The Bruins had three power-play opportunities Saturday; the New York Islanders had two.
The Bruins have gone on the man advantage 28 times in seven games this postseason — third behind Tampa Bay (34) and Carolina (30). They’ve been shorthanded 32 times, third behind the Lightning and Hurricanes.
-
Ep 29: Stanley Cup Playoffs; Maple Leafs Collapse; End Of An Era For Penguinsby Full Press Coverage on May 18, 2022 at 4:31 am
Mike, Jim, and Chris discuss the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, […]
So what’s with the whining?
“I think the whole playoffs we haven’t gotten very many calls to put us on the power play,” Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said after a 4-1 loss allowed the Islanders to tie the best-of-7 second-round series 2-2 heading to Boston for Game 5 Monday.
“I certainly think the infractions, we haven’t gotten a lot of calls go our way with the borderline ones,” Cassidy continued. “You look at even some non-borderline. I mean, Chris Wagner almost got his head taken off the other night in front of the net on a high stick. You look at it and you see the referee looking at it, and they don’t call it.
“So they see what they see. And you can’t do anything about it. You hope that comes around, you keep playing hard, earn your calls. We’re not going to bitch about it. It is what it is. And, you know, hopefully we’ll start getting the ones that we deserve and take advantage of it.”
Bruce Cassidy’s full remarks on the officiating: pic.twitter.com/RsmM2yfCGE
— Evan Marinofsky (@EvanMarinofsky) June 6, 2021
Cassidy is now second on the Bruins’ all-time playoff wins list for coaches. He’s won a Jack Adams Award and coached in the Stanley Cup final. But it wasn’t until now that he officially became a grizzled, full-fledged veteran NHL coach because he pulled out the old “we’re not going to complain” line after sending 30-40 seconds complaining.
But I ask again: why?
Maybe Cassidy is trying to take some of the heat off his players, who clearly were worn down by the Islanders forecheck (perhaps New York’s lone skill it does better than Boston) and didn’t land a shot on net in the final 6:18 of regulation, a stretch that started not long after Mathew Barzal gave the Islanders a 1-0 lead.
Obviously affected by the absences of Brandon Carlo and Kevan Miller, with Jarred Tinordi inserted into the lineup, and with Connor Clifton, Jeremy Lauzon and Mike Reilly asked to do more than is typically required, the Bruins were pounded trying to make plays out of their own end, and hemmed in for stretches as well. The forwards, knowing the Bruins’ situation on the back end, could’ve done a much better of helping out and then generating some speed through the neutral zone.
It’s shaping up to be another series like the 2019 Cup final when Matt Grzelcyk missed several games, Zdeno Chara was seriously banged up and the St. Louis Blues banged and bruised their way to a seven-game victory.
At the other end, the headline was David Pastrnak missing an open net that stretched from Long Island to Prague in the first period. But the Bruins didn’t lose because of that one gaffe. They scored on just one of their power plays and didn’t do nearly enough to get to the inside, as Cassidy likes to say. After getting traffic in front of Semyon Varlamov for much of the first half of the game, the Bruins seemingly got frustrated and made life easier on the New York goalie. Again, cast Varlamov in Jordan Binnington’s role and suddenly it’s a 2019 redux.
“We weren’t willing to shoot enough, at least to get to their goaltender,” Cassidy said. “We paid the price for it. We didn’t score 5-on-5. Just turned down way too many shots.”
Latest Bruins News
- NHL Hits Ratings Bonanza For Five Game 7s Over The Weekend
- 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs Notebook: It Is All About Game 7
- Patrice Bergeron Not Ready To Discuss Future Following Game Seven Loss
- Bruins Have Had Mixed Results In Their Most Recent Game Seven Appearances
- Stanley Cup Playoffs Have Had Plenty of Goalie Drama
To his credit, Cassidy owned up for the Bruins’ mistakes. But he also pulled the “complain about the refs” card, which made one wonder if Cassidy was harkening back to 2019 as well. Craig Berube beat him to the punch in that series, arguing the Blues were getting called for too many penalties. Whether his words had an impact on the Tyler Bozak non-call on his trip of Noel Acciari in Game 5 or it was just a distraction to loosen up his players for their eventually triumphant performance, maybe Cassidy decided to steal from the Berube playbook.
More than a series about officiating, this is becoming a referendum on the Bruins’ defense depth. By now Lauzon and Jakub Zboril (who might be too injured to play right now — we don’t know his status) should be able to step up and eat minutes when a couple of veterans are out of the lineup. That’s what this whole season was about, getting the younger defensemen experience. Instead, we have Lauzon making errant passes, one of which turned into a game-losing overtime breakaway in Game 2. Instead, we have Clifton getting caught out of position at crucial moments and often going for big hits rather than playing sound defense, a far cry from the start of this series when he was playing within himself and looking like he was ready to pick up the slack for Carlo’s absence.
Cassidy’s gambit might work and the Bruins might see an officiating advantage in the latter stages of this series. The players, hearing their coach has their backs on this front, might loosen up and get back to playing their game rather than being distracted by the Islanders’ attempts to knock them into oblivion. Most importantly, Carlo and/or Miller might get back in the lineup and bring the transition game back to respectability.
Regardless, if the Bruins lose this series — with their advantage in skill, speed, and experience — they won’t be able to blame the refs. It’ll be because they let the Islanders pound them and then outplay them when they weren’t deep enough on the back end.
-
Ep 29: Stanley Cup Playoffs; Maple Leafs Collapse; End Of An Era For Penguinsby Full Press Coverage on May 18, 2022 at 4:31 am
Mike, Jim, and Chris discuss the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, […]
-
Ep 28: NHL Draft Lottery; Stanley Cup; Islanders Coaching Situationby Full Press Coverage on May 11, 2022 at 1:13 am
Jim Biringer and Chris Wassel discuss the results of the NHL Draft […]
I am text block. Click edit button to change this text. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.
-
Ep 73: Bruins Face Elimination; Bruce Cassidy On Hot Seat; Patrice Bergeron Final Standby Full Press Coverage on May 12, 2022 at 4:00 pm
Ian and Chris discuss game six between the Bruins and Hurricanes and the […]
-
Ep 72: Bruins Acquire Hampus Lindholm; More Moves To Come?by Full Press Coverage on March 20, 2022 at 3:34 pm
Ian and Chris discuss the trade of Hampus Lindholm to the Bruins and what […]
-
Episode #380 - The 2022 NHL Playoffs - Second Roundby Full Press Coverage on May 17, 2022 at 2:30 am
After FIVE!!! game 7's in the first round of the playoffs, the 2nd round […]
-
Episode #379 - The 2022 NHL Playoffs - First Roundby Full Press Coverage on May 10, 2022 at 2:02 am
The NHL playoffs are well underway and the series are definitely not going […]
-
Episode #102: French or Silenceby Full Press Coverage on May 21, 2022 at 5:46 am
The AHL Divisional Semifinals have concluded, and now, only eight teams […]
-
Episode #101: Playoff Post Mortemby Full Press Coverage on May 17, 2022 at 6:11 am
The 2022 AHL Calder Cup Playoffs are in full swing, with (almost) two […]
-
Episode #102: French or Silenceby Full Press Coverage on May 21, 2022 at 5:46 am
The AHL Divisional Semifinals have concluded, and now, only eight teams […]
-
Episode #101: Playoff Post Mortemby Full Press Coverage on May 17, 2022 at 6:11 am
The 2022 AHL Calder Cup Playoffs are in full swing, with (almost) two […]
-
Ep 60: #KrejciForever and Raised Expectationsby Full Press Coverage on May 4, 2021 at 9:23 pm
Ian and Chris talk about the Bruins post trade deadline turnaround and […]
-
Ep 59: Bruins Swing Big At Trade Deadlineby Full Press Coverage on April 12, 2021 at 9:48 pm
Ian and Chris welcome in Mike Cratty to discuss the trade acquisitions of […]
-
Celtics Rebound In Game Two; Series Heads To Bostonby Full Press Coverage on May 21, 2022 at 11:00 am
Ian and John discuss the Celtics big game two win over the Heat as the […]
-
Lightning On Way To A Three-Peat? (5/20)by Full Press Coverage on May 20, 2022 at 4:18 pm
Ian and John discuss the Tampa Bay Lightning and their 2-0 series lead […]
Comments 1