Frederic Continues Hot Streak vs Lightning | The Skate Pod, Ep. 261

Frederic Continues Hot Streak vs Lightning | The Skate Pod, Ep. 261

Welcome in episode 261 of the skate podcast I’m Brian D Feliz joined by Bridget PR and Scott mcclaflin the Bruins defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 7 to3 at the TD Garden on Saturday and Bridget and Scott let’s jump into the opening shifts well guys we have to answer the

Question everyone’s asking is this the end for Bruins fan Banner Captain bill bellich no that is really that’s how you’re gonna start this Scott that’s what everyone’s talking about we gotta the off air conversation not no we we gotta jump in on the hot

Topic of the day I mean I like this it’s been getting clicks and views for the last 20 plus years New England so the skate pod’s no different right yeah people people aren’t gonna be able to get enough of it it’s not like uh every Sports show in Town’s going to be

Talking about this 247 so yeah no so act my actual opening shift is about Trent Frederick I’m kicking you off the podcast real quick let me just hit X on your screen oh no am I getting fired before bellich yeah yeah no you’re getting fired first oh boy all right so my

Actual opening shift is about Trent Frederick who continues to play really well scored two more goals on Saturday uh he now has five goals in his last four games um he’s up to 12 goals on the season 21 points and really is just playing the best hockey of his career um he has

11 so he scores his first ever power play goal first ever power play point on Saturday uh right as the power play was expiring but he was playing nef ront on the second unit because James Vin reik was out he’s uh has an undisclosed injury I think he’s dayto day nothing

Serious but uh so Frederick gets a shot there and gets a power play goal all his other damage this season has come at five on five and he has 11 five on five goals are second one behind David Pak for the team leag like just very productive and he’s doing it you

Know without being on that loaded third line that he was last year with Charlie Coyle and Taylor Hall and we you know Frederick talked quite a bit after the game Coyle talked about what what he’s seeing from Frederick so we can get more into that but yeah just just off the top

Uh Trent Frederick just rolling I want to share a joke that he said after in the in the the interview that we had with him after the game he said he’s been in like meetings for the power play before but some somehow the first unit always finds a way to score

Before he gets out there with the second unit so that’s what he’s like that’s why this is my first Power Play goal like that he is like I I’ve been wanting to get out there but then pasta will score in the first like 30 seconds and then

And he doesn’t get out there so he’s blaming the the first line scoring on not getting more powerfully time yeah well I I I also asked him if uh do you keep the puck or anything for a first power play point he’s like I don’t think

So and then he goes well I might never have another one so maybe I should yeah no he’ll randomly hit you with like some some funny oneliner in there and Charlie Coyle was talking about how pretty much everyone on the team loves Trent Frederick um and gets

Along with him really well but we’ll go back to him later um my opening shift has to do with Matt ptra first game back for him after um being away from the team for quite a while he hasn’t played a game this is the first game in 2024

With the team um after heading out for World Juniors and then getting a little bit of rest on the tail end of that um so he comes back Saturday he gets two assists um both on those Fredick two of those Frederick goals um I believe right I think they’re both on the Frederick

Goals um and he had a decent game one one was on the makoy goal oh yeah one was on the makoy goal um which they thought was a Frederick goal at one point time but they it looked like it took a redirection but actually hit the

Defender um but anyway so he had two assists in his first game back uh seemed to be moving well coach said he looked fresh uh he said he felt fresh when we talked to him after the game he did take a big hit into the boards uh came out

With a bloody nose all stuffed up uh with uh gauze or something and and came back out and like a hockey player played the rest of the game he didn’t get a whole lot of ice time but he in his time out there he did do a good job and coach

Said in Colorado next game uh he expects him to get more playing time because just because of the way Tampa Bay only had three lines going so he he had a hard time coach mcgomery had a hard time finding out the matchups that he wanted to put uh ptra out there against in

Order to give him the biggest chance of success so um nice to see him back out there he played center which is something we talked about last podcast would they move him to Wing no he’s centering Heinen and Frederick and I thought the line looked like it was

Clicking so for me I I wanted to piggyback off of commentary Bridget had last episode about pasnak and geeky kind of playing well together and and last night was another example just um you know the goal for for geeky to give the bru a two- goal cushion again in the

Third period was um a lead pass from Pak and a quick release from geeky and you know zaka was involved as well last night with pasnak um and yeah I just think it’s it’s it’s notable that geeky and pasnak in particular are are gaining chemistry because uh bridet you

Mentioned um off air that like geeky was talking about how when you’re playing with such good players it’s easy to kind of produce but it hasn’t been easy for everybody else playing with those two players all year I mean passion actually been producing but but Ben reight got

The first look with them the bruss got certain looks at different times U and geeki is kind of you know he’s he’s taking advantage of his opportunity more so than other people have and I think my other opening shift that I was pondering as well was going to be just how the

Bruins have the offense has come alive in the last six games um I think it’s I want to say it’s six straight games with at least four goals and they’re averaging around five goals a game in their last six games um and so the team offense is there and

You know is this Pac geeky and uh zaka combination um a key cog in that wheel yeah and I feel like one of the one of the other conversations surrounding that line was the fact that zaka moved to wing and maybe one of the reasons why that line is successful is

Because geeky has been playing so well at Center that it’s allowed Pasto and and zaka to stay together on the same line while also adding someone of geeki size um and he slots in in just a different spot and Saka has to move over so and one of the things that geeki was

Telling us after the game was that uh when you play with two Elite Playmakers like zaka and pastu you just really the strategy for him is really just to get open enough just to find enough space because he knows that they can make those passes to him so find a way to get

Open a lot of times he’s getting open back door kind of sneakily um and he and he knows that somebody like Pono and zaka can easily make that that pass to him and he’s been the beneficiary of the fact that those two guys are such great Playmakers not just good goal

Scorers yeah and we we had talked a little bit about uh you know Pavo zaka not putting up a lot of points even though that line as a whole was playing well zaka does get an assist Saturday night and it was also you know it was a

Game where it felt like it was coming for him like he had some good chances had a couple one times from the high slot he had like a doorstep chance that vasileski made a good save on and you know I think talk to talk to any player

And they’ll tell you if you’re getting the chances of the goals are gonna start coming so it was it was that that line produced regardless but it was also encouraging to see zaka in particular getting some chances and maybe being more involved than he had been you know the last few games

All right so yeah I kind of want to jump back to Scott to your opening shift and just and just touch on Frederick more and yeah he’s he’s got to be on Pace now for maybe just south of 30 goals on the season 20 26 go he’s on Pace for 26

Goals and 45 points yeah see Scott’s writing the article so he has all the all the numbers uh ready to go uh read that right Shameless plug Scotty’s writing an article about Trent Frederick in fact Bridget already wrote and posted it it was oh it’s posted guys go read

That yeah I but to be fair I think like a lot of earlier in the year the production wasn’t obviously as prevalent as it is now so if he if he keeps maybe not so much at this pace but closer to this pace than earlier in the year you

Know maybe he he eclipses 50 points and and and that’s just look I think the bigger picture here is it’s coming from a player that we all thought was we all kind of rode off a couple years ago and a lot of people did cuz see really

Produce at the NHL level and didn’t optimize his chances in in pre-season and was kind of a passenger and then he hit like 23 24 years old and you’re questioning what his future is and now at 25 26 he seems to be a staple of this team going forward and kind of exactly

What they hoped for when drafting him yeah he’s a first- round draft pick um and he was a center coming in uh and he’s one of the main things that’s made him so successful and and made him become somebody that Jim gy leans on is

The fact that he can play either Wing or Center so and he’s uh become very good defensively he’s defensively responsible he was talking about how whoever’s the first guy back has to kind of play the center role defensively and that he feels really comfortable with it so sometimes he just naturally finds

Himself playing that role um and and guys you know understand that he can play it well and kind of let him take over that at times so his versatility has gotten him more opportunities and that’s built his conf confidence and I think that’s really the biggest difference is you see him playing so

Much more confidently I know Scott you asked him about this in the post game and he he kind of was like I have no idea how to gauge my confidence which I thought was kind of funny I was like he he’s definitely more confident you can

Just see it um and Charlie coil said said so we had to ask his teammates like is he playing with more confidence and Cole was like yes he’s he’s uh you know kind of blooming into this confident uh versatile player in front of everybody’s eyes yeah and and Jim Montgomery a couple

Times this week including Saturday night has talked about him playing like a more confident player uh more Poise with the puck going north more instead of east west uh you know getting to the front even he’s always gotten to the front relatively frequently but you know maybe a little bit of

Inconsistency in in the past and this year it’s been really consistent um and you know it was interesting like Frederick talked about how you know he thinks last year he got confidence because he was on a line with Charlie Coyle and Taylor Hall and he said that you know kind of their

Confidence in him and especially Coy’s who’s been he called uh he said Charlie Coy has always kind of vouched for me and helped me out and it specifically made me think of the end of towards the end of the 212 2 season when down the stretch and into the playoffs Frederick

Kind of started getting moved in and out of the lineup um and and he wasn’t playing his best at the time like in all fairness to Bruce Cassidy it was getting to be playoff time and Frederick hadn’t been producing and I remember Charlie Coyle at the time saying

Like you know without trying to directly contradict Bruce Cassidy was kind of saying like I like playing with Trent Frederick and I believe in him and you know it’s like I’m paraphrasing but it’s kind of disappointing you know to see him out of the lineup and like that was immediately

What I thought of when Frederick said that it’s like that’s someone who’s just always believed in him and Frederick said uh if it wasn’t for cc and Halls be making great plays last year I don’t know if I have the confidence to do it this year with different people so it’s

Like he got that confidence with them with better players sort of helping to lift him up and he’s carried that over into this season even when he’s not not playing with Coy even when he’s playing with different guys and that’s been I mean these last two weeks have been his

Best stretch and look at like look at his line he’s played Wing during the stretch he’s played center during the stretch he was on the line with Georgie merula for a couple games he gets ptra his first game back James Van reik had been a relatively consistent linemate

But he’s out Saturday night so it it really like hasn’t mattered who he’s been with he’s not relying on the guys around him like he’s stepping up he’s kind of you know he’s the one driving that third line he definitely he definitely has been I and I’ve said this

Before in in past episodes and I really right along that it’s kind of like big brother little brother Vibe with Coyle and Frederick um you can kind of just watch how they interact with each other and you call him Trent Frederick little well no he’s a big dude but he’s younger

So that’s you know that’s Tech uh that tends to be what people mean by little brother uh I don’t know if you have a little brother but uh so Charlie Charlie coil just kind of you just watch them interact and it kind of feels like they’re you know that’s that’s the

Relationship uh similar to that and they they both like off the ice I’ve seen them passing a football together or whatever because they’re both actually really good multiple sport athletes um I think they have a lot that they can you know have in common and can relate to

Each other so um it’s Charlie coil has been great for Trent Frederick’s development especially because Coyle has also been in the position where he’s a natural Center and can kind of help him help Frederick in that aspect as well um and he him last season getting a chance to

Talk to him you know between every shift and during every shift definitely helped too uh one funny thing that one other funny thing that kind of came up in the postgame press conference with Frederick was that on that power play goal uh someone someone asked like were you

Surprised that you had that much space to make that move because he did he had like the time and space to like completely turn around stick handle the puck a little bit and then lift it and roof it um and he was like yeah I’m a little bit surprised I had that much

Time to to work but I think that this goes to something that maybe other teams will start keying in on but he’s maybe not defended as closely as he should be and a little bit uh not not show hasn’t been shown that respect previously in his career maybe now he’s start

Garnering more um pressure defensively because of the the kind of playmaker he’s been over the last few games people might be paying more attention to him um trying to block him out of those positions more now that they kind of get a taste of what he can do

There yeah and honestly I don’t even think it was a lack of timing that was uh given to him on that on that goal it’s not like he had a ton of time in the world he the puck was on off his stick in two seconds like as a Defender

There wasn’t even much time for them to do anything anything especially when you consider the body positioning and and the way he he Ang re angled himself there yeah maybe maybe the better way to put it is just that they shouldn’t have allowed him into that space at all like

He was in he he found his way right to the the top of the crease and he had that that room to stick handle a little bit so yeah one one other thing on that goal because I’m guessing you know we’re probably not might not Circle back to it

But really good pass by Kevin shaton Kirk um you kind of seeing that that lane was open for him to get it down there and it’s you know some someone tweeted at me and I I quote tweeted it with some numbers but the conversation about like who’s the better power play quarter

Quarterback shaton Kirk or macavoy Brian are you crying Brian’s Brian’s battling through it on on the SN are you crying no no I just I’m crying because mavo is not a not the pp1 we thought he was going to be um sorry to sorry to cut you off scott

But Brian was I just had to make sure he was okay it it was it like it was it was a great goal I I get it it made me emotional too uh head head head cold season yeah crusty eyes um I mean like I I’ve think we’ve hinted at this a couple

Times but it it hasn’t blown up and I don’t know if Now’s the Time for it to but there there’s been a bunch of times a season where I’ve watched and thought chadon Kirk looks better running the power play and you know now makavo scores a five on five goal in this game

By getting his shot through which is great I think that’s something he struggled with on the power play and I think the numbers back it up he’s he’s had a lot of shots blocked on the power play and I know in this case like it wasn’t a shot from shanir that was a

Pass so you know a little different but um shaton Kirk does look good when he’s at the top of that second unit and he’s he’s looked good at times when he has when he has had to fill in on the first unit when mavo has been out I agree Brian Brian’s having

Difficulty Brian’s crying Brian’s muting himself with the uh and turning the camera off um when um when they’re in the zone right that’s one thing what is what’s the the the argument for shaton Kirk versus makoy in transition on power play that there probably isn’t you’re right like that’s the strength of makavo

Is especially when it comes to skating in in himself Mako is just a better skater so he’s gonna have that speed to better back off a defense so you’re you’re right like that’s absolutely a fair counter because I was well I mean and I wasn’t even trying to be uh

Argumentative because I I I I agree with like the in zone U Puck movement and getting the pucks through um and because I was thinking to myself I was like well if that’s the case why wouldn’t they uh give sh and what should they value more though

Like wouldn’t you say that valuing the inzone stuff is you you should be able to rely on other people to transition the puck like people aren’t and especially when you consider that like your power players are going to start with an ozone face off like hopefully

You win that and it’s not a thing but you know obviously transition is is is is a factor and um yeah other people could but it starts with that first guy back there yeah and it’s also the the player management aspect of it and you know not

Not that like I think Charlie mavy has a big ego or anything but he’s a star he’s your second highest paid player he’s an alternate Captain if you move him off the top unit no matter how you spin it that’s a demotion and no matter what

Mckoy would say about it he would see it that way so that’s also something you have to take into account we’ve talked about that with Brad marshand in the past like there’s been times where it’s felt like the power play slows down when the puck gets to his stick and you’re

Like ah like he’s got to move faster he’s got to be more aggressive getting into the net but it’s like but you’re not gonna take Brad Martian off your top power play unit like you’re gonna let him work through it yeah it’s um it’s kind of surprising that makoy hasn’t improved at getting

Shots through in the power play because it’s kind of been something aing him for a couple of years I mean krug’s don’t look now but I think Tory Krug it’s like his third it’s the their third or fourth season with El Krug at this point and makavo had the the range for the

Majority of it besid grizzik here and there and lyol here and there but you’d think by now he would have improved at getting that getting those shots through and not being so indecisive U Back there um but because because he has everything else you know and yeah and that being

Said he did score not on the power play but he did he did score against well sometimes sometimes and was a and he was a plus four I think for the game but um at five on five like sometimes there’s less there’s less time so you’re not

Even you don’t have as much time to to overthink right that’s that’s on the power play he has the time and space and that’s when he gets into trouble some for some reason but in any event uh well do you want to stick to to D here for a

Second because uh the line like lineup changed a little bit um in terms of De pairs Laura was out of the lineup Weatherspoon came back in so was Weatherspoon shat and Kirk was the de pair um for you know that that changed uh what did you guys think we I think

Weatherspoon played well I mean I every time I see him come in he’s he’s quiet he’s not super noticeable but that’s really what you want him to do um and he he does make plays along the boards he’s he’s bigger he moves guys out from in

Front of the net I think he played the exact role they wanted him to play yesterday against Tampa Bay yeah I agree like I think he’s looked pretty solid for the most part I think that’s why he’s stayed up and you know Ian Mitchell’s the one who gets sent down

Because especially with forward out we’ve talked about this like not that wether spoon’s an exact one for one replacement but he brings some of the things that you miss when forward’s not there in terms of size stability strength you know not like the most physical guy not like the hardest hitter

In the world but brings some of that um you can use them on the penalty kill which helps you know helps you make avoid a situation like the previous game where Brandon Carl is in the box and you end up with lorai and grizzli together

Trying to kill off the end of a penalty which those guys both have killed penalties and they they should know how to do it but you put the two of them together and it’s you know it’s two guys who don’t always do it and they end up with a miscommunication that leaves a

Guy open in front so yeah and it’s one guy that’s small and one guy that’s young so it’s kind of not an ideal penalty killing pair yeah and just last should just be noted that Lori we believe was out almost entirely because he had to have more dental work done

Saturday he was on the ice for warm-ups but uh I think there was an element of him you know not really feeling very great after getting more dental work done Scott can you just explain that a little bit what do you mean the dental work well obviously so he took that puck

To the mall Thursday um or was that Thursday no that was Tuesday right he’s yeah I think or I don’t know I’m mixing on my games but yeah he um he had already had some dental work done he did play Thursday but limited minutes he had to go in

Saturday to get more done so obviously you know we don’t know the exact nature of it but sure his his mouth is still still not feeling great and you know that’s I think the primary factor in why he didn’t play Saturday you’re you’re not a hockey player until you’ve had your

Dental work done your first uh first dental work uh you know missing a tooth at some point in time in your career usually so uh he’s he’s got that out of the way hopefully um Brian did you have any comments about the no I think I think

Scott kind of touched on the the water spoon um so then the other thing is to talk about like players that were out of the lineup um like we mentioned laui was Johnny beeer did not play yes for Bas got the call up uh and Georgie meroff was sent

Back down to Providence what do you guys think of all of those different factors well I mean I I think yeah like we said last episode I just think there’s a lack of identity in the fourth line and it’s pretty evident because it’s just uh it’s it’s musical chairs

Right now um I I feel like bringing up boquist is probably similar to bringing up merula as far as like giving him you know um a pat on the shoulder like good job down in Providence here’s a little taste no B has NHL experience right so it’s not like he’s probably not as

Elated um for that exposure he probably feels like he should be there um but I mean that’s the one thing I like last episode I was we were talking about the merul thing and how I said I just they brought him up and and he went back to

Providence and I feel like I had more questions than I did before um the one thing I will say was a good thing about merky being here and Scott touched on it too was the fact that they at least gave him a chance to show like if you work

Hard you will get a chance and last week I was saying like you like you have to at least do that because you have to help you know manage your assets and your players and and let them know that their hard work isn’t for not so I do

Agree that like at least that aspect of the mercy love call up was was beneficial um boquist being up I I don’t again I just feel like it’s just giving guys has different chances here um was beer scratched for was he a healthy scratch or is he

Injured as far as we know healthy we there haven’t been any reports of him dealing with an injury yeah and to like kind of go through some of boquist numbers so this is his third game technically his third game up in Boston uh he had 15 shifts

Which is the most shifts and he had 1122 of ice time which is the most ice time he’s had up in Boston this year he had he one shot that went through he also had a few shots that went High um the funny thing was well coach was asked

About how he played and uh he said someone said bfist name and he didn’t even recognize what the name was and he he was like is that how you say that and he goes I just call him yesper I’m like that’s not easier really that’s a flashback to last year didn’t didn’t

Montgomery start the year like not knowing people’s names last year yeah he said he didn’t know that he said I didn’t know Smitty’s name was Craig until like this week and then he was like someone said Conor and he’s like who Cliffy uh he didn’t know he does he

Didn’t know the first names you just knew them by their nicknames so uh yeah he’s also he’s he’s just not great at names in general because like there’s also times where he’ll reference guys like by number and you can like tell in his head he’s trying to match up number

To name because he’s so used to just looking at it in his Notebook on the Whiteboard or wherever where he’s just listing numbers so um yeah but uh I thought Bo was played pretty well like it was the it was the first time he actually got like regular

Shifts I know we had talked about the last time he was up he played like four minutes and I think got bench Midway through the second period and didn’t see the ice again so he actually played regular shifts and I thought played pretty well was the first time we saw

Him at Center I think he had played Wing each of those other two games so um yeah I mean you saw a couple times where his speed looked like it made a little bit of a difference uh from what I could tell I think he did the defensive work

That you need a center to do um it still it still feels like they’re definitely trying to kind of just throw different things at this fourth line and hope something sticks or maybe part of it is you mix different guys in to try to jump start the guys you want there

Because I think you know Montgomery still wants you know loo Beacher Steen to kind of be regulars and you know again we’ve talked about when they’re fully healthy maybe it’s a Heen who gets dropped down or something but um yeah right now they’re they’re clearly trying different things trying to get something

Going there I thought Bokus played pretty well I don’t know if he’s gonna stick there any sort of long term I would imagine beer gets back in there Monday but you know guess we’ll see all right and for for Bridget I did want to Circle back to yours unless you

Had final thoughts in the fourth line because yeah it’s just it’s just a work in progress ultimately I mean I think yeah I thought I thought Bo was played well also um and and like again when they when they signed him we were kind of like oh he could be an interesting

Potential third line uh uh possibility and then you know he’s in Providence all year so he clearly has uh upside and and NHL talents so it’s good that they have that option um but Matt potra gets back in theine Bridget and and that was your opening shift so I’ll let you take that

Away yeah and to tie those two things together Matt ptra got a little bit less ice time than yes for boist uh in that game so um he’s still kind of being eased back in and part of it did have to do like I mentioned earlier with the

Fact that Tampa B started the game dressing uh seven defenseman so they were down a forward so they already had like a weird situation with their forward lines and then they lost a forward during the game so then they were really only down to those three

Lines um and Montgomery said that was a big factor in matchups and and usage of of ptra um I’m really happy to see that he was playing Center um and I know we talked about how early look we’re going back like over a month here now but him getting that having that built-in

Day off and and built-in rest to try to make sure he’s used to or like get get him acclimated to an NHL season with so many games um obviously at Juniors he was playing back-to-back Days A lot of times but the fact that Canada exited early might have actually helped him in terms

Of coming back to Boston because obviously he gets back sooner but he also gets a little bit of extra rest in between so I think think the the plan to the original plan was probably not to play him Saturday assuming Canada actually made the final which they

Didn’t um but I think it it all worked out okay for ptra even though I’m sure he would have liked to play for gold uh he’s happy to be back in Boston and I think they put him in the role they did put him in the role that he was most

Likely to succeed in which is Center um and with Frederick playing as well as he is right now maybe that lifts ptra up as well yeah and also good for him to get a home game in before they go out on the west well I guess technically not the

West Coast but Colorado Vegas um you know that’s that would have been even tougher if it’s okay he flies from Sweden to Boston gets maybe you know one practice in there and then fly three more time zones out west like that would be tough so did probably work out even

Though he was obviously disappointed you know he’s talked about how he’s going to try to use that as as motivation you know what you hear from players a lot after a tough loss like that like you want to do whatever you can to not feel

Like that again so um by the way to kind of tie tie three things together here the lightning went down to 10 forwards because Trent Frederick landed A Hard clean head on Tanner Jano that knocked him out of the game tanon Jano had as he always does you know runs around looks

For big hits he was the one who landed like the forearm shiver to patra’s face so again like not that you wish injury on any on anyone but you like seeing Trent Frederick finish a hard clean hit on that guy and um you know even if it

Doesn’t knock him out of the game puts maybe you know a second thought in his head of like hey if you’re G to run around take shots at our guys we’re going to do the same to you yeah that that hit at on ptra was scary for a

Second second CU you see him bleeding and he’s coming off the ice and you couldn’t really see at first that it was his nose it looked like maybe he had like a slice on his cheek or something like that and also wondering was it like a serious head injury when he goes down

The tunnel but he came back fairly quickly once his nose was plugged um and like I said we talked back the game I asked him how he was feeling he said he was fine so um shouldn’t be out at any point in time because of it but um but

Yeah I don’t know if you had had anything else about ptra I did want to plug that later on in this week uh later on this week we’ll have Peter sner from uh Elite prospects joining us on the podcast to kind of go over a little bit

Of World Junior stuff and some of the prospects including ptra some of the guys from bcbu uh some Bruins prospects just different things that relate to the Boston area in terms of uh prospects who are in college and in the case of ptra somebody who’s already in Boston uh but

I mean you guys are like me you like to look at the prospects a lot you like to watch college hockey um we’re tied into you know local hockey in terms of college as well and and um even now the pwhl so yeah and also a shout out

To Team USA they won their sixth uh gold at World Juniors beating Sweden was a seven to3 and it was you know it wasn’t even it wasn’t even um much of a game it was kind of start to finish USA kind of had control um you know people will talk

About how Canada didn’t have F Tilly um and maybe who’s the kid for Buffalo um Benson maybe Benson yeah Zack Benson I think he’s a age to but it’s like okay well they weren’t there and that’s Team Canada’s problem not you know everybody else in the tournaments

But um yeah that was a you mentioned uh the the The Scouting Bridget like that that just popped into my mind but um on ptra um you guys kind of hit it I think yeah I mean Tanner you know that’s the second time this year that a bruan is

Kind of green lit him Charlie makoy had probably his best hit of the Year down in Tampa Bay back in November on Jano um I guess a question for me from uh for you guys is just yeah Tampa Bay is a team that’s been in the dog fight for the playoff positioning

Obviously a ton of high-end skill and by all accounts the Bruins match that intensity and you know it’s for for a team that’s offensively deficient uh as we talk about with the Bruins it’s relative to the rest of the league they’re offensively deficient compared to last year but I mean as I said

Earlier they’re averaging five goals a game in the last six seven games and um you know seven goals against Tampa Bay this Bruns team might be able to score more than we gave him credit for and I think the emergence of Tren Frederick is one reason they’re they’re scoring more

Of late Jake de brus is getting hot that makes sense uh Morgan geeki is continuing to produce so like this is when everybody pulls on the Rope this is what can happen but everybody has to keep doing that yeah and you know Tampa it’s you

Kind of saw like the good and the bad of what they’re doing this season which is like Nikita crav blows blows you away he was excellent a goal and two assists the Brian I figured you would have brought up hampus Lindholm getting turned around by now with you

Know hampus hater but I would have but he uh he at least had a nice actually you know I’m thinking of last game that passed the pack that was against the penguin so yeah you’re right well Wasing he did have two assists in this game too um but yeah I mean that was

Just a filthy play though like I I don’t there’s not too many NHL defenseman who are who are making a play on that coov with the speed coming at you go goes through the legs and then backhand right through the seam to Bren point and yet sorry where like where I was rounding

Out you with this even with C having those three points he was a minus two for the game like the lightning are giving up a lot of chances this year teams are yeah like those guys are going to get their points COV point you know headman’s actually having a little bit

Of a Down year um you know stampa’s still good if not Elite anymore but that they’re not deep like they’re they’re not getting the support from other lines their defense has a been not very good and B banged up male sergachev and Eric sherack both out right now and even when with vasileski

Back like he can only do so much that they’re they’re in trouble I mean they’re outside of the playoffs right now and they I think really have an uph fight to try to get in because it’s they are totally reliant on COV and their top

Guys and I don’t know if that alone is g to be enough for them yeah and just to put it into perspective the kind of season CRA is having he has four more goals than poock who feels like I’m watching poock score every single time

We’re at the Garden um so gutov has 28 goals uh which is kind of crazy and in pasta is 24 so uh and you see that he can just make those nasty plays still uh so yeah he’s he’s a tough one to defend so Brian I’m guessing that’s why it

Didn’t come immediately to mind yeah and I mean to that point though um four goals more than Pac he’s also leading the NHL in points with 67 PO is and then pasnak has 50 yeah to your point Bridget like pasak has 55 points and every single game he’s like got multi multi-

Points for for C to have 11 more 12 how many points do he have again um 12 more points in pass that’s just like what so yeah it’s impressive so I’ll give Len home a pass on that one yeah well and it’s funny because at the game against

Tampa Bay and poock scores it’s like the one of the thoughts that went into my head is like even any fan like coming to the Garden like he’s just a treat to watch like no matter what day it’s just like you you’re selling tickets I the

Team good but like people want to come see poso he he’s having another incredible season and he you’re always GNA see something fun from him even if the Bruins lose so obviously last night was an exciting high-scoring game uh with a lot of goals and and a lot of

Opportunities uh but ponu never makes you regret buying a ticket to go see the Bruins yeah I mean P’s on Pace to to top his point total from last year he had 113 last year and he’s already got 55 through 38 games like he’s he’s not

Quite on 60 goal Pace again but we we’ve talked about you know him having more assists this season like it that was yeah that was just a great show like both teams but also like the panak kucherov Duel of those guys just making highend plays back and forth and there’s

Like a little something there between them too because they’ve mixed it up in the past and panak at one point in this game went out of his way to finish a hit on COV um so it it’s great like it it’s just great entertainment yeah especially where everybody seems to be best friends

Nowadays on on opposing teams it’s good to see some some rivalries between Russ Russian guys tend to not be friends with people on other teams just historic and specifically with Czech guys like that’s definitely rivalry Eastern Europe an rivalry there yeah um so Tampa Bay clearly you know

They’re they’re they’re not the cream of the crop in the elic division uh right now it’s it’s record-wise it’s Boston but you know I would argue that Florida is playing some really confident hockey right now um they’re on Boston seals and Toronto is always you know right there

As well but if we’re talking Style style of play and and um and playoff pedigree uh you know Florida’s the team to beat in that in that that division right now in my opinion um until somebody does because they they are the Eastern Conference champ from last year they

Beat Boston last year and Toronto last year in the playoffs to get there so um you know it’s the Bruins can’t control anybody else besides themselves but it is good to know in the back of their mind um like they they have to keep building their game and and and they’ve

Given themselves leeway um not so much from Florida but certainly for a playoff spot um um and it’s it’s it’s a constant reminder that like this team is going to be there in April and you’re going to have to get through them and you’re going to have to beat them at their at

Their own game which is not nothing more than just hard work really like you have to work Florida and um if they meet and I think that I think that this time last year the Bruin just had no adversity at all throughout the regular season except

For a couple of injuries to begin the year um this year and I think Brandon Carlos spoke about it uh after was it the Pittsburgh loss maybe um that adversity is good because it’s going to help him in the long run and um that’s why anytime there’s been a bump on the

Road this year I haven’t really you haven’t really heard me get too angry about it because I think this team needs the these hurdles to be better suited for playoff Style hockey and no matter if they stay in first place this year they just need to keep playing um just

Blue collar hockey and it’s gonna you look at uh Florida that’s the only way you’re going to be the good news is the last two games they did have that fight and you could see it like in that Pittsburgh game battling back um they never gave up they fought and fought and

So there was kind of positives to take out of that game even though ultimately they lost and then you see something similar against Tampa Bay I felt like a full 60-minute effort uh which you know that hasn’t been the case the whole season but uh you see him putting a few

Together in a row and you’re thinking this team you know has figured out how to deal with some of these things that maybe last year they didn’t get put through yeah Florida’s just rolling seven straight wins and they are right now they’re wrapping up basically the

Exact same road trip that the Bruns are about to begin uh they started in Arizona 4-1 win go to Vegas 4-1 win last Saturday night there in Colorado 8 to4 win and then they wrap up with St Louis Bruins play those exact four teams over

The next week so and kind of get a little bit of here’s what they did versus these teams let’s see what the Bruins do um you know now it’s possible Florida also maybe jolted those teams to life gave them a bit of a wakeup call and you know the Bruins see A Better

Effort but um yeah really impressive what the Panthers are doing right now yeah they have that effect on teams every every single every single night you uh you check the like The League highlights or what or what’s going on in the league like you’ll if you if I don’t know how your guys’

YouTube algorithm works but every time I go on YouTube it’s it’s like a hockey suggested video or something like that um and it’s always like it’s all the thumbnail always seems to be like Matthew kachuck and Sam Bennett in some sort of nut Mount scrum and it’s like

Every team they play every building they go into they just they get under the skin of their opponents it’s just it’s who they are it’s their DNA and that’s not going to change at all so um I’m sure the broom’s know to expect that based off of last year but um yeah

Florida’s the real deal I think that you know they’re a good team and yeah it’ll be fun they the Bruns have to earn everything that they get this year yeah my my YouTube algorithm is hockey plays and Harry Styles music videos so in case you’re wondering what’s yours share for the class H

Hockey and Bruce Springsteen old concert footage there see very good good place to WAP good place I think so I think so you guys you guys have anything else Scott you want to plug anything for the week uh no to tune in to Wei midnight to midnight for w wall Bill bich coverage

That’s midnight to midnight okay you could just say 24 hours you know um yeah Scott are you going on as an analyst uh yeah that we’re gonna talk about his uh fan Banner captaincy from 201 final yeah it’s a big part of his legacy well I’ll believe it when I see

It so yeah me too yeah I mean right Scott though this is I mean honestly if if he does get let go or goes elsewhere I think there’s been a lot of times over the years where the Patriots have had 247 coverage and it’s been unnecessary I think this this one actually probably

Deserves it there’s a lot there’s a lot of meat in this bone so whereas earlier this season no right finally we’re getting to something that’s big but you know what they better lose they better lose I hope so by the time people are watching this it’ll game will already be over but

I want that I want that second round I want that second overall pick like come on guys I know it does no favors to win they have I feel like Robert Craft should say to Bill belich if you don’t lose this game you lose your job find a way to lose this freaking

Game unfortunately it’s tough to uh it’s tough to throw a game without being obvious that’s the problem put ma Jones in done you can’t and I mean like I I won’t preview but like it’s also probably almost certainly Matthew Slater’s last game and you know think think guys guys play hard for him

Too but yeah yeah F fascinating times in Boston Sports um Montgomery would be if Bel gets fire then Montgomery and uh Joe moula move up to Second uh for longest tenur Boston coaches and that’s two years yeah at two years yeah that all right well that wraps up this episode of

Uh six rings in football I mean um podcast and uh enjoy your work week and we’ll talk to you soon hey guys thanks for watching the skate 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 growth of Trent Frederic and success of Morgan Geekie on the first line. Analyzing Matt Poitras first performance after World Juniors. The latest Bruins’ transaction and scratches.

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