Bruins End Road Trip With Win Over Blues | The Skate Pod, Ep. 264

Bruins End Road Trip With Win Over Blues | The Skate Pod, Ep. 264

Welcome into episode 264 of the skate podcast I’m Brian De fiz joined by Bridget PR and Scott mcclaflin Scott has a a tweet that went viral and that’ll be talked about his opening shift before we do anything we have I think this is how we should start every

Podcast is just applauding my Twitter use well of course we would but I think this episode we have a we have a better way to start and and I’m going to I’m gonna pass the Baton off to to lovely Bridget here and she’s gonna go on a

Rant what about I’ll let her I’ll let her explain yeah I I said right when we first connected this morning I would like to take my opening shift and just use it to rant about the officiating in the NHL because it is awful this year

And I just I don’t even know where to start how many blown calls were there in yesterday’s Bruins game it was ridiculous ulous it felt like it got worse as the game went on and this whole entire road trip it felt like more than 50% of the calls were questionable or

Wrong U it’s hard to watch when it’s that bad and I it it frustrates me even more because I broadcast College hockey and I think they get it right there and I don’t know where the NHL is failing is it from the top down like is there someone that doesn’t just tell doesn’t

Go over the officials this is what a hook should look like this one wasn’t a hook like you need to show examples you need to have a constant line of communication from the person who’s in charge of officiating and to get that information disseminated to all of your officials I

Don’t know if they’re hiring the wrong people I don’t know if they’re just not explaining it correctly but the calls are wrong often even on even after review they’re still wrong and it should just be much more cut and dry the rules in the Rules book say they explain it

How you need to call it and that’s just not what happens in the NHL for some reason and like I mentioned in college hockey there’s a guy named Brian Murphy he just got inducted into the US Hockey Hall of Fame he’s the head of officiating for Hockey East which is the

Conference I see the most and they feel like they get it right like 80% of the time 90% of the time and the NHL feels less than that and I don’t know if they need Brian Murphy to come in and really straighten out like they feel like they

Need someone to come in and straighten it out because it’s gotten really bad yeah I think there’s it and especially as it relates to Satin nightes game in particular there’s a lot to get into because the the Bruns end up winning uh 4-3 and overtime which is great that game really probably should

Have been over in regulation if it wasn’t for a couple bad calls that you know I know we’re going to get into more um my opening shift so we’ll get into that game more but my opening shift relates to uh another story from Saturday and that uh that Brian

Referenced um Jeremy swon was named an All-Star for the first time on Saturday he was one of four goalies to get voted in by fans which is great uh normally an Allstar selection wouldn’t be opening sh material for me because I honestly don’t particularly care about the allstar game

Uh what I do care about is what Jeremy Swan said after the game when he was asked about what it meant uh to be an All-Star and he said you know he can’t do without his teammates he credited the Bruins for being a defensively structured team uh said you know all all

The usual things in allar says can’t do without my teammates all that then the second half of his answer unprompted he says but yeah after dealing with what I did this summer with arbitration hearing things that a player should never hear it feels pretty special to be in this

Situation and my antenna immediately went up and I was like huh that’s interesting that you know you’re you’re an allar for the first time in in your career and one of the first things that comes to mind that you you say when asked about it is going back to your

Arbitration hearing from the summer um which we know he’s been on the record in the past of uh he really hated that process he said he would never want to go through it again he would never want any of his friends or teammates to go

Through it uh he said he um you know he has also been on the record of saying he wants to remain in Boston and he’s glad he eventually got a deal done and all that um but clearly it’s still on his mind if he’s going to that while talking

About being an All-Star and I just think the the fact that he said it and potential ramification of what it might signal as far as his next contract negotiations is really interesting and something that we can get into more definitely absolutely I mean I like both of your opening shifts there’s

There’s definitely um an issue with officiating in the National Hockey League and and Bridget you mentioned K chalky and how it’s much better and I think there’s a reason for it and we could definitely get into that as well Scott yeah um a lot of mute on that bone

Too it’s very curious comments from Swan um was it just him being transparent with the media just not realizing where the comments could be taken or is there something behind it maybe some strategic um levels behind it I don’t know uh we’ll get into that for me um look the Bruins this

Year nobody expected them to be first place in the Eastern Conference uh at the Midway Point especially I just think last year they were their their their roster was so talented so deep they were up against the cap over the cap it wasn’t for you know injury reserve of

Issues there was just a sense of like they’re not going to be as good they were still going to be competitive but not as good and make no mistake about it no buron no CI like you lose a bunch of guy it’s a it’s it’s a transition year for for for

This Bruins team how many how many franchises can in in a in a hard cap era like be first place in a conference in a transition year and I just think that that is often times lost when we’re when we’re watching these games and we’re looking at their deficiencies and you

Know we see where they are in the standings but we don’t necessarily believe that’s where they should be just from the eye test and the analytics to back it up sometimes um this team’s not perfect they’re in it’s a transition year for them and they’re still in first

Place so I think it’s just an opportunity to um you know applaud the players in in in management um for going out we I think Scott coined them the money ball Bruins at one point earlier this year and in a lot of they are the Money Ball Bruins it’s and it’s um again

Like how many teams could say that in a transition year their first in their conference it’s does that mean that we think the Bruin are stay on the cup contenders I don’t know we all think there’s some work to be done but half of the season I just think it’s it’s worth

Being like maybe we need to recognize we shouldn’t a lot of Bruins fans like they’re they’re they’re hard in the Bruins they critique every single play every single game every single mistake and seem to not applaud the the good things all the time but here we are they’re in first place I

Guess just enjoy it and and uh appreciate that they’re doing a lot with Alessa roster and than many teams yeah and they and the thing is is like you look around the league and I would say especially in the Eastern Conference and there’s no like singularly dominant team

So even though we sit here and say yeah the Bruins are flawed and maybe they’re a piece or two away from being a quote unquote true contender I think a lot of teams in the East are saying the same thing and and might even need more than a piece or two and you know that the team that looks the best certainly recently would be the Florida Panthers who had a nine-game winning streak before losing to New Jersey on Saturday

Um and you know we know what they did in the playoffs last year most of that team’s back they arguably even got better on defense so I I would still point to the Panthers as the team to beat but you know it’s not like they were it’s

Not like they’ve been on fire all season like they got hot really hot recently they had some issues before that um brunes are have still managed to stay ahead of them for the time being now it’s totally possible that the pants just go on a great run and pull away in

The second half and they’re the number one overall seed but even then like I wouldn’t expect the Bruins to fall much further than second third fourth in the conference like they’re they’re they’re clearly a a really good team and they’ve they’ve hit a couple tough stretches and have bounced back they you

Know this road trip we can kind of get into what we think of this road trip overall because they lose three out of four games which you look at and say well that’s not very good but they still got five out of eight points every single game went to overtime I thought

They finished it with their best game of the trip they were pretty dominant the second and third periods against St Louis especially at five on five the blues did get two Power Play Goals to to tie into Bridget’s opening shift uh on two power plays that I don’t think they

Deserved one was a a slash by Brad marant I had to figure out which way I had to move move my fingers in front of my camera there but um that was like barely a love tap on the gloves it was really just a stick on stick work and then himis lolm gets

Called for interference when Casper cinin just flops like skates right into lolm and then flops to the ice and lolm goes for interference and it’s like that has to at least be both and honestly that would have been a situation where I would be okay with only the two un cap

In for diving but at the very least it’s both like if you call interference and embellishment and move on but that was pretty embarrassing and the blues scored on both those power plays so if you if you don’t have that if you don’t have the refs just straight up not doing

Their job correctly it’s over in regulation they also missed yes for bit getting hooked in the slot on like a great a scoring chance with under three minutes left so what did you think of the review of the second what would have been Hayes Hayes’s second

Goal I thought they got it right I thought he was just barely off sides um Razer seemed to think they got it wrong in the intermission I don’t know if you happened to well so I don’t yeah I heard I don’t know if Razer was necessarily

Saying they got it wrong I think ra raz’s point and one I I don’t know if I totally agree with him but I like I’m open to it I think his point was more that there should be like a little bit of leeway where if it’s almost simultaneous it it isn’t

Really affecting the play and it should just be let go um you know I get I’m not really totally with him on that I think you’re you’re either offside or you’re not in this case it’s in the direct build up to the goal so even though it’s very close he’s

Off sides and it’s no goal yeah it was like what four seconds before the goal it was like immediately yeah it’s it’s on the exact Rush that he scores on yeah but yeah no but yeah that I mean that was a that was a bailout for the Bruins

Because that’s a play that shouldn’t happen I mean shanon Kirk just loses Haze on a stretch pass for from below the blues goal line and then I I thought Swan probably should have made a save on that he was pretty good the rest of the night and that ultimately doesn’t count

Against him but um yeah it was just kind of like a snapper from the dot that beat him glove side yeah and that was like that was a crazy longdistance pass and Hayes was just in behind everyone uh caught the Bruins kind of sleeping a little bit and that changed the game

Completely because at once the Bruins won that challenge it kind of the momentum really did shift into to their favor and they they played well after that um kind of woke them up maybe that they were about to lose uh go down uh a goal and um they played better after

That I don’t know where what direction you guys want to go in first because I’m actually really interested to talk about the S and stuff um that’s the opening shift that I’m wanting to expand on a little bit more so um obviously it’s great that San made the All-Star Game

And I think his comments Scott about the arbitration and and and about how you know they they didn’t treat him like an All-Star is what he was getting at he was treat he feels like they said things to him like you’re not worth x amount

You’re not good enough to be this um and so it has affected him maybe it’s motivated him to play better sometimes that’s what happens like I had an old boss who the more he was mean to me the better I did just to spite him um sometimes that’s how people get

Motivated but uh his comments coming in like such a positive moment for him where he’s he’s talking about being an Allstar just show you how much it really bothered him that arbitration process where you got to imagine Don Sweeney or whomever was negotiating was saying Oh no you’re not

Worth that you’re not one of the best goalies in the league and he’s thinking I am one of the best goalies in the league look I’m an Allstar um so not only does it have to do with the past negotiations I think Brian you maybe alluded this a little bit it might it

Might be foreshadowing the upcoming negotiations as well yeah I mean is it I guess the question is um simply put is is there something the Bruins need to be worried about is there is there truly a uh a rip in the relationship at all going forward

Did did now I believe it was Swan who initiated the arbitration in the first place correct Scott yeah he was the one who fil for it yeah they were they were so far off from a fair number that that was really his only option well I mean the way arbitration works is

Both sides go in way off a fair number like that’s the player files way over what they’re going to end up at the team comes in way under and that’s that’s why it gets uncomfortable because if Swan files at Swan filed at 4.8 million which he just he wasn’t going to

Get off of you know a good season but one where he was the one B he still was not a true number one so even though the Bruins might know okay this is going to end up around 3.5 well the only way to get the 3.5 is for them to come in if

Swan’s a million and a half over 1.3 over or whatever the Bruins have to come that much under that’s the only way you get settled in the middle so the Bruns have to file at 2 million or you know somewhere around there and then the way arbitration works

Is you have to go in and argue for why he’s only a $2 million goalie you don’t you don’t go in and argue here’s why we should settle in the middle you have to argue for your exact position so when they file at two million knowing that the arbitrate is probably going to

Settle in the middle at three and a half they then have to compare him to other two million doll goalies and they also have to explain why he’s not a three or four or $4.8 million goalie and so it’s this is why no one likes going to arbitration

Because you have to argue something you know isn’t true the Bruins know Jeremy Swan was not a $2 million goalie but in order to get to that number in the middle that’s what they have to argue like that’s how the process plays out yeah I mean my my my my first

Thought is like what is he referring to that like a player should never have to hear or hearing things he should you know he didn’t want to hear it’s like because the you look at Swan’s numbers prior to this season um 2020 2021 he played 10 games seven and three um 1.5

Goals against average 945 State percentage uh 2122 41 games um 2.41 goals against a average uh 9 914 save percentage last year 37 games 2.27 goals against average 920 save percentage like what could they possibly even say against him that’s that bad when you have those

Numbers well I mean the two like $2 million is so like insultingly low to have to argue that is what he’s worth I don’t even know where you even begin with that like if someone was was I’m trying to like put myself in that situation obviously we don’t have

Contracts like that we don’t have to sit in a room and have our boss be like you actually suck so we’re only going to pay you half what you wanted um uh I’m sure just just wait for your next podcast negotiation Bridget I oh man I’m hearing

Through the grapevine that it’s it’s not going to be pretty I’m testing the market but the uh but even then like the the numbers like his numbers they can’t even they can’t even that’s what I’m trying to say if you’re if you’re for the the Bruin side like like what can you even

Possibly say without objectively being like the numbers are telling you straight up I’m a elite goenda saying that he didn’t want to hear like he splits the load with allmark so they don’t know like what could they have possibly said to him to to work that

Number down that insulted him so much I don’t know it’s not really he’s objectively a great goalie I mean a big part of it is the comparison so it’s probably them again throwing out $2 million goalies that they’re saying well look this guy has similar numbers through this age and Swan’s going you’re

You’re comparing me to that guy really like after everything I yeah let me let me list some of the guys so at $2 million or just above $2 million we have Dan vladar we have and the funny thing is in these contracts some of them their their

Pictures are just like a face like an empty face like does they don’t even have a photo in the NHL um Connor Ingram Casey desmith pavl franu Kevin L lankinen cam talet Ingram and to Smith actually having really good Seasons oddly enough yeah but that’s that’s I’m just listing who that

Range uh some of these guys I don’t even really know um and then there are other guys that are under the number that I’m like okay those guys are decent but I mean if they’re saying that Dan Vadar should have more money than Jeremy Swan somewhere in the league it’s pretty

Ridiculous right and and again I would just circle back to that’s the nature of arbitration is you have to argue things that are ridiculous like it’s it’s a broken process it’s why no one wants to go through it because if the Bruins came in and said well okay we know he’s

Actually you know we’re going to come closer to the 3.5 million that we think he’s worth and we’ll file at three because we don’t want to be too mean well you know what that means that means Jeremy s is getting four because now four million’s the middle and with the

Bru’s cap situation that means trading someone away they would not have been able to afford Swan for million without trading someone else away so I yeah like it sucks taking a young player to arbitration that’s not how you want things to go but I actually don’t really blame the

Bruins or Don Sweeney like they I’ve said it before but they had to play hard ball last summer because of their cap situation now to push this forward where I think it gets interesting is if if they work with swming in good faith and they agree to a

Longer term extension with a sizable raise which clearly he deserves now then it ends up being water under the bridge and you move forward together where things really get sticky is if you end up in a situation where you find yourself playing hard ball with them again or you’re way apart in

Negotiations and things drag on into the summer and you start moving towards like oh my God are they going to go to arbitration again because is arbitration eligible again that’s where I think things could really go sth and we might be talking about San potentially moving

On and looking at another team so well yeah he said he said he’s not doing it again so I feel like it’s not an option like it technically it is an option but in this situation it’s not really if the player isn’t willing to do it again well it it

Would be if the Bruns play hard I think another thing that’s clear is that Swan’s not taking discounts like he’s he clearly believes in himself and believes in what he sees as his value so if the Bruins were to lowball him or not offer what he thinks is fair it would still be

One of the only tools he has to fight for himself so you know he’s still a restricted free agent this there only so much you can do like you can’t he can’t test the open market yet so but so if you’re the Bruins and your end goal is

That Jeremy Swan is your long-term goalie like this is the goalie of the future this is the guy you want for for the next however many years um don’t you think it makes more sense to go in before it ever reaches that point and sign him to like a four-year

Contract that doesn’t require negotiating terrible uh you know terribly so so far off that you guys are are at each other’s throats thinking the other person’s crazy so it would make so much more sense if the if that’s the Bruins plan to have him long term that

They get it done before the end of the season and they don’t have to even doesn’t have to worry about it because clearly it’s still in the back of his mind so just just get it done or front of his mind I mean yeah he mentions that two sentences into talking about being

An All-Star yeah yeah and maybe he’s maybe maybe that this is like a little you know tell that maybe there’s their conversations either aren’t happening or maybe you know it’s on his mind for a specific reason um TimeWise I don’t know like does that mean they’re not having

Those negotiations yet that they’re like that San’s happy with currently who knows so I don’t mean to move on from the San conversation we can certainly go back to it um but I do want to I want to jump back to Bridget’s opening opening shift because

Um I honestly to an extent I kind of feel bad for the officials in the NHL and I agree with everything that that Bridget was ranting about but I feel like they product you kind of said is it the system failing them I think it is

And I think here’s the problem I think that uh it’s been a long time now but way back in 200 um was it 056 after the lockout they implemented all those new you know Tic Tac rules because they wanted they wanted to bolster the NHL product for the mass audiences domestically and and

And elsewhere and they wanted and they thought that the best way to do that was we need more offense more offense in the game so how do we do that more power plays so whatever 15 16 17 years ago they did they implemented these new rules rules rule changes where

Essentially everything is a penalty like everything’s a hook every we we we all know this right but it gets tricky because if if you’re a ref out in an NHL game right now and and I don’t think college implements that college isn’t that ticky tacky with

Their rulebook the NHL is so these so these officials they have to watch the game at ice level that’s moving fast and it’s impossible it would be Wonder if they could always see right in front of the the penalty taking place but when you’re looking at the the the game

Happening around you sometimes you’re looking at it from the side of players sometimes you’re looking at it from the behind and and you’re relying on like the body movements of of the person getting hooked or tripped and and you’re hoping that it’s it’s legit but they’re embellishing and it’s tough to tell and

The game happen so fast that they yeah they end up misidentifying a lot of calls and they don’t even know when when when when the NHL tells their officials hey guys pretty much everything’s a penalty that’s not helping them it doesn’t help them at all it’s like the

The stick has to be perpendicular the ref sitting there with a with a protractor like trying to it’s too tough for them I really do feel and I think if the rules are going to be this excessive maybe if you’re a ref it’s like unless you see it with your own

Eyes right in front of you like don’t call anything but then you’re GNA have people calling for your head when you don’t see something and it is a penalty and you don’t call it I just think it’s a the yeah I think the system has made

It very tough for them to to succeed at the highest level and I get pissed off with them as much as the next person but if I were in their in their skates I I’d probably suck too it there’s so much there’s so many opportunities to be the

Bad guy well yeah and and it’s a it’s a much faster game than college so that’s another huge factor is things are just happening a lot quicker so yeah I I think we’ve gone even Beyond like the changes after the 0405 lock out because a lot of those rules at the time

I think were necessary like things had gone gone too way too far in terms of the clutching and grabbing being allowed where it’s was like a guy would chip a puck in and a Defender would ride him off like 15 feet towards the board and it’s like you can’t even like chip

Around a defenseman in that case so um you know or like guys would get away with legit slashes on hands or legit hooks so like a lot of that stuff I was for at the time and and still am like I still don’t want guys getting away with what they

Got away with in the 90s but it’s definitely there’s just situations where it goes too far and the one in particular that I just see a lot this year is it’s like every little bit of stick work is a p like if you make any contact with the body it’s a penalty

And that I feel like there should be a much more leeway than there’s been and the Martian slash on Saturday it’s is a good example where it’s like he’s engaged in a one-on-one battle there’s stick work going both ways and Marti stick for a Split Second rides up to the

Glove and like barely makes contact and now it’s a slash because he got the guy on the gloves and it’s like that’s like anyone watching that doesn’t think that’s a slash like think about what you imagine a slash to be and it’s not a love tap on the gloves like

That’s that’s where they they kind of lose me there was I remember there was one a couple weeks ago or maybe even like a week ago where grizzli battling for position in front of the net and he like just barely gets his stick into the guy’s mid section and it’s a hook and

It’s like the guy didn’t even move or change his body Direction in any way but grizzik stick like touched his stomach so it’s a hook and it and it’s just like how are you supposed to battle in front of the net if you can’t make any contact

With your stick and that’s that’s the one above all else that that really bothers me right now is that every tiny little bit of stick work is a penalty yeah you want to know what it’s that in combination with they see a they see that little stuff every time it happens

Right and and it’s it’s stupid it’s not really impeding the play it’s it’s whatever and then they get wrong the ones that are really important in terms of head injuries in terms of really bad um checks that you’re trying to get out of the game so you see them calling and

Blowing the whistle for something that’s like a little tap um on the stick and then they’re not uh giving the right amount of time or no penalty at all when Frederick gets slashed in the face as hard as possible or um you know someone finishes a check into the boards and it

Should be a a game misconduct and it’s like either two minutes or not called at all like if you’re gonna call the little nothing Taps of the stick then you then you definitely have to call the really big collisions that are dangerous to the sport and the players and like you said

Brian it is the system you want to know how you can tell it’s the system not the individual refs it happens in every ref crew it happens throughout the Le league in in every game doesn’t really matter what specific ref it is it is completely across the board just how the game has

Been officiated this year which means they’re not they’re not getting the right direction Maybe This Is How They want them to call it for whatever reason it doesn’t feel like that’s a great decision if this is if they’re if they’re happy with the product of the officiating this season then I have even

More questions like I don’t know how anyone could look at this and go yeah that was done correctly this year has been great um I feel like and I don’t know who this person is who is the head of NHL officiating and like what is the

What is it that they’re doing and the Annoying Thing and this has always been the issue fans broadcasters all of us the transparency is just not here so like I don’t know where in the chain of command this is going wrong and I don’t know what’s being done to correct it

Like we just don’t have that information so when when I did get a chance to kind of hear the college hockey side of it because I had about a 50 minute uh conversation with the head of Hockey East officiating it helped me so much um in terms of my broadcast being able to

Explain what the idea was what the process was what they’re looking for why isn’t that available to us at the NHL level it’s a good question and yeah like to your point you know it’s not the individual ref because necessarily because it’s it’s consistently poor across across every game every night

It’s it’s inconsistent and and yeah it’s like you’re so they’re so fixated on calling like cuz because the whole point of them calling these stick infractions in the in in the in the you know if it’s parallel to your gloves whatever they’re the NHL whatever whoever it is they

Would tell you Bridget they would say well our goal is to you know penalize a player that that you know um impedes a scoring opportunity and and if somebody has the puck on their sticks and and somebody has their stick in their hands they think that’s that’s a hook and

That’s that’s impeding a scoring chance but but the problem is like it’s very seldom that somebody actually hooks somebody and it doesn’t peed the the person with the puck like most most hooks that get called the person with the puck will probably be like yeah I I didn’t even feel it I

Didn’t even know that that was happening um so but also when these refs are out there and this has been true for uh forever it’s not just any new rules but when you’re a ref on the ice people think that like the first thing that’s on a referee’s mind or a lines

Linesman’s mind is like what’s going on in the ice the first thing that’s on your mind actually is not interfering with the course of play like not being in the way of players so like that the game moves fast and they have their specific areas of where they have to go

And like it’s but like if you’re a ref out there you’re trying to not interfere with the actual games you’re trying to get out of players’s way and then you’re also looking for you know set infractions but yeah like to sit to to be so anal about all these hooking calls

And then like see all these um you know hit hit from behind just like it’s it’s ass backwards honestly U I feel like maybe yeah the game honestly the game was pleased better Scott back in the day like because if if you let X amount go

And then it’s easy to call what’s just completely obvious but yeah yeah Stephen Wacom is the director of officiating by the way for former ref himself but yeah I mean I’ve I’ve rented about the the hits from behind and boardings plenty so I won’t reiterate that but needless to say I’m I’m with

You guys on like just seems like the PRI priorities are in the wrong place where you know we’re cutting down on extremely minor stick infractions that aren’t hurting anyone and to Brian’s Point barely impede the play and then we have like all this gray area around hitc can

Actually hurt guys and that you have a chance to review and somehow they still get it wrong unfortunately guys I and I I posed a question to you and I don’t I don’t think there’s a clear answer there there’s no real solution the only solution is have a feel for the game but

A lot of these officials played hockey at a high level and like like they do know the game they should so it’s like I don’t know I don’t really do you guys have any suggestions on on what well I know I know what hockey East does they

Basically you have to take a test every every week or every other week you see a video of a missed call and a correct call and you have to go through and say this one was right this one was wrong like it’s like a quiz that you have to

Take like you’re in school like would say there’s 10 different videos and you have to say which one was correct and which one was incorrect it’s repetition of seeing it and not having it be about you specifically like it’s somebody else that you know made this call and it’s

Just an example of either the right or wrong way to do it and it’s repetition repetition repetition this is what we want this is what we don’t want and it it’s drilled in throughout the entire season and I think the NHL does stuff like that like I know they send reviews

To officiating Crews of you know C they got right C they got wrong I I just think it’s a League wide emphasis that’s in in the wrong place like I I’m not sure they’re sending that slash and call against Maran saying this is the wrong call I think they’re directing refs to

Colony contact like stick on gloves and so to me it’s it’s the standard like my issue is more the standard being set at the league level than even refs are always going to be inconsistent they’re always going to miss calls as as I said before it’s just too fast of a game like

There’s just going to be Miss calls it’s part of the game My problem is with the standard which seems to be that any stick on any part of the body is a penalty yeah and and and there the reason that they have these standards is because they want offense because they

Think that offense markets the league better but what they don’t understand is like any too much of anything in life just it just gets diluted and like and the it loses value like if you have if if you constantly have seven six games or you know no one’s going to care

Anymore people are going to get used to all the offense and it’s no longer going to be appetizing for people like what you what you want is you want a good competitive product I mean you don’t want [ __ ] you know zero Z you know one nothing games all the time but to have

To put the emphasis solely on scoring to just do more more more more more scoring opportunities eventually people will get used to all that scoring and it won’t be the it’s there’s no net effect anymore so I think that’s why the league is is where it is because you know Gary bman

They just want they want scoring that’s what I think but uh I mean I almost can’t even blame them because like you’ve seen it work for the NFL and NBA they’ve made rule changes that have led to more offense and their popularity keeps increasing so

You know the NBA the NBA is a the difference here the NBA is for the most part a non-con league so there there’s a lack of physicality that that can be part of the game too to make up for a lack of scoring football you’re right

For sure well I I mean but even the NBA like they’ve you used to be able to get away with like a lot more defending especially in the low post than you can now where it it’s almost like hockey where it’s like any contact on a guy

Driving to the rim is a foul and college basketball officiating is so much better than the NBA yes and guess when I stopped watching basketball as much when they change the rules I freaking hate how many fouls there are it’s like it it’s insane like they get it wrong so I

Wouldn’t say comparing the NHL to the NBA is a good thing to do because there the main reason why I have a hard time watching the NBA is because I think the officiating is bad and I think they get it wrong a lot and I think it’s really I

Don’t disagree with you I mean officiating sucks in all sports like I don’t disagree at all but the NBA is like up there in terms of I can’t even watch it sometimes I’m like statistically for for every one of you that stopped watching there’s probably been five more people who are watch watching

So stupid I don’t like I just don’t like that basketball culture where it’s like you get rewarded for like pretending you got hit like diving and doing it’s frustrating it’s not hockey I think what happens is when you have people who are used to hockey and you watch that it’s

Very difficult to be like okay how am I supposed to enjoy this when they call every flop a foul like and you can’t tell and once again it’s you know it happens fast whatever we’re not going to go on a rant about the official in the

NBA um but you know I have my own rant I’ll keep it there was there was another um polarizing Miss call last night that had people up in arms on the St Louis side and you know here’s another example it it was overtime David P I forget who

It was for St Louis maybe Robert Thomas but um he’s going the through the neutral zone and passion quote unquote trips him but if you watch KY was it KY yeah so if you watch the replay it’s like passion didn’t move at all he like his stick and his body were standing

Still so it’s like where is he supposed is he supposed to drop his like I’m not arguing that like the the St Louis player didn’t end up getting tripped but like a a passion passion act did not change his course of Direction like this the St Lou player skated into his stick

And it’s like buddy like I don’t know like you can only control so much out there like how how how is somebody supposed to get penalized for being he like passion was just being in that situation and so don’t necessarily if that’s what the ref saw in that

Situation I might agree with them actually like Kyu sked into the situation yeah I think I guess the frustration would be that like kind of based on the standard of that game where everything seems to be getting called you would think that’s a call you know

Like I said they got they got the interference call against Lindholm where it was similar where like Lindholm doesn’t move he just gets skated into and it’s a penalty to me that that kind of and like this I guess this is one problem where I will blame refs not the

League is the changing of standard late in a game where like Bist gets hooked with under three minutes left in regulation that’s not going to get called even though that was a penalty earlier in the game kyou trips over posu stick in overtime but it doesn’t get

Called because we’re in overtime I guess like I’ve never been a fan of that I know some people are they say you know put the whistles away in crunch time to me that just means you allow guys to get away with pen and crunch times so I

Don’t like that um I get the Blue’s frustration I just have zero sympathy for them because I think they got the better of the officiating mistakes in this game overall and also I think there was a pretty famous trip that the blues once got away with against the Bruins um

So I’m not gonna no no shears Ted for shears Ted no tears [ __ ] get out of here Ted wow okay yeah no that’s that was Billy Shear’s brother in the Sant peppers lonely hearts club no tears shed no shears you know sometimes we we record like really late at night but it’s the

Middle of the day so I don’t know where I don’t know where that came from hey this is why I’m I’m a writer by Nature not a talk it’s okay I I’m I’m paid to talk and I still mess it up so yeah yeah um well all I know is one of

The best hockey games I think I’ve ever watched um was that Bruins Tampa game game seven with no penalties obviously that’s not realistic but just you know the game letting the game happen the way it should and anyway um okay so yeah officiating bad all right any other uh

Story lines I mean I I did want to touch on Charlie McAvoy getting two goals um I think he’s up to what’s he got uh Fifth and six goals I believe that was five and six yeah so he’s got TW yep six goals 28 points in 34 games you know what’s interesting

We’ve talked about how he that doesn’t seem to be himself completely uh consistently this year but I I would beg to ask a question he’s probably on Pace for a career high in points Scott uh I don’t have that in front of me but I’m gonna guess that’s pretty

Close to being true yeah you’re our you’re our mathematician so get on it our stats guy our analytics guy it’s because and I forgot math I’m on it boss um but in any event like you know him getting him getting going again um he had a few quiet games

Leading up to St Louis on the point department so important for him to get to find a back than net not just po up he’s he’s primarily an assist producer when it comes to points so for him to get find a back than net I think is uh

Important you could see it meant a lot to him he has some emotion yeah yes he is on a career high Pace he’s uh his82 points per game is a career high right now slightly ahead of0 78 last year um his career because he missed so

Much time last year his career high on points was actually 56 the year before and he’s on Pace for like around 60 right now um yeah he was he was definitely it was the obviously scoring in overtime is clutch so when when you can get him to contribute in in those kind of

Situations obviously he’s not going to be a goal scorer every game like you said it’s it’s his sixth goal of the Season they’re not expecting it from him uh they more expect the Distributing assists and whatnot but that was a really clutch important goal and it changes the outcome of the road trip

From being you know if they lose that game what are we talking about today we’re talking about why can’t they win a game in overtime like it would have just continued this stretch of you know watching them almost be able to win a regulation and then not being able to

Pull it off and it would have ended in them only getting half of the points on the road trip now at least they come home with a little bit better than uh 50% of the points so they come back with five out of eight which um and the

Narrative is a little bit different because they they finally found a way to win in overtime whereas Brian you weren’t here for our last episode but Scott and I spent a long time talking talking about how like just what is the issue yeah I mean it’s it’s I know a lot

Of people were were criticizing um The Martian Pastak uh you know miscommunication and coverage on the Vegas overtime goal or was that Colorado no think was Vegas that was Vegas Vegas yeah um yeah I just think you know three on three it’s it’s like it’s a it’s a

[ __ ] show like it’s Pawn hockey and and you know it’s easy to sit there and be like yeah you know stay on your guy but I just don’t put a lot of stock in it because you Lo okay yeah like so the question is why can’t they win in in

Extra time in the regular season well it’s like both formats are relevant when it comes down to the to to the springtime it’s like okay they can’t win in the shootout or they can’t win on three and three while in the playoffs it’s five on five until someone scores

So well I said that to Scott I said pretty lucky that that three on three isn’t the standard in the playoffs the Bruins wouldn’t be making it very far in the playoffs for sure if if three on three was uh the way that that played out uh in the postseason but luckily for

Them and everyone else it’s not um there there’s obviously it means more if like you’re actually fighting for a playoff spot where every Point’s going to matter and I guess if you the Bruins it matters if you care you know are you going to be first or second in the division like do

You want to it looks like that two 2 three matchup is going to be against Toronto whoever you know whichever one doesn’t win the division out of Boston and Florida so I don’t know do you do you fear Toronto significantly more than Wild Card Choice X which obviously we have no

Idea of predicting exactly which teams those are going to be right now because it’s all jumbled together but to me like I’m not I’m actually not super concerned about that I don’t think especially like say you ended up in a wild card match up against Carolina who

I don’t think it’ll be Carolina because I think they’re going to climb enough in the uh Metro division to avoid a wild card spot but even New Jersey like that that’s a good team that just hasn’t gotten goal tending it’s like I don’t know maybe vanich gets hot for a series

Or maybe they trade for a goalie like I don’t know that you’re setting yourself up for like a significantly easier matchup by winning the division so I’m sort of with you and like I don’t it’s random and I don’t really care all that much that they’ve been bad in overtime

But you know you do want to win win sometimes and this that’s why Saturday was obviously important like they were two and nine in overtime before Saturday so um and you know at least winning at some point is good like you don’t want to you don’t want to truly be awful

Where you’re just losing every time you go to overtime three and n still isn’t that good it’s better than two and 10 Bridget it is better than that thank you for helping us with that M um there were a few other things I wanted to get to

Quick that we haven’t before you do just can you hold that thought real quick real quick I just want I just wanted to follow up on what Scott was just saying right now the four the four Wild Card the the four teams right now that are battling for the Wild Card spots are

Tampa the Islanders the devils and the Red Wings and like it’s not like you own any one of those teams necessarily I mean the Red Wings play you tough and there like and then obviously the the division is Toronto and Florida so it’s just it’s tough no matter what it’s just

About how how well you’re playing at the right time yeah um so my just a few little notes that we didn’t get a chance to talk about so um like the injuries which are obviously important so uh all three players didn’t play in the final game of

The road trip all Mark Patra and Carlo uh zaka was out with illness as well so the lines were shuffled up a bunch in the St Louis game and continued to shuffle throughout the night unsurprisingly um but a really positive thing was that olark was on the ice for morning

Skate and has still you know stuck with the team throughout the road trip which means he it wasn’t something as serious as it looked like to start now when we’ll see him we’re not sure the timeline now that they’re coming back home we’ll have um more opportunities to

To actually speak with coaches and players and um probably get a bit more information on what’s going on with him but in in terms of a timeline but super positive to see him actually in gear on the ice not having to completely sit out and rest like if he’s good enough to to

Skate around on the ice a little bit morning skate and and take some reps then you know he’s he’s close to being 100% because otherwise they wouldn’t they wouldn’t put him in that situation yeah and he he talked to reporters in St Louis after that morning skate and said

That Imaging came back clean which obviously is big news uh very good news um you know he basically said like certainly doesn’t feel as bad as he initially thought right when it happened um obviously also wishes he felt better than he does but it certainly sounds

Like any sort of serious injury has been avoided which which is great um Carlo will have to miss at least one more game while he’s on injured reserve so we’ll see where he’s at after that zaka you assume you know I mean he was considered a game time decision already so you

Assume that’s not going to linger uh he was not on the ice for warm-ups but I think that was probably like all right he’s still feeling the effects just keep them out like give them the day um poter we don’t really know the last we heard

Was day to day but you know we’ll see if that lingers but all of this is another reason why I think you end up feeling not great but you you feel fine after this road trip um because yeah you lose three out of four but you get five

Out of eight points and you did it with all these guys out of the lineup and all this shuffling um and ultimately I think like it feels like a trip where you kind of just take a deep breath at the end of it and you’re

Like we got through it like we didn’t we didn’t truly go 0 and four we got points you know what we’re still in first place now now we’re gonna go home for a bit and like great we we can get some guys healthy and and move on yeah and you

Don’t feel like the injuries were you know so much that they were going to be super longterm and hurt the team and you look back on this road trip and be like oh that’s that was when the season ended because XYZ got hurt for several months or whatever so that that has been

Avoided it looks like um you also got some some pretty decent play out of quite a few players um and Bas has been a happy surprise on this road trip he’s kind of had his chance to shine playing on the first line again uh well at least

To start they change lines a lot like I mentioned but the first line was Bas geeki pasta to start the St Louis game because zaka wasn’t there so boa back on the first line um Marshon had two goals as well not just makoy and I don’t want

To like Overlook the fact that he finally got his 900th point they thought that he had it few games ago because uh but they took the assist away but now he he got to that 900th point which is a big milestone for him as well yeah and I

Love I love that first goal too um you’re right Bridget like that’s that’s Mar you we talked about in the past when he was kind of slumping a little bit relatively speaking and they need him too um and I love that everything about that first goal uh Coyle de Brusque

Marian all getting their nose dirty and you know it’s it’s an elite finish and type by Marian to go to go short side top shelf right there um that quickly but it Al so yes there’s finesse there but it’s nothing but but hard work before then and the bruss getting in

There coil creating the turnover and and yeah um yeah that was an impressive game for him as well yeah by the way brid you mentioned like all the line shuffling the lines ended up on like were really good like those are the lines that ended up dominating in

The second and third period and just to uh put some numbers to it over here in advanced stats corner so first line they load up with Martian Co panak shot attempts when they were on the ice at 515 10 to four Bruins I don’t know I guess you can call

This the second line maybe Heinen Frederick de Brusque shot attempts when they were on the ice 13-2 Bruins third line I guess Vin rdik Bokus geeki shot attempts when they on the ice 11 to one Bruins like they kind of just stumbled into these mid game lines that

All clicked and were just taking over and um really interested to see what they roll out Monday you know zaka might be back in so that changes things but yeah um yeah that was that was you look at those combinations on paper and you’re like outside of mar and

Coak like what are these lines I don’t know it worked yeah it worked because I mean you’re missing two centers which is never good um and and so usually that CA causes some creativity uh to figure out you’re going to do but Tren Frederick being able to

Play center once again came in clutch and and helped them out so you get that Hein and Frederick the brust line that like you said I’m pretty sure I would call that the second line um in terms of what they were working with so uh Frederick doing a little bit of

Everything on the road trip he I think he had another strong stretch too so some positives to take out of it five points to take out of it and now they’re coming back home from Monday and and you know you do have a tough SL slate of games here heading into the All-Star

Break and just to Rattle off um those opponents you come you play The Devils on is it Monday um that’s a MAA at the Garden and then you have the Avalanche at home and the Canadians at home and then the Winnipeg Jets who you have a chance to

Kind of write the wrong of your first game against them but they’re also I think if not right now they were first in in the NHL um so they’re playing really they were on they were on a decent winning streak yeah yeah and you

Know the Jets kind of me of the Bruins a little bit in the sense of like well maybe not the Bruins but but in the sense that people kind of wrote them off before this season the the Winnipeg has had some you know some coaching issues um some leadership

Issues and you know before the season started we were talking about you know are they selling you know shyle are they selling uh huk like and here they are just playing a solid solid um brand of hockey right now we saw that they tra traded away dubba and right right right

Now now looks like they probably won that deal I think I think Valar might be hurt right now but he was playing well for them and dubba has been good for LA but like not dominant by any means then you have uh you have is our our first

Look at car is this our first look at Carolina Ottawa and Philly all year have we played Ottawa yet uh I definitely don’t think they played Carolina and they haven’t played the Flyers so and then you have the allstar break so you know pretty fun slated

Games here I think to to watch yeah that the Monday that is the first for all of those yeah yeah yeah and uh it’s a holiday Monday so um got an early game which uh I’m not I’m not usually a huge fan of the 1 pm

Games but we’ll be there um and I have like a coach’s call like mid game that I’m gonna have to like sneak out into but uh because Shameless plug uh first day of the bean pot is Tuesday for the women’s bean pot so um I’ll be at Harvard broadcasting those two games um

The day the day after so and then the following week uh the following Tuesday is really the big day the championship game at TD Garden so that’s going to be that’ll be exciting so the the pre the semi-final games are at Harvard y yep I’ve never actually broadcast a game

There but which is weird because I I’ve been to so many ranks in New England but I’ve never done a game there so this will be the first time and uh I don’t know how it’s going to be though because you broadcast from behind the net you

Don’t broadcast from Center ice like a normal where a normal Booth would be set up so I’m gonna have to really hope my vision is as good as I do you have a monitor you like a TV monitor I will have a monitor that is actually what I

Was asking some of the normal broadcasters about it’s like does it just make more sense for me to just like look at the monitor when the Puck’s on the opposite end of the ice but I don’t like to do that but it’s it’s going to

Be an adjustment yeah um I wish I had like a a day or two to like a game or two that I could have gone up there and kind of figured it out beforehand but uh no that’ll be Tuesday yeah I always like like I like the vantage point of being

Behind the net because you can like see plays develop like I’ve told the story before that game seven against Tampa that Brian referenced earlier in the Press Box I was like directly behind the goal so it’s was like especially seeing that winning goal by Horton like the way

It developed from that angle was was cool but I can definitely see why for a broadcaster is not ideal because especially if it’s like a either an attacking player or defending player is you’re only seeing their front like you might go an entire shift without seeing

Their number and like that yeah you just see like be hard to identify just say Harvard like how anyway I’m gonna have to figure that out um wish me luck it’s like it’s like I don’t know why but I feel like for some reason this bean pot

I’m like putting a lot of pressure on myself to do a good job and I need to like let my like take the pressure off and just be like just do what you do but um yeah it’s kind of scary because I’m like I I’m in charge of the ship and I

Don’t know if I want to be like I I’m the play-by-play person I have to like lead us in all these directions and I’m like now that I’m doing color for the pwl I’m like I kind of like hanging out just just filling in you know some

Some thoughts every once in a while oh you’ll do a great job we all know that so yeah that’ll be fun that’ll be great um who’s who’s winning the women’s Bean poot this year Bridget who’s who’s the favorite oh I know what you want me to

Say well yeah but it hasn’t been be for a while I feel like usually I feel like nor east’s been the for the last few years but yeah this year they down they’re down because they lost their entire Top Line yeah and they all went on to play professionally and

They’re like the best players in their program’s history so yeah it’s tougher for them this year uh honestly I think whoever wins the first game the bcbu game probably wins the whole thing Harvard’s on a really down year um they lost their two best players as well so

Uh I feel like it’s either going to be BC or Buu and they’re playing each other in the the very first game that we have so um that’s a kind of a copout answer but those are the two best teams in the tournament I think uh BC is in first

Place right now but bu is not far behind so Battle of kav Battle of kav yep go Terriers and I was gonna say and he he wanted me to say be you so yeah all right be works by the way sh on the women’s hockey front uh pwhl Boston got their

First win on Saturday over over in overtime up in Montreal yeah that’s awesome so that that that rivalry with Montreal getting going always great to be Montreal right yeah so I think I think that we’re good um do you guys have anything else that you want to get off your

Chest the shortest fashion segment ever those jerseys the blues War those should just be their permanent home jerseys what what are we doing don’t don’t overthink this I thought you were going to comment on the uh the NHL debuting their Allstar jerseys oh yeah you know

When I first looked at them I thought I was looking at a couple of gushers that burst um but yeah I mean I I saw a lot of people hating on them um I mean they’re not like they’re not crisp like I I like the ones last year I think it

Was last year the before I I like the 90s like when these to have the All-Star jerseys in the 90s and the late 80s I just like those a lot um but I I kind of might like these ones better than some of the I don’t know I haven’t looked too

Much into them Scott what do you guys think yeah I I kind of like them all Allstar jerseys don’t need to be like actually great jerseys it’s it’s a silly gimmicky game uh you know I don’t know have some fun with it they’re they’re fine yeah exactly I don’t I they’re

Unique you know yeah I don’t have many they’re kind of I I looking at the right ones they’re kind of meh they’re very they’re very cartoon they just have a huge star yeah they’re they’re kind of just meh like it’s very cartoony it looks like the yellow ones are just

Yellow and black like yep nothing special everyone everyone can play Mario Party in their in them after yeah Justin Bieber out here modeling them and they still don’t look good so they they look they look very cartoony but but honestly like sometimes sometimes uh they those those looks grow

On you I mean here we are La remember the last couple years all these reverse Retros and we’re just we can’t wait to see these all these 90s type jerseys come back and I don’t know neon yeah I’m not too uh I’m I’m not upset about these I don’t think

They’re amazing but they’re okay um all right any any final thoughts guys no that’s it for me all right well thank you all for listening have a great work week we will talk to you very soon

We discuss the key contributors in the Bruins’ overtime win in St. Louis. Analyzing Jeremy Swayman’s comments about being an All-Star and arbitration fears. Is the NHL officiating system failing its refs?

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