The bruins loss the other night...

[Mr. Sandman]

I know there are not a lot of hockey guys here but when they were playing Philly all looked pretty good until the 3rd when there was some sloppy work and we gave up the lead but I am still scratching my head about what I think is a coaching problem. With about 1 or 2 minutes left, philly is up by one. We pull our goalie and are putting good pressure on theirs...Philly gets a penalty...after the timeout the bruins keep our goalie out? WTF? I was yelling at the screen to put that guy back, (we would still be up a man) the other team can ice the puck and you open the door to stray shots from 200'. Well within seconds that is what happened. We looked like fools...I was pissed. I am not a coach but it's one thing when you have two man up situation and it is 5 on 3 but 6 on 4 the ice gets too crowed when everyone in half the ice, its hard to move the puck...IMO he should stuck with 5 on 4 and left the goalie in, it looked like we were headed to a goal within seconds with 5 on 4 anyway. All the post game interviews online no one mentioned it. What was that all about?

[afterhours]

i agree...i just knew they'd put one in the open net .

[buckman]

The defenseman (I don't remember who it was) made a huge mistake and through the puck back into Phillies zone while the forwards were in deep. This gave Philly the time to score the final goal. On ice mistake that cost them a shot at evening it up. Won't ever happen again.

[Bronko]

There are differing schools of thought on this. Many coaches agree that a 6-4 is not as effective as 5-3 just simply due to the extra congestion on the ice with the bodies, add to it that they can ice the puck with impunity due to the penalty and it just doesn't seem worth it.

However Julien has done this before and oddly enough, he is not in a small majority. Joel Quennville does it, as does Mike Babcock with the Red Wings. Their theory is that at this elite level, any time you can get gain a 2 man advantage on your opponent down a goal with very little time left, you do it. They don't care about the circumstances, its a numbers game.

[beaver]

Originally Posted by Bronko

There are differing schools of thought on this. Many coaches agree that a 6-4 is not as effective as 5-3 just simply due to the extra congestion on the ice with the bodies, add to it that they can ice the puck with impunity due to the penalty and it just doesn't seem worth it.

Although it adds congestion, I think the Bruins use that congestion. They are scrappers, not many pretty goals compared to other teams. That is why they struggle in 4 v 4 overtime scenarios. The majority of their goals come with tons of traffic in front of the net. That is where a guy like Recchi shines.

I would have pulled the goalie. Considering how the Bruins 5 v 4 power play has done this year, you have a better chance at scoring by adding another skater. If it were this time last year, dif story.

The blame should be put on Morris for dumping the puck in on that delayed offside. Any NHL player can put the puck in an empty net from there when given that much time. I haven't played competitive hockey in 5 years, but I bet I could put it in from there with that time.

They have had trouble scoring and finishing games all year.

[eskimo]

The B's have trouble maintaining a lead or closing a game in general. They actually play smarter coming from behind.

I won't go as far to say it was Derek Morris's fault although he should have brought the puck back and regrouped. 6 on 4 is better then 5 on 4 any day, regardless of congestion. It's one more guy available, one more guy to set up a screen, one more guy to draw a player back to open up a lane, one more guy for the goalie to keep track of.

Pulling the goalie is a all or nothing strategy and I've seen it work very well for the B's.

The B's are still playing great hockey right now.

[ProfessorM]

all I'm doing is hoping Toronto looses every game.

[eskimo]

you're wishes seem to be coming true P