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GDT: Canes @ Boston Game 6 5/12 7:00

A

andyt

Canes Moderator
Staff member
The first elimination game and a chance for the Canes to be the first team in the East to advance.

For the Canes, it’s a simple recipe; stay out of the box. After taking 9 penalties on Sunday, they cut it to 3 on Tuesday and 2 of them ended early when the Bruins took penalties on their power play. The Canes potted 2 power play goals of their own on 5 chances. The team was supposed to have a full practice yesterday but made it a limited skate instead. Martinook skated but is probably still out, so there shouldn’t be any lineup changes.

What does Cassidy do with Pastrnak? He started on Bergeron’s line but finished on Haula’s on Tuesday. With last change, expect the former tonight. Per Natural Stat Trick (and Walt Ruff), Bergeron played 11:16 at 5 on 5 on Tuesday and all but 2 minutes of it was against Staal. That’s unlikely tonight. Lindholm is expected back tonight and Swayman gets the start in goal.

Bally Sports South and TNT for TV tonight.
 
Look ... stay out of the box, sure. But let's not get carried away. Kill a reasonable amount of penalties is my preferred comment. Carolina gets a lot of boost from their kill and Boston absolutely lives to beat you on the power play. Robbing them of that gets them VERY frustrated. And for all of their experience, this Boston team is very immature emotionally. Too much leadership from mixed nuts like Marchand and Pasta and not enough stable maturity like they used to get from Chara and Krecji. Push those buttons. Frustrate those guys. Screw the matchups and just go play grinding, aggressive hockey.
 
Stay out of the box, get a good hit on Lindholm and McAvoy early, come out swinging (no late start), and get at least 1 on the PP. I expect Trocheck and Svech to be pests tonight which is good for the Canes. Let's put this one to bed.
 
So much in this series stems from the line matchups. The penalty situation isn't so much the disease itself, just a symptom. We've usually started pretty good in Boston. We've scored first in both games up there. But then it goes south. So a good start doesn't mean much. Of course, I'd prefer a good start to a bad one, but don't get lulled into thinking that if we start well then we've fixed the problems from the previous two road games. Possible that as soon as things start to turn Boston's way---and they will at some point---, we may see some pre-arranged line changes just to try to give Cassidy some pause about who to throw out there.
 
The Bruins beat writer for the Boston Herald says Pastrnak is on Haula’s line, DeBrusk with Bergeron. And it looks like Grzelcyk is a healthy scratch, Reilly skated with Carlo.
 
andyt said:
The Bruins beat writer for the Boston Herald says Pastrnak is on Haula’s line, DeBrusk with Bergeron. And it looks like Grzelcyk is a healthy scratch, Reilly skated with Carlo.
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Interesting. I saw where Grzelcyk had really under-performed at even strength but I didn't think Reilly looked a lot better ... especially in Game 5. Still, not a ton between them other than PP time and if Lindholm is back then I guess it's a pick 'em. And I put no weight on the opening lines for Boston at all. The second anything gets squirrelly for them, they'll pull out the security blanket of the loaded top line. Cassidy is letting Brid'Amour off the hook a bit here, IMO.
 
jeffbear said:
Interesting. I saw where Grzelcyk had really under-performed at even strength but I didn't think Reilly looked a lot better ... especially in Game 5. Still, not a ton between them other than PP time and if Lindholm is back then I guess it's a pick 'em. And I put no weight on the opening lines for Boston at all. The second anything gets squirrelly for them, they'll pull out the security blanket of the loaded top line. Cassidy is letting Brid'Amour off the hook a bit here, IMO.
Click to expand...
Grzelcyk took 2 bad penalties last game. Not sure that it’s if Reilly is better as much as playing a “clean” game (for Boston) and not giving the Hurricanes a PP.
 
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