How the Bruins top line dominated, but got very little help

I think one of their problems is that what seems to be happening is that they bring it into the Canucks’ zone, and one of these is always happening:

- one guy brings it in, tries to take on all the Canucks himself, either creating a turnover
- whomever skates it into the Canucks’ end is not passing it and getting a poor quality chance (for examples on the former, Marchand, as for the latter, Ryder)
- it looks to me like they’re so afraid of the Canucks gaining an odd man rush that the Bruins aren’t sending enough guys in to do a 2 on 1/give and go or really anything other than a piss-poor breakaway where there are four Canucks defending against one Bruin.

That said, they have made some quality scoring chances as well – they just need to pinch (but not too much!), create traffic and keep putting ‘em on net.
I’m confident that they can win the next two at home.

can u imagine this bruins team with a good PP? can u say juggernaut?

As I said before Bergy is the face of the Bruins. And now, more than ever, his play needs to rise above all other Bruins. The offense needs to step it up now. If Claude insists on juggling the defense, putting Chara in front of Luongo and splitting up the Chara/Seidenburg duo at inopportune times, this team is going to lose. Go back to the original pairings on D and get your offense to create chances infront of the net by drilling shots at Luongo instead of clearing it in every time and skating after it.

We saw exactly what putting Lucic in front of the net can do. He can be chippy with the Vancouver defense and he can score from there, plain and simple. Chara looks drained, like he doesn’t want to be there, and he’s getting beat up. Let him play defense and cover the point, please!

I’m worried about Timmy. He talks like he’s OK. But I sensed a little animosity toward the media when he said

“I have a pretty good idea of how to play goalie, I’m not going to be taking suggestions at this time. I’m just going to keep playing the way I am.”

Then when Thomas was pressed further, Claude defended him, saying

“To me, he’s the Vezina Trophy winner. We are here right now because of his contribution. For us to be sitting here having to answer those kind of questions is ridiculous to me. He’s won a Vezina Trophy already, and he’s probably going to win one this year. To question his way of playing is really looking for something to talk about. Yesterday he made some unbelievable saves to keep us in the game, so if you want to focus on that last goal — which I think there were a lot of other players who could have done a better job — it’s focusing on the wrong thing.”

Sorry Claude. Don’t mean to bash you and the last thing I want to do is blame Timmy. You’re right…Thomas has been a huge factor in getting the Bruins to this point in the playoffs. But in that instance, it Timmy has some of the blame to take. He shouldn’t have come out to try and push Burrows. He should have simply stayed with Burrows to protect the net and let Chara handle it. Timmy’s job was to get back to the other side of the net and protect it, which I truly think he could have done if he hadn’t tried to check Burrows off the puck.

This was also Chara’s blame to take. Chara was right with him, that was his responsibility. But he made a wrong decision in not pulling Burrows down with Timmy out of position. I realize all of these things are split-second decisions, which is why, ultimately,…

…this was Coach Julien’s blame to take. Whatever he was trying to do to throw Vancouver’s line changing off obviously didn’t work. While hindsight is 20/20, why not just start off with your top line defensive pair? The Bruins won the faceoff, but then confusion ensued in controlling the puck. I think your top lines (forwards and defense) should be out there to start off a critical OT period…PERIOD.

Finally, last time I checked, this is the Stanley Cup Finals. The focus is on two teams and two teams only. The media is going to ask questions. They’re going to ask why certain actions happened in the game, including what adjustments you might make for the next game. You can play the Belichick card if you want, Claude, but you have to expect these types of questions to come because it’s the Finals. Frankly, I see them as legitimate questions. I don’t view them as “ridiculous” at all.

The word “it” should not be in that sentence before the word “Timmy.” Should read “But in that instance, Timmy has some of the blame to take.”

Here is Cult of Hockey’s statistical analysis of Game Three of the SCF.

A great win for the Bruins under difficult circumstances.