Why Are Bruins So Bad in Overtime? | The Skate Pod, Ep. 263

Why Are Bruins So Bad in Overtime? | The Skate Pod, Ep. 263

Welcome into the skate pod episode 263 I’m brid alongside Scott mcgoffin Ryan is not here we didn’t even ask where he was uh going to be but it is a Friday so we just assume he’s off doing something fun and I don’t know about you Scott but

I am I think I think he’s uh I think he I think Brian is joining Gerard Mayo’s coaching staff it’s it’s a new era down in Foxboro wow uh I hope he still has time for us um I think he has special teams coordinated written all over

Him yeah yeah no I don’t know if that’s what position I’d pick him for but um we we’ll find out uh you know what he got hired to later as for me I am so tired um the game didn’t get over until almost 1 in the

Morning I love the fact that all these late night games are going to overtime just oh it’s so wonderful really all of them all three yeah all all of them yeah though especially the one that starts at 10 that one’s always fun when that goes to

Overtime but um I’m pretty sure I turned my TV off immediately after the Bruins lost in overtime and with under 60 in under 60 seconds I was asleep and that never happens for me but I was just out yeah I basically just wanted to see what Montgomery said about uh the over

Overtime mixup which we’re going to get into obviously but uh yeah I I wrote this morning and was actually in the middle of finishing up my column when the news broke that gerro Mayo was going to be the Patriot’s next head coach so it’s crazy just since the last time we

Recorded Bridget bellich era over Mayo era started uh yeah and I said I’ll believe it when I see it but um I see it so it’s it’s over um yeah and Scott’s been Moonlighting as a Patriots reporter mostly just helping out our our guys have have been all over it but yeah

It’s kind of been a little bit of all hands on deck uh I think Thursday was probably the biggest traffic day we.com had in in a very long time yeah and I heard from some of the producers that were friends with that it was just chaos with all of the everything everyone

Trying to get together highlights and the best ofu like moments from belich and all the wonderful interviews he did on Wei the riveting stuff that he that he talked to us about like Taylor Swift um but anyway yeah um definitely go check out six rings with Fitzy and Hart if you

Want to hear more patriots talk because those two are great and um yeah and my cad he’s he’s he’s part of that as well so oh my all three of them yeah he does he usually does like one or two episodes a week with them so oh well those are

Three great guys so listen to that um anyway Scott let’s get to our opening shifts um we’re gonna start with you because you have some thoughts on overtime yeah the Bruns suck at it that’s that’s my take on overtime okay all right my opening shifts now time now okay yeah no they’re

They’re now two and nine in overtime on the season it’s crazy for like a team that’s as good as they are and just about every other situation and in theory has the talent to be a really good three onree team with guys like ponok marshand makoy lindol Coyle you

Would think you know a smart two-way player is good three on three de brus can make things H like they should in theory be a good three and three team and yet here they are now two- nine in overtime in the season yeah after losing the last two games in overtime um

Where we’re certainly going to get into the breakdown on Vegas’s winner Thursday night because ponok basically Mark Sten walks right around him in the neutral zone there’s a miscommunication between poso and marshan as far as who’s coming back and picking a guy up on the back

Check and who’s staying up ice to to cover Jack eel which is what they both thought they were doing and I feel like POS just that everyone knows he’s not the one that’s getting back so he’s just like that’s you right you know yeah so definitely want to get into that more

Because there’s a lot to break down there and unfortunately for Pak it only feeds some of the the criticism of him that’s surfaced this week so we can get into that as well um but yeah just it’s just Baff like I I remember joking earlier this season on here that the

Bruins should just play extremely conservative and like go in Loop oops around their own Zone and run the clock down to get to a shootout I actually think that might just be their best strategy at this point like don’t even bother trying to score don’t be aggressive literally just try to kill

The five minutes and get to a shootout because well well Scott that would require maintaining possession of the puck true yeah and that’s not really their strength in the overtime but we’ll get back to that after I I hit my opening shift which is uh some updates

On the injuries so three key injuries uh brenon was placed on ir and brenon busy was recalled from Providence since the last time we talked um though I don’t I do believe Carlo’s still on the trip he was as of yesterday I don’t know if that’s

Gonna I I assume unless he needs to like undergo further evaluation he’ll probably just stick with them through St Louis um but yeah he’s he’s out now at least for St Louis and then for Monday’s home game against the Devils yeah but he still listed as day-to-day so it’s not

Like it wasn’t long-term IR it was just regular IR um so that means two two more games or three total no four total now um but and then also we got some very positive updates in terms of lus allmark because I was thinking long-term I from

The get-go and we’re still lacking a lot of information about um what exactly the timeline is but it was listed as day-to-day so I guess maybe um the worst of it the like your worst fears aren’t realized if you thought that that was like a groin and and that that was season ending

Because it looked real bad um and obviously them being out on the West Coast or not the West Coast but um out west we haven’t had a chance to see him sometimes we’ll we’ll get a chance to see guys and like how they’re walking because they’ll be up on the ninth floor

With us and like we noticed when Luchi was in a boot or was out of the boot or like you know you see crutches or or different things that give you a hint as to how uh serious the injury is so we haven’t had a chance to see him because

We are not out on the road trip as you can see we’re in our lovely homes right now um but so that I still think that that was a really positive update that it’s currently just expected to be dayto day how much they’re hiding I don’t I don’t know I’m always skeptical

Especially with goalies like they you you know teams want to keep that under wrap so um nonetheless we’ll get to how Swan did um and you know a little bit about Brennon busy as well and then Matt ptra the third injury also dayto day um and

All three of those guys right now they stuck on the road trip which is always a good sign like if you’re seeing a guy get flown back to Boston it usually means there’s either some sort of immediate procedure or more tests for more serious injuries so I think there’s

Positive signs in in all those three injuries yeah yeah C certainly sounds like none of them are longterm none more than maybe like a week or two you I guess you hope but uh yeah allmark in particular that looked like one especially as you see him leaving the

Ice with you know not pushing off at all just being guided off like you worry about that being something longer term so that’s encouraging so far we’ll see if anything changes there and padra look like that he at the very least he looked

Like he was in a lot of pain um you you never really know what those kind of shoulder injuries or whatever it might have been like it it can be anything from just a stinger or you know like a a mild dislocation where you can kind of

Pop it back in and just just rest for a few days all the ways up to like you know something tears or a broken collar bone or like you just don’t know so um fortunately that seems like it’s not on the more serious side so yeah all things considered you know

You’ll you’ll survive if they all miss you know a few games um would have definitely been bad if one two or all three we found out are gonna be out like four weeks six eight weeks like like danheim ducks just had in one tweet they announced that Trevor zis and P pavl

Mikov both at like six to eight weeks and it’s just like not that the Ducks are playing for anything anyways but it’s like well there goes their season like now they’re not even entertaining like well yeah and Conor Bard brutal Conor Bard too yeah so he’s out for at least eight

Weeks I think right or something like that think so yeah the fact that the Bruins could have avoided that uh looks looks encouraging by the way if Carlo if this was a long-term IR for Carlo you’re missing now you’re missing forbert and Carlo your two best penalty Killers uh

And your best shutdown defenseman so that changes that kind of changes how you have to approach your game plan uh because you know you don’t have those guys you don’t have either of those guys um and then like what what’s your next best shut down defenseman like we spoon

Like I don’t even know like there’s not like a good replacement for I mean realistically it’s probably mckoy but ideally like you want to be using makoy in more offensive situations and free him up more and not have to you know bury him in the dzone I mean ly ly

Holmes obviously really good defensively too um but yeah like but those are guys that ideally you want to be freeing up and allowing them to be involved in offense and um you know the the more the more you get banged up back there the more you have to rely on them to to

Handle the defensive workload first because you know I I think Matt grizzli played well Thursday night we’ve discussed he’s had a little bit of a Down Season Mason lorai like you don’t want to throw heavy defensive Zone assignments on him just yet um pocket wether spoon’s done a good

Job I know we’re gonna get to him in a little bit um but yeah it’s you you have to ride your horses when you’re you’re down with they’re down and you there’s one thing that was a little bit concerning to me about theark thing and that excuse

Me and that’s that um the panel on nessen we’re talking about it like it was going to be Swan for a long time and that panel includes Razer and I don’t know if Razer has any information that we may not have yeah I I think and it’s possible that they’re

Going to keep allar out maybe a little longer than he needs to like that that feels like it would be a smart thing to do because we know last year something happened down the stretch late in the regular season that certainly seemed to linger into the playoffs um you know they everyone kind

Of sort of acknowledged that but insisted he wasn’t actually injured it was just like a pain tolerance type thing but it’s like pain tolerance means you’re injured I’m sorry like no healthy person is like oh my arm just hurts so [ __ ] bad today right right because

It’s like like I guess like a bruise would be a pain tolerance thing like might not directly affect how you play but in El Mark’s case like in a lot of goal cases like I don’t think it’s a bruise it’s something’s strained tweaked and that even if you think you’re fine

Like you subconsciously manage that you you know you don’t push off quite as hard or you don’t go into a full split because you know maybe it’s your groin or whatever like so you don’t want to goalie playing through something or just toughing it out like you’re in a good spot you’re

Still first place in the Eastern Conference uh although Florida Panthers are closing fast they’re now just one point behind the Bruins um but you can afford to give allar all the time that he needs and that’s what they should do so even if it’s like hey he could be ready to go next

Thursday um you know he feels he feels okay not but you know it’s still lingering a little just rest like give him another couple games or whatever it might be like you can use San this isn’t a particularly thick stretch of the schedule in terms of games like Saturday

Come home Monday afternoon that’s you know there’s travel there so like that might be a little tough but then you’re off until Thursday so you you can get sing a few starts here and if you get Brandon busy’s first NHL action like that’s not a bad thing

You know get the kid some experience see see what he does up here no no and I and you are like me and like a lot of people who just enjoy hockey that we just want to know what the prospect looks like and it’s it’s it’s in it of itself an

Entertaining experience for people who are wondering oh you know this this goalie seems to have a lot of Promise what’s he going to look like in NH action so it’s always and it’s always something we can talk about um so we’re happy to see him com in at some point um

Just to just to get a look besides what we saw in preseason but in terms of swayan first of all started off his first game knowing that allmark wasn’t GNA be there backing him up uh he did really really well and he it might have been even his

Best game of the season in terms of some of the saves that he had to make and the timeliness of them uh obviously overtime hasn’t gone great for him but he’s I don’t really know what he was supposed to do on that two-on-one uh situation in overtime but in general

This is the luxury of having two amazing goenda you don’t have to rush all mark back and you shouldn’t so but you don’t have to worry about you know the points and the standings because swimming’s not going to be someone that you’re just like conceding games if you’re if you’re

Putting him in net for an extended period of time so it’s not like you have a backup that’s barely NHL ready you it’s not it’s not that situation so take take advantage of it and give Omar the time he needs to rest yeah Thursday night I thought I

Thought both goalies were good Swingman and Logan Thompson for Vegas at times it was a very kind of mucked up defensive game where there there were especially first and second periods there were some long stretches where it felt like neither team was getting any good chances and that’s not overly surprising

Both Vegas and the Bruins Pride themselves in defense Cassidy and Montgomery two good defensive coaches um I actually thought in the third period the Bruins really took control and dominated play and had the much better chances in the third they just um you know they did get the the

Tying goal from grizzli couldn’t couldn’t get the winner in regulation even though they had a couple chances but um yeah it’s tough the way the game ends it leaves a very sour taste in your mouth but I don’t really have much of a problem with that game from the Bruins

Now Vegas was already a little banged up they also lost both Mark Stone and Jack eel for a stretch in the second period um both came back for the third so kind of a bit of a a sloppy game all around but I think if you’re just going to look at

Regulation you’d say the Bruins were probably the better team and and be relatively happy happy with that effort even though it was still one to one and then then it all just kind of goes to hell in overtime it was kind of a boring game right yeah for the first two periods I’m

Like I’m tired I’m very tired someone needs to hit someone someone needs to fight like there needs to be a goal like it goes into it looked like it was gonna go into overtime tide z00 the goals didn’t come till the back half of the third period and I’m like for a 10

P.m. game guys can we just get a little bit more scoring um you know some weird penalty calls as well uh especially straight up bad penalty calls yeah they’re just it was just like not so many things that were just nothing um I don’t know maybe they were trying to

Expedite the process and not have us go to overtime that’s what my theory is but I mean yeah three of them on the Bruins the James Van Reams trip is a stick on the shin pads of a player who was already losing his balance and on the

One hand it’s like I get you know ref sees a stick there sees the guy goes down thinks thinks it’s a trip but it’s like he didn’t fall because our V Rems like stick mavo Puck over the glass clearly deflected and I’m like I tweeted this but I don’t understand how we still

Don’t have a system where someone can Buzz down to the Reps and be like hey that was deflected and you correct the call and you move on with the game the system is Jack uh Jack just screams into his microphone on Ness and that was deflected and that you know there you go

There’s your system yeah but it’s like the NFL has these expedited reviews now where they don’t have to go all the way over to the camera and you know go into the hood I watch a lot of soccer most of the highest level soccer leagues have expedited reviews where things just get

Buzzed down to a ref I’m like why don’t we have that in the NHL like it’s 2024 guys we got the technology like I I get obviously don’t want to review every penalty because that just gets really messy and bogs the game down but something like that where it’s like

Black and white either either the pucks deflected or it’s not and you could see on nesson on the first Replay that it got deflected something like that it’s like yeah like that’s a really easy fix that takes five seconds and I I don’t see how it hurts the game at all to do

That like in fact it helps the game because it prevents an errant power play um last one was it’s basically it comes down to this it’s a way you can get it right yeah and the last one the last bad call Danon Heinen’s hook not a hook like

There not even anything resembling a hook there again like I I tweeted this it’s like if that’s a hook then there’s like 45 hooks a game because that play happens almost every every shift someone like his stick grazed a guy I’m like what are we doing it’s yeah that wasn’t they weren’t

Calling a hockey game in the third period that’s that’s what I’m gonna say Scott let’s let’s finish up your thoughts on overtime and then we’ll get to our Friday segment of who’s up Who’s down yeah so obviously this play that Vegas wins the game on it’s just a total

Disaster for the Bruins um Mark stone is slowly carrying the puck through the neutral zone David panak steps up towards him but just does a fly by like doesn’t doesn’t get the puck doesn’t get the body Stone goes right around him and it’s an easy two-on-one passes over to

Petrangelo game over um clearly there was a miscommunication between poso and marshand they were both kind of looking at each other with their arms outstretched um poso thought because Martian was starting to move back and you know come back down ice towards his Zone Pak clearly thought marand was

Picking up one of the guys on the rush and then panak was gonna Loop forward and take eel who was the trailer like way behind the play meanwhile Maran had already turned up ice to go back to eel and so Angelo is completely free down the other wing

And once Pak misses Stone that’s it and I guess a miscommunication is one thing and you know I don’t know if we’ll get any sort of like de like montgomry acknowledged that after the game he said yeah was two players who were confused about who is taking who you know I don’t

Know if we’ll get like the breakdown of like who actually should have been picking someone up and how that should have gone but what I would say is that regardless of who was supposed to do what and regardless of what Pak thought Martian was doing you can’t do a fly by

And a three on three like no matter what else happens Pono steps up one-on-one on Mark Stone and doesn’t make a play just completely misses him and lets him walk right by him and like that in a three on three game like you’re almost begging

For an odd man Rush at that point you got to there’s got to be something there’s got to be a check there’s going to be I’m not saying like deck the guy but a bump ride him over to the boards or something you can’t just have them

Walk right around you no matter what else you thought should have been happening think about all the different ways they’ve lost in overtime this year I mean it’s it comes down to like poor shot selection um not knowing who your your man is to get back in cover

Uh in a few cases I mean in the in the the case in Arizona poock had a few chances to score on a breakaway which normally he would do um and just the Bruins haven’t been able to to finish in overtime uh and so it’s kind of become

Ugly to watch um it’s not something you’re confident in when you’re when you’re watching I’ll say this it’s a really good thing for the Bruins that uh in the playoffs there’s no such thing as three on three overtime because they wouldn’t be making it very far

So so uh yeah they you know fortunately that’s not something in the playoffs they have to worry about I don’t really know how much time they spend practicing it but it doesn’t look like they spend any time at all they do they do occasionally like I’ve definitely seen

Them practice three on three a few times it’s it’s not a regular occurrence just because it is kind you know such kind of like a novelty situation that there at this point it’s been like a third of the game right like well they might have to now

But the problem is they’re in another one of these stretches where they don’t have any real practices their last practice was a week ago Wednesday last full practice not just the morning skate was a week ago Wednesday and they’re not scheduled for another one until I believe Tuesday so it’s gonna be almost

Two full weeks without a full practice like it it is a tough part of the schedule and that’s sometimes it can be harder to correct things but yeah clearly they three and three’s been a problem all season and certainly this week on this road trip um you know the panak aspect of

It look like I I was just critical of him on that goal I think that’s fair you add it on to the criticism he was already getting from Monday night for that shootout attemp which we all said on on the last podcast was ridiculous like that’s you know people

The criticism was ridiculous yeah the criticism was ridiculous um but it it has been you know a fairly tough week for for him he’s as you mentioned he also had the two breakaways in overtime Tuesday nights so some of it snake bitten some of it whatever you want call him

Miscommunication or just a bad play he’s he’s Al he’s a minus six now over the last three games so that’s not you know he did have a sick goal in Arizona on Tuesday like should mention that as well but yeah it’s been it’s been a down week

For POS I think a lot of the criticism has gone way over the top to you know quite frankly like pretty silly places like this idea that you’re gonna bench him for a game or something to send a message it’s like he literally let’s just forfeit you know he’s lit right

Like he’s literally been involved in 42% of the Bruins goals this season he has a goal or an assist on 42% of their goal so if you take him out you’re getting rid of like almost half of your offense right there good plan guys even even the

Idea of like not playing him in overtime he’s so they’ve only scored two goals in overtime this year he’s been on the ice for both of them and he’s been they’ve they’ve given up nine now he’s been on thece he also been on the ice for so many again no he’s

Been on the ice for three against so so it feels like it’s all of them he’s he’s a minus one in overtime season there’s plenty of guys who are worse than that so um yeah I think like two things can be true you can say he’s had a rough week

Or made a bad play there and then like let’s not forget he’s also still fifth in the NHL in points and one of the very best players in the world and this happens like even the best players have a rough game or couple games like it’s not it’s just not worth freaking out

Over no no that’s because um the people who started that are playing a different game than I mean they’re they’re playing a game and we’re just kind of reporting but um yeah so Scott you kicked off who’s up Who’s down um I threw the graphic up there is because you were

Going on your your little rant about poock so you think that he’s down a little bit over the last three games um which is from the start of the road trip um to now to the to the Vegas l um someone else do you want to stick with Downs first uh

Sure um so this one and this may have a lot to do with some sort of nagging injury that we just don’t know about but James Van Reams dik has not only been kind of invisible but he’s gotten demoted so in the game against Las Vegas

He was demoted to the fourth line which this I believe is the first time he’s played on the fourth line the entire year um so Bist gets promoted massively to the first line um because geeki has to play third line center with potra out uh and James Van rezik finds himself not

Next to those impact players not next to those um you know your poster knock or your your Marshon where he was playing in the top six to start the season he is now playing on the fourth line yeah I think there is some sort of we know he missed a couple games

Recently dealing with some sort of injury I I do think it’s probably lingering a little bit it’s something he can play through I don’t think it’s going to get worse but there seems to be some management going on there whether it is you know rest games not playing

Both games of it backto back minutes management he’s the last two games he’s played he’s averaging 1241 um he did also he did move around the lineup a little bit on Thursday montam was shaking especially in the second period he was shaking the lines

Up quite a bit so like I saw him get a shift with Pak get one point I saw him get a shift with uh I think debrusk at one point so there were a few different combinations they were trying then I think the third period was back on the fourth line so um

Yeah it’ll be definitely be something to monitor going forward I don’t I don’t really Envision him as like a sticking on the fourth line but we’ll see I I did think he gave that line a little bit of jump though like they had a couple chances and you know we’re we’re talking

About ways to get more offense from from your fourth line I mean James Van Reams can certainly help the fourth line generate more chances I just think he also helps your one of your top three lines generate more chances so I’d rather have him there if he’s healthy

And can handle the workload well and you think about his power play to start the season he was on the number one unit and now Morgan geeki has taken over a a lot of that time playing the role that van reik played on that top unit which is

Net front but van reik also adds the the fact that he can win faceoffs um so he can he and and he’s you know we’re talking about two guys that are real big GE geeky and van reer both pretty big guys whenever I stand next to them I

Feel very very small uh I usually just feel very small but when I’m near them I feel very very small uh and so he lost that role on the first Power Play unit as well so things have kind of backwards for him a little bit um whether it’s

Injury related or or what it is um we’re not sure and I I don’t think he’s gonna play poorly the rest of the season it’s just a good time to note that he’s gone a little bit invisible recently and has had his role scaled

Back yeah I I would like to see him back on the top power play unit at some point um I because they’ve been doing this kind of zaka and geeky sort of like interchangeable like they want have two face off guys out there and then one’s

In the bumper one’s net front and it’s really been more geeky in the bumper zaka and net front but depending on like what they’re setting up that can change um I just I I don’t think either one of those guys are as gifted in like that

True net front role as Vin rdik is so his his hand ey for tips and rebounds and his playmaking in like that small area around the net I’d rather have him there I I get why they want two face off guys on if someone gets kicked out of the dot or

Whatever but I don’t know I I kind of feel like you can figure that out you can get someone off quickly or something if you need to um geeky had a great a chance in the bumper on the power play Thursday night and whiffed on the shots so

That’s you know I I don’t think he’s been bad there necessarily but um I do feel like van Rees like just just brings more to that net front role I and I agree with you in that situ to that point um as the specific netfront person um so I actually can’t think of

Any more like obvious who’s downs but I feel like a lot of people have been kind of right down the middle like neutral um we but I I can’t think of unless you have one Scott any more like obvious Downs yeah that’s kind of where I am

Like I mean you could you maybe throw marshand in there because of that overtime goal but that feels like real recency bias you know he also has two goals recently so I’m kind of with like it feels like there should be more Downs in a week where they lost three games

But they all go to overtime two of them against two of the best teams in the league in Colorado and Vegas I’m with you where it sort of feels like there’s just a lot of neutral players um who who do you have as an up I think I think there’s maybe one obvious

One um just because just because like we didn’t I mean we didn’t even really have him penil in for anywh any spot on the roster but yes for yeah I think has played pretty well um scored his first goal on Tuesday I think that was right

He’s gotten moved up in the lineup and you know it’s not like he’s setting the world on fire but I think he’s I think you’ve seen him play good hockey and look look a lot more comfortable in the Bruin system than like the than he did

In the preseason where I think we said time he s of just looked invisible at times it like we’d come on and be like I didn’t really notice yes for boquist and then his first call up this year he plays four minutes doesn’t play the second half of the game so we just

Haven’t seen much of him but I think now that he’s finally getting some games under his belt you you see a guy who can contribute in a few different roles we’ve seen him play center Wing fourth line Top Line with zaka imposto which you know I don’t really expect him to

Stick there but um just the fact that he got a look there and didn’t really look out of place is sort of a testament to the fact that he’s just playing better hockey right now yeah and and he’s getting more minutes because of it um like you mentioned under five minutes in

His his first call up back in December but he’s played four games in January now every single game he’s a plus one so on the season he’s a plus three uh he has continued to get more shots on goal as as he’s been up so he three shots on

Goal against Vegas uh to the game before one of them went in for him against Arizona and yeah he’s getting more shifts as well the the Vegas game he saw the most shifts he’s seen all season 17 obviously when you’re playing out there with the first line you’re gonna get

More shifts um I think the biggest point of promotion is just that he is going from someone we didn’t even know if they were going to get out of Providence this year um to playing with David poock uh pretty quick turnaround but it’s it happens because Montgomery was happy

With the effort that he gave and the progress that he showed since he got that other the most recent call up which was like right around January 5th um or because his first game was January 6 so uh he’s still only at 11 and a half

Minutes in that game because uh you know he didn’t play on every shift with that Top Line so he his minutes are still not David peno’s minutes but and he’s not playing on the power play obviously so that’s going to bring down some of the the time uh compared to some of the

Other top six guys I think he handled the roll well so you you go from having someone handle a fourth line roll well and kind of drastically jump them up all the way to the first line but he did what he needed to do again against Vegas and he

Actually finished a few checks that I was like oh he he didn’t have to but he went out of his way to to finish some of those hard into the boards and he’s just trying to not be you know overlooked this time like he wants to be someone

That you look back on the game tape and you’re like oh look he did this right like he’s doing these little things right he’s in the right spot he’s playing with confidence he’s finishing checks he’s getting shots through so kind of I think we’ve seen him take take

Advantage of the opportunity he’s had through the these four games and Scott I don’t know uh what you think about him potentially staying up like what does that look like where where is he at in terms of the the depth chart of who goes down when someone gets

Healthy yeah it’s going to be interesting because I think and we’ve talked about Brian’s been on this a little bit and we thought about kind of the identity of the fourth line and you know do you have to try something a little different because that line hasn’t really produced and

Ultimately I still kind of see him probably ending up more in that kind of role than sticking next to Zak and ponak we’ll see maybe I’ll be proven wrong but he does bring a little bit of a different element in terms of um speed creativity some offensive skill there

So he could get a longer look in in a spot like that um whether it’s Center or the wing so he’s playing well right now he’s I do think he’s kind of maybe pushing guys for for a spot in the lineup and remember like they signed him

As a free agent to an NHL contract they obviously saw something that they liked or that they thought could kind of help their forward mix and it didn’t pan out right away obviously he got passed by some other guys but um he’s been playing well in Providence he was on a line with

Georgie merkulov all through that hot streak that merkulov was on so you know you you need the help in your line to do that so he was part of that um yeah it’s going to be interesting I I I feel like I still don’t have a great feel for you

Know just is this kind of just like a little Flash from him and then he goes quiet and eventually gets sent back down or has he actually turned a corner and he’s gonna stick and stay you know and play ahead of guys like Steen loo maybe

Even beer and um you know solidify a spot in the lineup well what I have to say about that is of those guys that you just listed he has the most NHL experience he’s 195 games played and stean beer and laco are all well underneath that so uh he’s he’s got

The experience almost 200 games under his belt in the NHL he I think that he’s through these past four games that he’s been up given more to the Bruins offensively uh than Steen has at any point in the season so I feel like he’s at least ahead of Steen right now um lco

Brings something completely different though than than Bist so that kind of becomes more of a uh pros and cons of what you want the identity of that line to be and I do agree with Brian’s point that he made last time maybe make that more of a fast high-speed um SK more

Skilled line with Bist on it than with some of the rougher guys that the identity looked like the vision for the fourth line looked like the identity was going to be real rough when they added Luchi and they have loo and uh I mean even beer at different times has been uh

Playing the role of more of a tough guy but uh I I think that he’s passed a few people on the depth chart over the past four games and obviously it’s gonna take that consistency to do that over and over again to keep your spot but um I

Kind of feel like he might stick around over for the next you know however long that they that they need someone to fill in in the lineup yeah for sure I mean steam’s been out of the lineup more than in it recently so kind of feels like things

Might already be trending that direction um another up that I had is Parker weather spoon I think continues to play really solid defense for this team and has seen his minutes go up on this road trip 2048 in Colorado 2128 in Arizona and then down to 1727 in Vegas but you know

That’s still that’s still a good workload and he’s not playing in overtime so that’s all in regulation uh he’s with Carlo out he’s kind of he’s gotten a lot of time next to Lindholm there’s been some changing on the back end too switching switching pairs up but for the most part that’s

Where he’s been gone to offside played there um and has really kind of had to adopt some of those defensive responsibilities he’s been on the first pk unit uh I think was it Colorado or um Arizona I think it was in Colorado where they went to a power play late in

A tie game and Colorado went to a power play Bruins on the kill and Carlos out of the game Lind Holm was in the box and wetherspoon was out there for all but six seconds of the kill he was out there for a minute 54 of it and they

Got the kill and you know I think you see him throw some hits he had had a good one Thursday night uh you know again another guy that probably had very low expectations for didn’t know if you’d even see him factor in at the NHL

Level at all this season and and he has and he’s provided some important depth on the blue line for the Bruins he and he’s hopped over other people we thought might be up like Ian Mitchell who came to the Bruins in a in a trade um and you know Weatherspoon somebody

That we get a chance to see in preseason a little bit but we really were were kind of talking about the the depth chart being like the top eight defenseman including Lori and Ian Mitchell and not Parker Weatherspoon but he in the last five games has had no negative games he

You know he’s been either even or in the plus over the last five games uh getting mostly like more than 20 shifts a game and this is really the the big thing is that he hasn’t looked like a defensive liability in any situation so there’s a

Lot of times where where guys get a call up and they don’t have a lot of NHL experience and you’re you’re seeing like okay they’re playing a majority of their shifts they look fine and then they have this one lapse of judgment and you know

It ends up in a goal or it ends up in a really good scoring chance and you just remember that one shift that was bad well I can’t recall seeing him do that and so that really means he’s doing exactly what he’s been asked to do which

Is kill penalties be a bigger physical presence um on the back end and just not make any uh I don’t even want to say rookie mistakes but any any mental lapses any mistakes that would um end up in a a scoring chance the other way that

Could hurt the team and I don’t think he’s been a liability at all no and and he’s you know he’s 26 years old so he’s not a kid and he comes over from the Islanders organization which is a team into an organization that has long stress defense um so he’s

He’s learned to play defense the right way and yeah I’m sure there’s tweaks going from the Islanders to the Bruins but that found is there and I know the Islanders have changed a little bit under Lane Lambert where they they’ve opened up a little more this year in particular they

Actually haven’t been a very good defensive team but nonetheless like he had that training coaching organizational focus on defense so uh yeah he’s been good um his first year in the pros like with any pro time in the NHL was last season he had 12 games with

The Islanders he’s already up to 14 games with the Bruins so he’s he’s passed his you know career numbers now and he’s at 26 games so I at the very least for him he’s trending in the right direction and I don’t with the injury to forbert still

Being we kind of just don’t know when he’s coming back and it’s been pretty long term he’s gonna be here for a while longer yeah and I kind of think like even once everyone’s healthy he could be sort of a perfect seventh defenseman where you plug him in any given night

And you’re not worried about it he can play either side um so yeah I could see him sticking around even when the team is healthy um Bridget do you have any other UPS my I have one last one but it’s actually not a current Boston breu oh that’s interesting I’m just

Gonna go gonna bend the rules a little okay yeah sure whatever it’s a Friday I’ll let you um so I’m just going to say swan and we don’t have to keep it very long um Swan had had a great game against uh against Las Vegas and he’s on

The cusp of making the All-Star game so I believe you can still vote for him if you would like to see him uh play in the All-Star game uh get on it I’m not sure the exact URL but literally just if you know how to use the internet if you

Found this podcast you can find it I I think voting might have ended Thursday I’m not 100% sure of that really yeah it feels early yeah I don’t it it is like I it feels like they announced it early they sent it to the fan vote early I’m gonna look

I don’t know yeah I might be way off I have no idea but I’m looking it up go ahead let’s let’s hear your out in left field um up Scott um only because we haven’t talked about him in a while and I feel like the last time we did talk

About him it was mostly negative but Fabian lysel has been on fire in Providence um I mean that’s still a Bru like that’s still Bruins related you’re going off the board no no no I’m not going way off the board but fa Fabian lysel nine points in his last six games

Down in Providence plus five um by allons has been playing really good hockey and like you know obviously the big headlines around lell this season were after Ryan Mel’s comments that were very critical of him um saying you know he needs to buy in uh can’t you know basically I’m paraphrasing obviously but

Like basically I can’t be as selfish can’t go one on four against guys and so that blew up and got a lot of play we talked about it um I wrote about it but you know you gota let’s make sure we also give a guy credit when he starts

Playing the right way and doing the right thing and playing well and now you know I don’t think a call Up’s like imminent or anything but from that point where it’s oh my God his Providence coach is saying you know if he doesn’t buy in he’s not going to play for Jim Montgomery

And a lot of us like our reactions like well I guess we’re not going to see Fabian I sell this year like he he’s he’s way further off than we thought I don’t know then you get a stretch like this and it’s like maybe we shouldn’t

Totally like rule out seeing him at some point this season I’m not not holding my breath I don’t think it’s happening right now but there’s a lot of season left there’s still three months left in the regular season like it’s not it’s not impossible if the kid keeps playing

Well he might get a look at some point so just wanted to point out someone that’s coming under criticism who is now playing really well there you go thank you Scott and to tie our two things together the last two things we’ve said Georgie meloff is going to play in the

AHL All-Star game that’s right um and also you still have a day to vote it says voting isn’t over voting isn’t over uh it says voting begins in one day I don’t know say literally the big line says voting isn’t over so uh that that’s a skills thing I don’t think that’s the

Actual voting if I’m reading that right I don’t know wait wait all right maybe I’m wrong I don’t know yeah try try try uh voting Clos Thursday at midnight you’re right Scott ah never never question skills competition apparently makes Wayman do something crazy I don’t

Know put him up for the the penalty shot trick or whatever are they gonna try to incorporate what can they incorporate in Toronto because they’ve in when they’re in Vegas they did what the um they did something like out in front of the uh the Water found there why am I

Blanking on which hotel that isio yeah yeah um and then in Florida like they did something on the beach when they were down there what’s what can they do in Toronto just go shovel snow or something freeze their asses off yeah you’re listing two places people

Want to be outside and then one that is uh I probably wouldn’t want to venture too far out in the cold I um I always like like these the videos people you know team share of like how guys find out they’re an Allstar or whatever like that’s also kind of cool

Like Province po went out from merkulov with uh it was like his teammates who revealed it at the end of practice um Seattle put a it was Dave hack’s telling pretty sure it was Vince Dunn is uh Seattle’s Allstar and he was like oh like you guys

Got any plans or whatever and he they’re going to some him and his wife were going to like some tropical location and hackel’s like how do you feel about going to Toronto for the All-Star Game instead and I don’t know if so no so like like he was happy about it

But I’m like that is like a A funny question it’s like I know you’re going to the Caribbean but how’s Toronto in February sound and his wife is still going probably I know if it was me I’d be like have fun in Toronto uh I’ll I’ll

Be coming back tan uh well remember when yier Yer got the fan vote and he was like actively telling people not to vote for him yeah they need a break but well oetkin straight up backed out and then like had to miss a regular season game because of

It yeah that’s the punishment if you yeah like don’t have an injury like you don’t have a good reason to not be there I mean to yar’s credit he did he did play he didn’t want to he was like I was finally gonna get a week off guys what

The hell um I mean you get a bonus don’t you not that it matters to someone like yeah I would assume so I think so if you’re John Scott and you win MVP he used to get a car yeah it was like his his biggest

Payday of his career oh yeah that was it that was one time where it actually did mean something to someone and he played like it too because he played really well he plead like he needed a new car all right okay we’re getting silly um so the Bruins have lost three

Straight in overtime SL shootouts they are they have one game left on their road trip 8:00 on Saturday night uh in St Louis before they come and return home for five games so uh we will keep an eye out for whether or not we see Brennan busy at any point in that home

Stand uh obviously we will keep you updated on Twitter with any injury information that we find out Scott’s really good with this I’m much worse at Twitter than Scott but I try I try but I’m just well depending on how you look at you’re just not on as much so I would

Argue you’re better at Twitter I here’s the thing this is this is my thing I don’t think anyone cares what what I have to say so like I like who the hell cares what I think about this that’s that’s why I’m never on I’m

Like no one cares no one no one cares so see I I have a big enough ego that I think care even though they like who the hell who the hell gives a [ __ ] what I think uh but anyway I also have this podcast so I mean if you’re listening

Maybe you do care what I think I but yeah Scott has a big enough ego to take care of this for both of us so uh check out his Twitter slbe mine who knows uh you might be pleasantly surprised uh and also if you have any questions we’ll probably do a mailbag

Episode here soon or not even even if it’s not a whole episode maybe like a 20- minute mailbag um so definitely uh comment or email us whatever you’re thinking and Scott I’m sure you’ve gotten some in the in the meantime since we’ve done our last one already so uh we

Are working on that and we’ll definitely do one like during the All-Star break because we’ll have plenty of time that yeah for sure and and there’s like yeah maybe even probably next week because there’s that little Gap they play Monday afternoon and then not again till

Thursday night so like I said even if it’s like a mini one at some at some point yeah all right so that is going to be it for us today um hope you enjoy your weekend and we’ll talk to you very soon hey guys thanks for watching the

Gate podcast if you want to see more of our videos visit our playlist not in front of a screen you can listen to us on Spotify Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast don’t forget to follow us on social media and if you enjoyed this video please don’t forget to give

Us a thumbs up subscribe to our Channel and leave a comment

Discussing the Bruins’ string of losses in extra time. Positive news about Linus Ullmark’s injury. In our ‘Who’s Up, Who’s Down?’ segment we categorize the recent play of David Pastrnak, Jesper Boqvist, James van Riemsdyk, and Parker Wotherspoon.

Follow us on Twitter: @TheSkatePod | @bridgetteproulx | @smclaughlin9 | @briandefelice_ | Email us at skatepod@weei.com |

Leave your questions in the comments and we will answer as many as we can!

Jump to:
00:00 – Another Bruins’ breakdown in OT
05:20 – the latest on the injuries to Ullmark, Poitras and Carlo
25:00 – Who’s Up, Who’s Down
47:00 – Lysell makes another push for a call up
Photo: Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Follow The Skate Podcast on the Audacy App or wherever you get your podcasts: https://link.chtbl.com/TheSkatePodcast

Don’t forget to subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/weeivideo

📡 LISTEN LIVE ➡️ https://www.audacy.com/weei/listen
📺WATCH LIVE ➡️ http://weei.com/watch
💻WATCH LIVE ON TWITCH ➡️ http://twitch.tv/bostonweei
Download the Audacy App today and stream your WEEI wherever you are! ➡️
https://go.audacy.com/y-listen-live-weei

FOLLOW US:
TWITTER – https://twitter.com/WEEI
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/weeisports/
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/WEEI/

Thumbnail images courtesy of Getty Images/USA Today Network.