How the Hell are the Bruins the 3rd best team in hockey right now??

[Swedesessed]

How?

Bergeron and Marchand are true stars of the game and not stat padders, Pasternak is amazing (even though the Ruins are 8-2 without him oddly enough)

Great organization, good defense, good goaltending and good coaching.

Basically in a nutshell, they have everything Buffalo does not have.

[Kruppstahl]

21 hours ago, matter2003 said:

I don't get it...I look at that team and see middle of the pack talent and a lot of aging players...whatever they have the Sabres players need to learn how to get.

You are probably undervaluing the talent they have.  

The Sabres have no one close to what Patrice Bergeron is, for example. 

They also play hard for the entire game and are used to staying within a system with some discipline. 

 

[RonHextallsShoulderPads]

20 hours ago, RonHextallsShoulderPads said:

aging players can get things done. would you rather have three pominvilles or three tages? 

This didn't age well. 

[CallawaySabres]

They are winning the Cup this year

[Claude Balls]

4 hours ago, CallawaySabres said:

They are winning the Cup this year

I'm almost certain they will. Just what those poor suffering fans in NE need.....another championship. Wouldn't surprise me to also see the Celtics right the ship and win it all. Boston would then have the four major sports championships in one calendar year. I am so sick of Boston sports and their pompous fans. Go Bills, go Sabres......??

Edited March 5, 2019 by Claude Balls

[PerreaultForever]

15 hours ago, SABRES 0311 said:

I agree with all of this and what I got from it is simple. If you become a Bruin you prove you are worthy. If not you are gone. It's probably not just a management decision either. I assume guys like Chara and Marchand don't take kindly to weak players who coast and don't do the little things necessary to win.

There's definitely a closely bonded team thing there. Lots of teams have positive locker rooms but I have no real idea where ours is at. Recent example from the Bruins is the story I heard about Johanson coming over. If you remember Marchand gave him a shot and concussed him some time back and he was pretty (rightfully so) pissed about it and had lots of bad things to say about old Brad. So anyway, as the story goes, as soon as he was traded to the Bruins, Marchand phoned him and apologized and when he got to town took him out to dinner and told him he was a Bruin now and he had his back. Maybe that's all BS, but maybe it also matters. 

[GASabresIUFAN]

Chara, Marchand, Bergeron know how to win and they have taught that to the young D.  

We need someone from a real team, like Drury back in the day, that can teach these guys how to win night after night. I thought Pommers might be that guy, but he hasn't gotten them to the playoffs.  

[PerreaultForever]

I watched them tonight (4-3 win in OT) and two things stuck out. Teamwork and they simply don't quit. 

I will add this though, Carolina gave them a challenge. They are pretty good and play with that speed and intensity Housley goes on about but coupled with solid defensive play, the latter which we are missing entirely. They don't seem to miss Skinner at all. 

[thewookie1]

We have no team culture to buy into where as Boston does.

It all stems back to the loss of Drury and Briere and how the team as a whole never recovered. 

The tank in of itself was a double edged sword as it allowed us to get super talent, but jettisoned our identity. Old players from a franchise are what makes a team. What we need is a small old guard of Buffalo players, who want to play here and want to teach and help lead. Veteran stars can still support teams very well as a team retools since they were stars to start and have a level of respect and authority with every rookie that walks in the door. The pre-tank Sabres really couldn't have done that either with our sheer lack of high-end aging talent and our terrible drafting. Eerily enough, there is a small chance that had we brought Vanek and/or Stafford back with Pommers; we may have seen a better overall season. Not because they are great players anymore but because they all experienced what its like to play in Buffalo during our mid-2000's runs and that identity of "never giving up" may have rubbed off more.

The problem is, Pommers is alone and we need an identity. 

 

The one thing Tim Murray tried, that was very smart, was bringing in Gionta and Gorges at the same time to be a leadership group and try to instill a culture. Problem was, Gorges' knees became shot so quickly that he went from the competent shot blocking dman to a pretender and his clout fell with it. If anything, this offseason we need to  empty spots and find a combination of savvy vets and young blood to create an identity. At the moment we have a single savvy vet in Pommers, a load of youngsters, and a bunch of rift-raft who don't fall in either category. I think Berglund's departure hurt them more than we suspect. He wasn't a great player but he seemed to bring our defensive line together and had played a while. 

 

Sorry for the somewhat incoherent rant.

 

[gilbert11]

On 3/4/2019 at 1:00 PM, bob_sauve28 said:

They don't give up a lot of goals 

Yes, the goaltending tandem of T.Rask and Halak have been great. They alternate starts and it’s worked out very well.

[Gatorman0519]

21 hours ago, Swedesessed said:

How?

Bergeron and Marchand are true stars of the game and not stat padders, Pasternak is amazing (even though the Ruins are 8-2 without him oddly enough)

Great organization, good defense, good goaltending and good coaching.

Basically in a nutshell, they have everything Buffalo does not have.

This^^^

[Eleven]

Ottawa has one fewer goal than Boston.