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New York Saints? Bruce Cassidy thinks Islanders sell narrative |
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Islanders head coach Barry Trotz is one of the best coaches in the game. A Stanley Cup winner and defensive game plan whiz.
Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy thinks that Trotz and his staff use that to their advantage. An advantage he feels was heavily in the Islanders favor in Game 5.
“I think what happens is we’re playing a team that has a very respected management and coaching staff. They’ve won a Stanley Cup. I think they sell a narrative over there that it’s more like the New York Saints not the New York Islanders,” Cassidy said following the Bruins 5-4 loss in Game 5 Monday night.
“They play hard and they play the right way. But I feel we’re the same way. The exact same calls that get called on us do not get called on them and I don’t know why.”
It was a frustrating night all-around for the Bruins. The frustration started in the first period. The Bruins came out as fast and strong as you could, jumping out to an early 1-0 lead.
But after a slashing call on Sean Kuraly that Cassidy and company did not agree with, Mat Barzal knotted the game at one a piece.
Given the way the Bruins dominated the opening 20, it was a first period loss for the Bruins to come out of the frame tied. The lack of calls in their favor that Cassidy spoke of, didn’t help the cause, either.
“These are very good officials. They’re at this point of the season for a reason. Maybe we need to sell them more, but that’s not us. You just hope they’d see ‘em. The same calls go against us,” said Cassidy.
“The end of the day, the similar plays, they need to be penalized plays. But like I said, they’ve done a great job selling that narrative that they’re clean. They play hard, a hard brand of hockey. I love the way they play, but they commit as many infractions as we do.”
This is not the first time Cassidy has publicly called out the officiating. He did so following Game 4 Saturday night.
It appears his comments backfired, the Islanders getting four of the game’s six power plays, scoring on three of them.
The Islanders ability to score on the man advantage was the difference in the game, sending the series back to New York with the Islanders leading the series 3-2.
Trotz on the other hand, played his cards perfectly.
After commenting on Patrice Bergeron and how he “cheats” on faceoffs, the referees were on notice, frequently kicking Bergeron out of faceoffs.
“It’s like the Bergeron today, he’s thrown out what? The first two, three, four faceoffs he takes because someone mentions—you know have a little respect for Patrice Bergeron. He’s up for the Selke [Award], he’s been a warrior in this league, a face of the franchise, does everything right for hockey, sells the game and that’s the way you treat him, come on. Because someone speaks out and says something all of a sudden,” said Cassidy.
“So they just need to be better than that and just call the game what you see and quit listening to these outside influences and get it done right because I don’t think they were great tonight, I’m not going to lie to you.”
Regardless if it was the right call, or a bad one, you still have to make the kill, something the Bruins certainly struggled with.
“We’ve got to kill the penalties, we’ve said that all along. There’s a call then there’s two minutes that you’ve got to kill the penalties,” said Cassidy. “We broke down, we need to be better on the penalty kill, we have to, we have been all year. From the blueline back, today wasn’t our best. When we’ve broke down, we’ve gotten the saves in the past. Tonight, that didn’t happen.”
It’s clear the Bruins miss Brandon Carlo and Kevan Miller.
Only Jeremy Lauzon and Jared Tinordi saw more shorthanded time on ice per game in the regular season than Carlo and Miller did. You have to think having even one of them back in Game 5 would have made a difference on the penalty kill.
“Our PK, Carlo and Miller eat up a lot of those minutes, we miss them back there. We had some breakdowns that we need to correct,” said Cassidy. “Guys don’t have their abilities on it, we got to coach them up, make sure they’re better.”
Either or both could be back for Game 6 Wednesday, a must-win for the Bruins as they hope to force a Game 7 and a return to TD Garden later in the week.
What comes from Cassidy’s comments and public bashing of the officiating and the Islanders narrative remains to be seen.
Oh, and as for the New York Saints, formally of the National Lacrosse League. They too, played out of Nassau Coliseum with their final season being played in 2003, finishing with a 3-13 record.
Boston Bruins Blogger • 
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