Pavel Zacha at Wing + DeBrusk & Lindholm Trending Up w/ Evan Marinfosky | Poke the Bear

Pavel Zacha at Wing + DeBrusk & Lindholm Trending Up w/ Evan Marinfosky | Poke the Bear

And welcome into poke the bear episode 189 that is Connor Ryan I Evan marowski Connor what is up Evan I’m doing well how you doing doing great doing great for the people who are watching on YouTube you can see it for the people who are listening you can hear it but

Connor has a brand new microphone this is a big thing I like it it looks good yeah shout out to my uh Aunt Rosie who got me this for Christmas so uh shout out there for actually getting uh a recording device that’s not just my airpods so hopefully I sound a little

Bit clearer for all you all you people listening in uh on the podcast I’m not too loud I know there’s a little mute button on here which is very helpful so I’m taking a swig of uh of Duncan I don’t want the ASMR of the ice chips uh

To be you know distracted in from the uh recording process here so nice little fancy piece of equipment we got yeah it’s good it’s funny I uh it’s good for everything like it it does sound really good and we’re not super technically savvy so we were sitting there you and I

Trying to be like do we turn it up do we keep it down um so we both got these mics they might be the same brand I don’t even know um but yeah I I have no idea but no I feel like you know when you’re a little kid and you like bring

Your PlayStation or GameCube over to like you know like your grandparents house and they don’t know how to work it you know it’s just like those red white and blue wires right that you it takes two seconds to do but you felt like a whiz I feel like I’m like the

Grandparent now that when someone else sets it up Beyond just like a USB I feel like the whole new world I feel like I’m getting old here Evan it’s okay it’s okay we uh we’ll keep you young around here and the new microphone it it it it

It’s keeping you young um but anyways uh I got to say before we dive into Bruin’s saber and everything that that happened from it uh I watched so I have HBO Max and I know a lot of people might disagree with me on this but I love the

HBO Max interface it’s clean now granted the game was very delayed I would get the Tweet notifications from the Bruins like CC puts us up three or whatever and it would be like you know like two minutes later that would actually take place on the screen be like ah damn it I

Shouldn’t have looked at my phone uh but the interface itself like HBO is pretty good I don’t I I’ve always liked Max um I know people don’t want to hear about this but I don’t know it’s a thought a little thought I had from from Wednesday

Night I was like a Max is good to watch a game sometimes I’ll watch like an NBA game on there and it’s always Pleasant so I’ve always been a fan of Max yeah I don’t hate the broadcast uh the way it’s all set up uh but that that delay is is

Brutal like I I feel bad when the brunes are at the Garden for a home game and it’s a a national game on TNT or turn or whatever because I’ll tweet something like right as it happens of course like a pasta uh goal I’ll do the little pasta

Uh video I have and like most of their P are like dude like what the it’s it’s like two minutes before it actually happened that we’re still in a commercial break we’re still there’s a progressive add-on as you’re tweeting that POS have scored a goal so I feel a

Little bit bad about that when it does happen because that delay is it’s something it is it’s annoying and I’m not the biggest fan of it but the interface itself that’s my like non hockey thought from Wednesday night uh I enjoyed um anyways the Bruins get

Back on track that’s a big win over Buffalo 4-1 uh you know the goals came uh you know defensively they were all right sabes good young team but man it’s just like defensively they’re not good I I texted you this in the third period I said man they defend like a men’s league

Team would defend um just you know letting chances go you sore past Deon Levi breakway after Breakaway uh what were your sort of initial thoughts from Wednesday’s win yeah I mean a step in the right direction for the team right I think Jim monery and the Bruins would

Take two points in any capacity just after you know dropping four straight games but uh again uh montgomer even said it before the game that he wasn’t expecting a Rembrandt out there in terms of a complete uh 180 from the struggles they’ve had not just in these four games

But as we’ve seen throughout the season but uh the thing that’s kind of stood out to me is just the amount of guys that we’ve had questions about you know these key cogs that you’re looking for a little bit more from them you know de Brusque uh Coy over this recent stretch

Here hampus Lindholm I think those guys all stepped up and again you look at the the Hallmarks of this team and you know Airs of their strength another really good game from Swan gets another a clutch SL save from Charlie McAvoy in that game as well special teams play is

Really really strong there you had you know six or six on the PK three Power Play Goals but but uh it shows how much more of a lift you have when other guys that are key contributors are pulling their weight as well right so Jake de brus first time this season has a

Multi-point game Charlie uh Charlie Coyle gets two Power Play Goals lenol again doesn’t really register it on the score sheet or anything like that but um played I think a really clean game a lot of PK work uh Montgomery on Thursday mentioned how strong lolm was in terms

Of just his passing and and getting the puck out quick um down both ends of the ice I think it shows you that especially debrusk and lindol who’ve really not Fallen you know set into a really good Rhythm so far this year when they’re on just how much better it make this

Overall team which I think is the most encouraging thing you saw from this game you hopefully they can build on it in this I guess second half of the year you know we talk a lot about how if the Bruins are to go far in the postseason

If they’re going to be successful the goal tending is going to need to be what carries them you know that’s going to be the thing that that gets them past better teams is going to keep them in game but I think if they’re really to go deep

And to make a real run you’re going to need guys like Jake de Brusque to be at his best you need hampus Lindholm to be a lot better than he’s been and again Wednesday night is not everything it’s one game but it is encouraging that de

Brusque not only set up coil on some of those goals but had some really good little plays throughout the game you know good stick positioning good PK work um you know hustled for loose pucks I know production is the number one thing with him we’ve said that all year we

Have been consistent on Jake debrusk but it is encouraging to see him do those little things as well right that’s been a thing in the past that hasn’t always been there uh when he hasn’t been producing it’s like you don’t notice him you do notice Jake debrusk it’s just

He’s not producing which again you do need him to obviously do um who I liked in Wednesday’s game along with those guys was Mason lowai uh lowai had a really strong start obviously scores that goal but that all comes from being aggressive in the neutral zone stepping

Up stick on Stick that’s a confidence play right there Bruins have talked about that a lot neate you know negating the rush uh breaking up plays before they happened and I think he did that I think he was aggressive all night I thought he was solid um you know his

Puck movement at the point is never an issue but I just to me like if he can continue to be like that to play that brand of hockey I you know I don’t know how he goes back down because it’s such a uh needed thing up there a the ction

But B just you know his overall two-way game at his size I think just adds such an element to that team um and again I thought he was just fantastic on Wednesday yeah no and it’s something where Jim Montgomery has mentioned you know the shot first mentality generating

Offense from the blue line that was case in point with Lura if you were to ask I think Brun s before the year of you know what’s a highlight real play that you can see where gal glor is such a special player it’s him you know in that game

Against Buffalo d 64 huge guy like jumps up into the play all sudden looks like a forward out there and pounces on a a loose Puck and and gets kind of the the game rolling for the Bruins there and it just shows you how much of an impact he

Can bring especially offensively and I think you have to give him credit too like when he got sent down after uh right before that I think it was that the Bruins Rangers game right after Thanksgiving again we talked about it plenty of times before but this is a uh

A guy in lowai who’s obviously very talented but still had a lot of work to do in the dzone you know in his first 12 games the brunes were outscored 13 to7 while he was out there not great right uh that’s something that I think we all

Kind of expected there was going to be a learning curve there and some bumps in the road but in the last six games since he’s kind of been recalled from Providence and has had this kind of I guess second stint uh Bruns have outscored opponent 5-1 when he’s been

Out out on the ice so it’s not to say that it’s been completely night and day um when you look at just his overall growth but it’s very encouraging that you know a guy that that I think even going into this regular season really accelerated his timeline it’s not like

It’s something where it’s all right this this year you know regardless of where he is Boston a Providence we know it’s going to be work in progress this whole year is going to be him learning on the Fly and addressing these flaws like he’s actively taken that approach and I think

He’s been a lot stronger in that area of the game which again if he wants to stay up here full-time carve out a top four role he’s going to have to be a 200 foot guy especially as a defenseman 100% you cannot just be a uh you know power play

Quarterback Point heavy guy he absolutely has to be uh locked down in his own zone so I thought it was a it was an encouraging game uh Wednesday night again the Bruins get the 4-1 win which they just they needed you needed a game like that I know the Sabers have

Their flaws I do wonder what happens up there cuz there is the talent it’s just not being put together at all I would also say like in net I think Levi is solid but it’s just he’s young like that team is you know some were saying oh this is the

Year the Sabres are going to make the playoffs and I know they were fairly close last year but I mean they there’s no structure you know like it just there’s a lot of good skilled guys to lean power you know lots of uh interesting prospects but or not prospects but interesting players and

They just nothing’s really put together up there they don’t look like a well loyal machine at all no it’s almost like the lack of cohesion there because as you said I think Levi you know he’s had his ups and downs has in the AHL a

Little bit this year but had quite a few really good saves in that game but if you know if you’re a young goalie trying to really establish yourself in your first full year in the NHL and you have a go in the power play where like dalen

Just like is an easy shot like right at the crease like he rifles at home like what are you doing there right like that’s not doing enough to to you know keep to complement your really talented young goalie and have him build his confidence up too so it’s it’s almost

Like you know the talent is obviously there but the cohesion and the the you know putting it all together to putting putting out a winning product on the ice just hasn’t been there so far no it hasn’t it hasn’t at all um I want to get to a big takeaway from Wednesday night’s

Game but first Connor a quick word from our sponsor early this NFL season with FanDuel America’s number one sports book right now new customers get 100 $50 in bonus Bets with any winning $5 money bet that’s 150 bucks if your team wins if you’ve been thinking about joining

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FanDuel official partner of the NFL you know Connor you have your new microphone which is exciting but you know what you really need uh I don’t know if you caught a little bit of Bruins beat last week yeah it’s last week now with Mark diver and he was you

Know in his uh reclining chair just you know back like this camera right over him spitting Providence knowledge like Mack does exactly it was great it was great that’s what we need we need to do a show and like recliners just feed up camera in our face chilling that’s what

We need I think we need that um so anyway uh on Wednesday night Bruins uh went with geeky down the middle in the top six and paval zaka on the left wing um which again zaka was on the left wing a little bit last year did a good job

You know was solid there especially playing you know with poock and Cree um do what did you think of him uh LA on Wednesday and and do you think they should stick with him going forward it I mean it does seem like the Bruins are going to stick with that grouping for at

Least another game on Saturday um based on what Montgomery said on Thursday um and it’s not you know saying that zaka has not been really strong down the middle this year I think he’s been really really good but he kind of mentioned that the biggest thing is

Getting geeky down the middle in a top six role and trying of get him going a little bit because I think after Wednesday’s game he’s got four goals in his last seven games so he’s a guy that uh seems to be heating up here and I

Think he want to uh kind of build off of that and have him in a spot where maybe he can continue to pile on points here so if it works out then it all a sudden makes your top six that much better um if you’re able to get geeky rolling find

A a set spot for him and he’s not it’s not like earlier uh you know this month when he’s on the fourth line where you didn’t really know where exactly his role was going to be so um I can see why the brunes are doing it I don’t know how

Sustainable it is I I still think you know maybe if Potter takes another step forward when he comes back that maybe settles things down in terms of how you want to structure that top six middle six even because it does seem like lines one through three are still in a a bit

Of limbo here but um we’ll see kind of how it plays out though like I still really like zaka down the middle but I can see why for least a couple games why you want to see a guy like Kiki get going here even though I will say

Montgomery also said that he wants to keep Coyle and Martian together which they were pretty good on on Wednesday against Buffalo but still I’m still going to preach for keep M Coyle with jvr and Frederick if at all possible because I still think that’s a dynamite line whenever they’re together I agree

Uh it’s interesting like I I agree with the idea of Morgan geeki being used right now to get him going because I do like his game I think like you mentioned it a lot in the offseason like there’s more to geeki than he was giving in Seattle and I think you’ve seen flashes

Of it this season um but I I don’t know if you can roll into the playoffs expecting to make a run with Morgan geky as a top six center um that’s where I think you hit the wall I think you run into a little bit of trouble there now

You can make the argument that you’re like a Vegas right remember like Vegas with Chandler Stevenson and some teams try to do this where you have the uh you know the slowest player on the line and the you know uh least impactful offensively uh player on the line you

Put them in the middle and then you put the the wings as sort of the the potent guys with zaka and poshak that’s the case and maybe that works like I I you know maybe it works out um I don’t know how that’s going to Fair though against

Better teams or teams you’re going to face in the first round second round of the playoffs um and then obviously you know you have you hope de Brusque can uh get going with Coy and again he hit him for two assists on Wednesday I know they were power play assists but I still

Think that that’s encouraging so uh you know and we’ll see what happens when Patra steps back in the good thing is though I mean you do have a fair amount of guys that are kind of competing for top nine spots it’s just it kind of comes back to we’ve talked about a lot

Which is who are your top six forwards which I think is that that’s the biggest thing yeah no exactly it’s something where uh Montgomery even mentioned you know if they’re able to keep zaka on the wing and let’s say geeky rolls with it in terms of his play down the middle in

A top six whatever you want to call it spot um all of a sudden they’re they’re uh of wings all a sudden starts looking a lot better when it’s Marian and zaka and de Brusque and poock and those guys like all of a sudden those are pretty

Good uh four uh Wingers there for your top six and that’s kind of been the biggest issue for this team is you know the center play really hasn’t been this black hole between Coy and and zaka and Patra when he’s been in there and geeki at times Frederick’s even been pretty

Solid down the middle like again are they the same caliber of elite players like bersan and C of course not but the play down the middle really hasn’t been like the black hole in this team it’s been a lot of the established scoring depth at the wing and if zaka shifts

Over there and is the same player he was last year when he was uh more on the left wing uh it does make it overall top six grouping that much better uh down the stretch here it does it does and by the way Charlie Coyle continues to roll

I mean this is the best I’ve ever seen Coyle I think I mean I I don’t think that you know we I’ve always liked his game but just the production mixed with just great 200 foot play I mean he has we’re what two and a half months into

The season now like he has fully almost three months actually three months into the season uh he has fully embraced the role of being a top six center I mean it has it and it’s been uh really fun to watch uh before we get to the big story

That everyone’s sort of talking about right now uh a quick word from our delicious friends over at Factor meals season you might be looking for nutritious convenient meals to keep you energized on jam-packed days Factor America’s number one ready to eat meal delivery service can help you fuel up

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50% off that’s code poke 50@ Factor meals.com SL pooke 50 to get 50% off poke 50 you heard it uh so everyone yeah poke poke 50 uh so what people are talking about and there’s rumors and I’m curious what happens by the time this podcast goes

Out uh so as of now there’s nothing official from the Bruins yet uh but you know there’s speculation that Georgie marula could be getting called up to Boston from Providence um I think this is a good idea I want to see what he brings I do

This is the right time of year to do it it’s you know midseason struggling for offense that’s a guy who’s been doing all the right things down in Providence he’s producing but he’s also uh you know being a good a better 200 foot player being better away from the puck um I

Like the idea of bringing him up the question is where he fits uh what are your thoughts on merkulov potentially joining the roster yeah no I think as you said Evan I think it’s a perfect time to do it especially where ptra is going to be away for at least another

Week even a little bit more than that so again it’s not to say that you call it Merc you got to keep him up here or it’s anything you know it’s you have a lot more flexibility unlike the situation with ptra right so um even if it’s for

Like a five or six game sample size and you bring him up for the first time see how he adjusts up here and yeah again it’s all about getting a guy and putting him in a a more challenging environment see how he responds to it because as you

Said merkulov I think we’ve known for a long time now his talents offensively even last year he had over 55 points in his first full year in Providence so we know how gifted he is how good of a shot he has his Poise all that stuff the

Biggest thing has been how he’s how he can adjust and build his game and from you know I asked Montgomery about him today of what he’s heard from Ryan muel about uh his overall growth down there in Providence and he said it’s the the dzone work and how strong he’s become as

A two-way player not to say that he’s GNA be in the running for a selki in a couple years but for an area of the game that everyone has mentioned as being uh maybe the biggest flaw you know even I think it was two Dev camps ago uh people

Talked about merkulov and how good he was but they’re like but you know red flag like the dzone work uh Deone play has a lot uh to work on and he’s you know I think he’s taking that to heart that’s a sign of a good young player that it’s something that’s clearly been

Identified as what he needs to work on and he’s made the most of it so even if he comes up here and it’s a whole uh another tier of competition and he goes through the bumps in the road as has been the case with ptra and beer and

Lura and every single player right but he has a game or two where he strings together a couple of strong shifts maybe gets a goal gets rolling here and builds up his confidence best case scenario he stays up here in a middle six role he can play at Center play on the wing

Maybe he surprises and proves uh that he has a spot up here fulltime but even if it’s just a couple of games gives you a little bit of a spark a different look especially in that middle six groping while patra’s away there’s nothing wrong with that especially if you know he goes

Back down to Providence keeps on building his game and warrants another call up in another couple of months like you’ve got a good situation on your hands and all directly ties into how good merkulov has been at improving his overall game and I want to see them if

He does get called up I do want to see him at Center I don’t want to see him on the wing he’s better at Center he’s had more success at Center um third line to me seems like the spot you know right like you Trent Frederick in there on

Wednesday night Frederick’s been more on the wing if you can move Frederick over I think that’s not a bad veteran is presence to put with merkulov or have James Van Rey just to try it out especially if you’re going to continue to roll with this top six uh with geeky

Centering Zach poock and Coy with the brusk and marshan I don’t hate the idea of hey we’re going to throw MC on the third line put either you know Frederick and van rdik with him or Heinen and Van rdik or however they want to do it um

I’m just curious to see merula’s game at the NHL level you know what are what’s his attention to detail like I know it’s it’s boring to talk about that stuff but that’s what’s going to get him up here uh because the production the skill I think that’s all there um so I’m very

Curious to see a if he gets called up because as we record on uh Thursday at 5:05 p.m. it nothing official has been out yet so you know we’re going to go with that um but I’m also curious to see just sort of what his game looks like at

The NHL level so um he’s an exciting prospect because there is that offense you know it’s not like you know with beer it was more of he’s really fast production’s not really there but you know he’s he’s pretty good everywhere else and you know what you’re going to

Get fourth line Center merkulov has a fairly high ceiling uh given his production and given um you know what else he has to work on in his game so um should be interesting nonetheless uh Connor what can the people look forward to from you over at boston.com in the

Boston Globe yeah we have you covered every step of the way whether it’s uh prospects getting called up game stories features breakdown all that stuff over at boston.com so please read my stuff over there and if you want to follow me on Twitter you can at Conor Ryan 93 good

Go do all that that’s Conor Ryan I’m Evan marinovsky you poke the bear listeners have a great rest of your Week

Poke The Bear with Conor Ryan Ep. 189

In this episode of Poke the Bear, Conor Ryan of Boston.com and Evan Marinofsky from New England Hockey Journal come together to unpack the Boston Bruins’ recent activities. They kick off with a discussion on the Bruins’ significant win in Buffalo, then highlight the notable performances of Jake DeBrusk and Hampus Lindholm. The duo also explores the promising potential of Mason Lohrei and debates the strategic positioning of Pavel Zacha, pondering if he should continue on the wing. Rounding off the discussion, they delve into the expected impact of Georgii Merkulov on the Bruins.

Topics:

– Bruins get a big win in Buffalo

– Jake DeBrusk and Hampus Lindholm have strong showings

– Mason Lohrei shows his potential

– Should the Bruins keep Pavel Zacha on the wing?

– What could Georgii Merkulov bring to Boston?

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