Episode 0090: Matthews On The Shelf, Canadiens improved, Gallagher vs. Marchand, Torts Speaks His Mind, Panarin to Boston, Scoring Up, Twitter Polls and More!

It’s almost Halloween and there are some scary things happening in the NHL.  Auston Matthews is injured thanks to a hit from Jacob Trouba. Jonathan Quick is day to day again and it may be cause for concern in the Los Angeles front office.  The Bruins are playing without 3 of their top 6 defensemen and the Two Man Forecheck missed a week for the first time since its inception.

We start out with two Twitter Poll results and introduce the new poll:  Which Canadian team will make the playoffs.  For the results, Pastrnak was voted the quickest to 20 goals, and there wasn’t much to discuss regarding which division would have the same top 3 teams.

The Forecheckers wax poetic about the surprising play of the Montreal Canadiens.  Claude seems to have them playing somewhat inspired hockey. It could be the trade of their captain, or the absence of their best defenseman, but they have pulled together, and Price appears to be heading back to what is expected of him.

This conversation led us into a compare and contrast between Brendan Gallagher and Brad Marchand. Similar in size and playing style, how entertaining would it be to have both of these guys on the same line? Tell us what you think.

We at the Two Man Forecheck love John Tortorella.  A story appeared on CBSSports.com about John and his opinion on the niceties of the NHL. He is “sickened” by the lack of “hate” in the NHL.  Now we don’t believe he actually wants people to hate each other, but while on the ice there isn’t enough dislike for the opponent.  Opposing players smiling and laughing during games seems to upset Torts. We talked about this and the lack of rivals for more time than expected.

Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe tweeted out that if the Bruins wanted Panarin, the trade would have to start with McAvoy and DeBrusk.  Mike seems to think that this would be enough, along with an extension for Panarin, to get him to don the Black and Gold.  Chris isn’t so sure, believing that there would have to be a pick or prospect or both.  What do you believe?  Do you even want the “bread man” in Boston?

Finally, we talk goaltending around the league and goal scoring.  The latter appears to be going up, and the goalie stats seem to bear that out. Starters such as Rask don’t appear to be playing as well as their backups.  The numbers for Halak indicate that he should (and could) be starting in Boston, but he isn’t considered the number one at this time.  Could this be an issue where the coach is hurting his team by not making a choice.

Lots of opportunities to share your opinions with us.  Send us that feedback and enjoy the show!