Frederic bruins1/26/2024 However bad the malady was, there’s plenty of smoke around the injury theory, of course. If not, they could have gone back with a rested Ullmark for Game 7.Īnd if Ullmark was suffering from a “debilitating and painful injury,” as ESPN’s Kevin Weekes reported on Monday, the decision to stick with him at any point would have been even more egregious. Swayman would have been perfectly capable of winning Game 6. But Game 6 would have been the perfect opportunity to go with Jeremy Swayman after Ullmark’s glove hand looked a little slow on a couple of goals allowed in Game 5, not to mention Ullmark’s game-ending giveaway that very well could have been fatigue-fueled. We also find it understandable that the brain trust – and goalie decisions these days are made by committee, apparently – would choose to go back with Linus Ullmark in Game 5. We’re not a fan of alternating the goalies just like they did in the regular season. Then there was the decision to stick with Marchand-Bergeron-Bertuzzi line till the bitter end in Game 7, despite the fact that it had little going all night and Jake DeBrusk, the right wing on that line for most of the season, was there to be inserted.Īnd then there was the biggest depth mismanagement of all – the goaltending. Montgomery’s decision in Game 5 to go with rookie Jakub Lauko over Trent Frederic proved costly, with Lauko getting whistled for two penalties, one that produced a Florida go-ahead goal in the third period. The Panthers scored the first goal of the game against that line off a Bertuzzi turnover and the B’s were playing catch-up all night. David Krejci missed the final six games to injury.įamiliarity should have been a paramount consideration in that situation. Bergeron was rested for four games down the stretch before suffering a herniated disc in Game 82. Nick Foligno was lost to injury from Feb. 25 and he did not return until the final three games of the regular season. The B’s lost Taylor Hall to injury on Feb. He never had a fully healthy team down the stretch to really evaluate it all. The fatal fluidity of the line combinations was partly beyond Montgomery’s control. Sadly but yet fittingly, that unit was on the ice for the overtime game-winner that Florida’s Carter Verhaege scored. The B’s team that would eventually win a record 65 games was buoyed by some strong additions at the trade deadline by GM Don Sweeney, but coach Jim Montgomery never figured out what his best lineup and line combinations were.Īs late as Game 7, Montgomery was still experimenting with his combos, trying out a line of Tyler Bertuzzi with Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand for the first time in the playoffs after they played a total of 7:06 together in the regular season. Literally.Īs we sit here on the Day After, sifting through the wreckage of the B’s shattered dreams and first-round series loss to what - according to the league standings - was the worst team in the playoffs, that’s what comes to mind. But good problems are still problems that require solutions.Īnd in the end, the Bruins had so much depth that they didn’t know what to do with it. The Bruins’ depth was a good problem to have, we all thought.
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