Bruins 2009-'10 Season Thread

[boomer]

Btw.. Bruins in 5 with Satan scoring some big goals against his former team

[rician blast]

Hall looks a bit like Sid the Kid. Would love for him to fall to #2 but it ain't gonna happen.

 

Bruins will get Seguin.

 

Unless the FO gets a case of Sindenitis.

[CoachC.]

Man, what a physical period. Great atmosphere in Buffalo.

[Spudboy]

For some reason this thread did not appear on New Posts for me tonight.

 

I watched most of the game. The Bruins need some fore checking. Rask did his job.

 

Score!

 

2-1 Sabres.

[CoachC.]

A ridiculous stat: The Sabres are something crazy like 68-1 when leading after the second period over the last 2 years (31-0 this year)

 

Moral of the story is that we better have the lead going into the 3rd period.

[boomer]

Wasnt all that bad of a game, we you cant win a game scoring one goal. Anyone see Lucic "bear handle" Toni Lydman. Lydman picked the wrong guy. .... Check out the reach on Chara.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THyyQnw5R7E

[TheMino007]

Defensive blunders like the one Hunwick made on the first goal can't happen, because with the Bruins goals are coming to come in small numbers. We outshot the Sabres, but I feel we need better chances.

[CoachC.]

sabres up 2-0

 

rask should have stopped 2nd goal

[bsox0407]

sabres up 2-0

 

rask should have stopped 2nd goal

 

the first one was kicked in by Begin and then second one should have been stopped for sure.

[bsox0407]

Wow Good win. Home Ice switches to the Bruins right now. Hope Rask can get it together. Let an easy one in today.

[boomer]

What a game, I mean Rask still didnt play all that bad,, taken one from sabres at home, I'll take that anyday now off to the garden!

[TheMino007]

Really pumped to see the Bruins come back in a game where they were down 2 goals. Ryder had a great game, Chara was a force, and other than a freak goal off of Begin's skate and stupid Lucic turnover, the Bruins didn't make too many stupid mistakes. 2/3 goals scored on Rask where great shots which Tuuka couldn't do much on. I'm excited to see the team score 5 goals off of Ryan Miller.

[schillingouttheks]

They scored 4 off Miller, and you could argue that the first one was a freak goal as well. Good presence of mind to crash the net though.

[TheKilo]

Dojji, are you f***ing serious trying to advocate starting Thomas over Rask in game 3 over at HF?

 

I mean, seriously? Advocating for a guy who has been pulled like 7 times since Jan 1, with one of those times being AGAINST BUFFALO?

 

What the hell are you thinking?

[TheMino007]

Tim Thomas better not play another game in a Bruins uniform ever again

[TheMino007]

BRUINS UP 2-1!!! WHAT A GAME!

[Dojji]

Did you see that Boychuk hit? That was incredible. He completely tuned the guy up.

[Dojji]

 

I have a new favorite player. Elegant in a brutal kind of way, and perfectly clean. Textbook ice hockey contact. Pity Ellis got hurt, but he needs to keep his head up in open ice.

[Spudboy]

Excellent effort Bs.

 

At least one of the Boston teams is trying.

[YanksHater213]

Hoarse from screaming at the TV, so juiced up to travel up to the Garden for Game 4.

[msubulldogs21]

What an awesome win. For a while there when Miller kept making great saves I was thinking, "There is no way he is letting them lose" but we pulled it out anyway. Great job.

[TheKilo]

So, Dojji, should they start Thomas in Game 4? I mean, optimal roster construction and all that. Don't want Rask to be too tired before the games really start to get important.

[Dojji]

Honestly, I'm all for rotating Thomas in a couple games here and there if we find ourselves in a situation where we can possibly get away with it. There are pros and cons to it, and the dropoff from Rask to Thomas isn't as drastic as people make it out to be. The local Church of the Holy Tuukka is stridently opposed though, and they hold a supermajority.

 

Just to play it straight, although I know you're being sarcastic, if we do win Game 4 I'd like to see Thomas out there for game 5. If that's going to do Tuukka any harm at all, he's not the Messianic figure he's made out to be.

[TheKilo]

How can you honestly say there isn't a drop off between he two since 3homas has been pulled more than 5 times since Jan 1? How can you say that and honestly believe it?

 

Do you dispute the fact this team plays better in front of Rask?

[Dojji]

Yes, I do, especially based on a 5 or so game sample of infrequent play in the final month of the season. If it was Rask getting that playing schedule you wouldn't want me tryiing to use that as any kind of qualitative judgement. I know because we've had this conversation.

 

Sure, Rask outplays Thomas. Rask this year outplays everyone. That doesn't mean that Thomas is a bad goaltender, or that he couldn't win a game if he was called on to do so. In his own right, Tim Thomas is a very respectable goaltender, and when he was in for the B's he carried his weight. Yes, even this year.

 

The 4 goaltenders immediately surrounding Tim Thomas in the final SV% rankings this year (the two just above, and the two just below) were Martin Brodeur, Johan Hedberg, Chris Mason, and Roberto Luongo. In GAA, it's Jonathan Quick, Thomas Vokoun, Brian Elliot, and aforementioned Luongo. Yes, he slightly outplayed Roberto Luongo in both SV% and GAA.

 

That's pretty sweet company all things considered. Sure he isn't Tuuka the Invincible, but could he win you a game? The guys around him sure could, and he sure has in the past, I see no reason at all not to answer that question with a "Heck yes."

 

Take the emotionalism out of it and actually look at the numbers, this guy's done a good job. Yes, even this year. He got outplayed by a guy with a puncher's chance to be in the company of Patrick Roy when he retires, ultimately that's out of his control. What he can control though, is his performance on the ice, and he did quite a fine job there, thank you.

[msubulldogs21]

I almost get the feeling you're halfway rooting against Rask just so you can come in here and say "Ha! I TOLD you so!" to Kilo, YH, etc on this debate.

[Dojji]

In case you haven't noticed, I play devil's advocate around here a lot. I do feel some loyalty t o Thomas though, and I resent how much his contribution is forgotten or ignored, or downplayed on the basis of his contract.

 

To hear most fans Tuukka got us here all by himself. Probably because people really desperately want Tuukka to be the real thing, and therefore are quick to assume he is -- and since Tuukka is the real thing, Thomas is simply an expensive, extraneous piece -- anathema to a cap world. Since we've only really seen half a year of Tuukka I'm not really sold on the argument. I seem to recall a guy named Raycroft who was very nearly as good once upon a time.

[TheKilo]

Yes, I do, especially based on a 5 or so game sample of infrequent play in the final month of the season. If it was Rask getting that playing schedule you wouldn't want me tryiing to use that as any kind of qualitative judgement. I know because we've had this conversation.

 

Sure, Rask outplays Thomas. Rask this year outplays everyone. That doesn't mean that Thomas is a bad goaltender, or that he couldn't win a game if he was called on to do so. In his own right, Tim Thomas is a very respectable goaltender, and when he was in for the B's he carried his weight. Yes, even this year.

 

The 4 goaltenders immediately surrounding Tim Thomas in the final SV% rankings this year (the two just above, and the two just below) were Martin Brodeur, Johan Hedberg, Chris Mason, and Roberto Luongo. In GAA, it's Jonathan Quick, Thomas Vokoun, Brian Elliot, and aforementioned Luongo. Yes, he slightly outplayed Roberto Luongo in both SV% and GAA.

 

That's pretty sweet company all things considered. Sure he isn't Tuuka the Invincible, but could he win you a game? The guys around him sure could, and he sure has in the past, I see no reason at all not to answer that question with a "Heck yes."

 

Take the emotionalism out of it and actually look at the numbers, this guy's done a good job. Yes, even this year. He got outplayed by a guy with a puncher's chance to be in the company of Patrick Roy when he retires, ultimately that's out of his control. What he can control though, is his performance on the ice, and he did quite a fine job there, thank you.

 

Your irrational love of Tim Thomas is astounding. In a sport with a salary cap, you advocate AND STILL DEFEND the contract of a goalie who takes up about 9% of said cap and can't even sniff the ice in pivotal games down the stretch or in the playoffs. Why?

 

Because you know as well as anyone else that the future of this franchise in between the pipes is taking center stage right now and he is absolutely blowing everyone away. He is currently going blow for blow with the guy who's going to win the Vezina this season and he's winning.

 

And I love how you contradict yourself as well. You call Rask a guy with "a puncher's chance to be Patrick Roy" and also compare him to Andrew Raycroft. Which is it? Did Andrew Raycroft ever lead the league in save percentage AND GAA?

 

It really is noble, though, how you're so willing to go down with the ship. Bravo.

[Dojji]

our irrational love of Tim Thomas is astounding. In a sport with a salary cap, you advocate AND STILL DEFEND the contract of a goalie who takes up about 9% of said cap and can't even sniff the ice in pivotal games down the stretch or in the playoffs. Why?

 

You fail logic. Specifically, you make a comparison fallacy trying to turn a relative statement into an absolute

 

"Rask is better" not = "Thomas is bad." I've demonstrated already that his performance THIS YEAR puts him in some pretty cushy company. If you want to ingore that because of the sexy youngster, I suppose I can't blame you, but you're taking it one notch further and trying to call me an idiot for pointing out inconvenient facts. That I do object to.

 

And I love how you contradict yourself as well. You call Rask a guy with "a puncher's chance to be Patrick Roy" and also compare him to Andrew Raycroft. Which is it?

 

Right now? Both, depending on factors we don't know yet (mainly, how he plays in future years).

 

Your fail logic again BTW -- the fallacy of the false dichotomy this time. The book on Tuukka isn't even close to written yet. He should be starting over Thomas because his play this year has been superior to Thomas'. What that means for the future is the subject of what at best could be termed educated guesses.

 

Did Andrew Raycroft ever lead the league in save percentage AND GAA?

 

Came danged close. Look it up. .926 SV% would have trailed only Miller and Tuukka this year, and 2.05 GAA would have been second only to Tuukka, so if it had been Raycroft debuting this year he would have come within about .004 SV%of exactly the same feat. A statistically insignificant number. And he did it over 55 starts, 16 more than Rask and the most significant difference in their numbers.

 

Ask a bunch of neutral fans which year was more impressive, they'll split, but I bet that if you don't attach names to the numbers the majority probably comes down in Raycroft's favor.

[TheMino007]

Tim Thomas blows. He got lucky last year and the league has figured him out. Your a f***ing moron if you want Thomas starting over Rask at this point