PGDT - Game #1: Bruins @ Sens, Apr 12, 2017, 7:00pm

I figured we deserved an early playoff gameday thread.  Also, I am going to this game and am beyond excited.

Sens lines from practice this morning:

MacArthur - Turris - Ryan
Hoffman - Pageau - Stone
Stalberg - Brassard - Burrows
Pyatt - Smith - Wingels

Methot - Karlsson
Phaneuf - Ceci
Boro - Wideman

And Anderson will start.

Every line has a little bit of everything.  This is about as good a team as we can ice, so make it so.

Bruins lines:

Marchand - Bergeron - Backes
Stafford - Spooner - Pastrnak
Schaller - Nash - Kuraly - Hayes
Beleskey - JFK - Vatrano

Chara - McAvoy (0 games experience)
Liles - McQuaid
Miller - Miller

Rask will start.

Methot says he's not sure if he'll play in game 1. Also, wow...those wingers for Pageau!

bruins have zero depth in bottom six and their D stinks. Anything less than 2-0 leaving Ottawa would be a surprise

I am honestly questioning how anyone can see the Bruins winning this series.
Ottawa in 5 IMO, 6 a stretch.

tim1_2 wrote:Methot says he's not sure if he'll play in game 1.  Also, wow...those wingers for Pageau!

Yeah! That's what I thought! I also like the turris line on paper. Historically, Bobby's been at his best with turris.

I'd prefer smith on the wing but we'll see.

DefenceWinsChampionships wrote:I am honestly questioning how anyone can see the Bruins winning this series.
Ottawa in 5 IMO, 6 a stretch.

It makes winning that much more fun. Get to smear it all over their faces.

Ev wrote:bruins have zero depth in bottom six and their D stinks. Anything less than 2-0 leaving Ottawa would be a surprise

Vatrano was one of their best forwards against Ottawa (he filled in for Marchand). Beleskey has had a tough year with injuries but he scored 22 two season ago in Anaheim and then 15 last year in Boston. And, of course, JFK is one of the three college kids Pierre said were going to be difference makers. So that 3th line is pretty good, actually.

I don't really know much about their 3rd line.

DefenceWinsChampionships wrote:I am honestly questioning how anyone can see the Bruins winning this series.
Ottawa in 5 IMO, 6 a stretch.

Their top line is very good. Pastrnaki is a star in the making, Stafford has been a thorn in the Sens' side for many years. Spooner was developing into a bit of a Sens killer until this year. And that 4th line could be good but are a huge question mark right now. Chances are they won't play much until they get to Boston and can get the match-ups they want. On the road, when we can control the matchups, without 2 of their top-three D, it's pretty much all on Rask.

Their PP won't be nearly as good without Krug, and their PK won't be the same without Carlo. Chara is going to play a ton of ice time. Remember a few years back when he got dehydrated and missed a game? That might be as soon as game 3.

All that said, it only goes far enough to make Ottawa a slight favorite but it still won't be a cakewalk.

Not seeing Kelly in the practice lines gives me some solid hope.

Watch Boucher crush it at game time.

DefenceWinsChampionships wrote:I am honestly questioning how anyone can see the Bruins winning this series.
Ottawa in 5 IMO, 6 a stretch.

Remember special teams is huge in the playoffs.  Bruins are near the tops in both PK and PP....sens are on the opposite end of the spectrum.  Can make all the difference.

Bruins have an excellent shot of winning, just like the sens.  I consider it a pretty even matchup, can easily see this going 6 or 7.

Ev wrote:bruins have zero depth in bottom six and their D stinks. Anything less than 2-0 leaving Ottawa would be a surprise

Hope you're right but you're usually wrong so this makes me nervous....

Yeah, people here are probably being over-confident, but I think the logical handicapping of this series would be to make Ottawa a slight favourite.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/sportsnets-analytics-experts-share-stanley-cup-playoffs-brackets/

These "experts" all picked the Bruins over Ottawa. Other than weird analytics:
- Ottawa is a negative goal differential team (rebuttal: with Anderson they are +12)
- Boston has 7th best PP (rebuttal: Krug had 25 PP pts on back-end, no one else close)
- Rask has career .930 playoff save percentage (rebuttal: Andy is .933)
- Ottawa doesn't score a lot (rebuttal: fully healthy is a different story)

tim1_2 wrote:Yeah, people here are probably being over-confident, but I think the logical handicapping of this series would be to make Ottawa a slight favourite.

it makes zero sense to me why the sens are +155 right now

I don't understand how this is not at least even.  How is boston a favourite?   They could win, obviously,  but a favourite?   Don't get it 

Kelly a scratch is a surprise for me, I thought this is basically why they signed him

Ev wrote:

tim1_2 wrote:Yeah, people here are probably being over-confident, but I think the logical handicapping of this series would be to make Ottawa a slight favourite.

it makes zero sense to me why the sens are +155 right now

Because they want the bigger Boston fan base to bet on the Bruins