only difference is that it counted for something. They let the other team have the puck for far too long, they completely bailed on their defensive structure; ESPECIALLY in front of their net, they puck watched, they absolutely could not win a puck battle to save their lives, and they needed Pasta and Swayman to try and get some hope back into their game. That’s not new. The difference is that they ran headlong into the Buffalo Sabres in an elimination game. Their X-Factors failed. Their usual weaknesses were exploited, and the Sabres eliminated them. Didn’t even seem to phase them that much. There was just not enough across the lineup. The Boston Bruins do not have enough.
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The Sabres weren’t even really all that physically inclined; they were just faster on every single puck, they just had better position on just about every single play, and their best are built like super mutants when they did get hit. If I knew I could conjure their kind of scoring from anywhere like they had, I don’t think I’d be super worried about getting clipped from a hit or being down a goal either. What does it matter if you beat me up when Tage Thompson’s coming over the boards next? Yeah I’ll be a bit sore, but you’ll still be down where it matters.
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If there’s anything about this series that I want Don Sweeney to understand, it’s this. Let’s just hope he recognizes what that actually means.
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Speaking of which! There are a lot of players who absolutely did not show up for this series with a good amount of it that were needed. Morgan Geekie tapered off after some time. Victor Arvidsson got hurt and that forced Marco Sturm’s hand. A lot of this roster spent this playoff series in first gear and it ended badly. Do not listen to people who said “the Fourth line was great!”. Outside of a very specific group of players, the forwards were hot swamp ass for six games. Not even close to enough. There were players who I thought earned second looks, or maybe some temporary plaudits, but eventually results matter. This roster is slow and their forwards are hopelessly dependent on a handful of players to get anything done. That’s not a recipe for success.
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Please politely remind your friends that would like to trade off someone like David Pastrnak that, despite what self-described fairweather fans running the morning radio shows will tell you, that he absolutely showed up for this series. Led it in goals, led it in points, for like two days was leading the league in that category. The problem is that there is a power gap after his name on the statsheet. The problem is that after getting some of that hope that I brought up earlier? The guy who did a “rah-rah we’re coming back” thing with the team? Absolutely nobody else met that moment. Not the rookie. Not the vets. Not the so-called tough guys and definitely not the defense. He showed, and Swayman showed. The few times they didn’t? They got absolutely murdered. Got blown the hell out.
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During the preview, I noted that the Bruins defense needed to lock all the way down in order to keep competitive in this series, and they were able to do it…a grand total of once. Maybe twice. Meanwhile everything else came apart at the seams. Charlie McAvoy played his worst game of the series at the worst possible time and Hampus Lindholm pissed this game away for Boston on a play so bad it gave me stomach cramps just thinking about it again. This defense needs an overhaul and badly.
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I’m not gonna sugarcoat it. If your coach isn’t playing your so-called “defender of the future” because he can’t trust him even though he’s big as a horse? Trade him. There’s no future for this player on this team. I don’t wanna hear about his f!#king tools if he doesn’t have the head to use them correctly more than once in the most important games of the year.
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I think we have this understanding that the Buffalo Sabres are bad and have had it so reinforced from years of disappointment and incompetence that we still don’t quite “get” that they are good now. Maybe we don’t want to; I sure as hell don’t. They’ve got the best xGF% of any team left in the Eastern Conference and they get to wait out Tampa and Montreal killing each other. It’s a slim margin against the Hurricanes to be sure, but they are genuinely, all the way good for the first time since they wore those stupid navy blue sweaters. Their fans are gonna be unbearable twerps about this, and frankly after putting up with organizational malfeasance that would have Bruins fans melting like the wicked witch if it happened for more than a season, I think they have earned at least 24 hours of shit talking. Hats off to them; the better team won.
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That said, once that 24 hours is over? Go turn that energy towards beating whoever comes out of Montreal/Tampa.
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Jeremy actual Swayman, dude. I am so happy this player finally figured himself out and came back into this season poised to bounce back. The Bruins would not be in this position without his work, and we are fortunate to have him. Still walked away from this one with an .880 SV%.
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A .906 SV% through six games however? Not bad! It’s not Frederik Anderson (lol. lmao.) or Scott Wedgewood (?!?!?!?!), but hey; this is the mid-nu-20’s NHL: that’s pretty decent.
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The Good news is that while the playoffs are kind of tearing through at a breakneck pace, the Draft Lottery is also due in the upcoming week! We’ll get to see if Boston gets a high draft pick once and for all!
The offseason means that Boston is now in a position to potentially get a Top 10 pick! So that means we’re waiting for Tuesday evening!
We’ll see you there.
And as always; from all of us…Thank you. Lets have a fun offseason.
Go B’s!
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