Two nights ago, new writer Allen Mayo wrote about the two biggest problems with the Bruins:
- Their offense
- Their defense getting pushed around.
I wanted to write more about the second one, but maybe tweak something a little bit. The Bruins aren’t getting pushed around all the time but they’re having a problem clearing out the blue paint. Allen did a good job laying out the defensive issues and what happened in all of those situations?
Players were, almost, on top of the goaltending.
Boone Jenner:
Jimmy Vesey:
And now James van Riemsdyk:
The shitty thing is Carlo does almost everything right. He has a choice, cover Marner or cover JVR and it is virtually a no-win situation for him. If you’re looking for someone to blame, and I’m not, it’s either Chara leaving Marner to cover the sidewall or Riley Nash not dropping down on Marner.
It even happened in overtime. Where is Patrick Marleau when he tips in the goal?
You can excuse overtime because its a fast paced, 3-on-3 skatefest but it continues to be a problem for the Bruins.
If the Bruins want to win hockey games, they need to keep the opposition off of the goalie. They’re allowing too many people to come into the goalie area and jam goals home. No one is sweeping out pucks. No one is moving bodies.
They’re getting beat on the backend (phrasing) and it is going to be their downfall most nights. It won’t matter if Rask is in net, Khudobin is in net or you have two conjoined twins in net like that shitty movie with Matt Damon.
The Bruins have a clearing problem, people.
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