Tuesday, January 16, 2007

WIN Leaves us Wondering

The Bruin’s squeaked out a win in a shootout yesterday, however they left the Garden faithful still asking questions. For example why was Glen Murray given another chance in the shootout after going 1-7 life time (1-8 after yesterday) O.K. maybe because Murray leads the team in goals right? Well no, everyone knows that Glen Murray has a cannon for a shot, and his quick release, and nose for gathering up the loose puck in the slot is top notch. That however does not mean he can score on a breakaway, Murray is not that kind of goal scorer. Why not let Bergeron, Boyes, Donovan (who has shown great potential lately), Kessel, hell even P.J. Axelson, any one of them has more finesse than Muzz.
Another question is what team are we going to see? Are we going to see the team who outplayed Buffalo, who in my opinion is one of the best rounded teams I have seen in years, or are we going to get the team who posts a 2-0 lead only to blow it in the third, or maybe the team that comes out fires in two quick ones then lets in eight straight to get blown out by the largest margin in years?
Anyther question to ponder for today, is what will Dave Lewis do about Wayne Premaue who was lost in the opening minutes of the second to a separated shoulder. Will he bring up someone from Providence? Will he utilize Jeff Hogan, who seems to be sitting in the stands and gaining nothing by doing so, or will he actually use one of the other centers he has available who have been playing wing for the majority of the season? No one knows, and for the most part I think that includes Lewis.
Anyone notice how well Brad Boyes played in the middle yesterday? He was 6 for 17 on the face off which is great for his first time in three years in the middle. You may not have noticed how well Boyes played, because his shifts where cut drastically, after all when your put on a line with Phil Kessel you are just about guaranteed to get short changed in your ice time. The line ofBoyes, Kessel and Tenkrat seemed to be flying yesterday. Kessel had four shots and two of them where milimeters away from being goals. But we did not get to see the kids play much as Lewis continued his anti-Kessel streak, shuting him out on the shootout and cutting his ice time once again. Kessel has played in 31 games, he averages only sixteen shifts a game and only twelve minutes. In comparison, we will use third line player Sean Donovan as an example of how Lewis is screwing up our future. Donovan over 43 games is averaging twenty shifts and fourteen minutes of ice time. Looks like Kessel is being shorted about five or six shifts per game and at least two minutes. I won’t get into the fact that his numbers are even worse because the game total is off by twelve games and who the hell knows how many of those would have seen Kessel on the short end of the bench.
If you’re going to keep him on the bench, for almost a whole period (played two shifts in the third yesterday and ZERO in OT.) Why not send him down where he can play every night, build his confidence, and actually mold him into the elite level player he has the potential to be.

This is day ten of my fire Dave Lewis campaign. Dam I thought MOC was bad, this guy has been given talent and he can’t seem to make it work. Anyone think Mike Sullivan would come back to honor the last few months of his contract? After all we are still paying him, maybe between the two of them, we can actually get our asses out of the cellar.

2 comments:

March2theSea said...

I have grown to become a Tenkrat fan..he seems to be giving it all..every shift.

I agree on Murray on the PS. That makes no sense..he shot it from the freaking middle of the circles too..WTF?

Anonymous said...

Why not send Kessel down where he can play every night, build his confidence, and actually mold him into the elite level player he has the potential to be??

Because then we'd have to trade him for somebody that sucks after he blows a faceoff. I think it's the rules.