BRIGHTON, Mass – After seeming a bit stunned following a disappointing Game 1 loss to the Maple Leafs where the Bruins were outmaneuvered and outplayed by Toronto, Bruce Cassidy was honest and unmerciful about his team’s performance a day later.
The Bruins coach also wasn’t sparing himself any criticism after a plan to check the Maple Leafs with their fastest skating group really didn’t work out and instead resulted in a 4-1 loss where urgency and execution weren’t even close to a playoff level.
Some of the self-criticism was about opting for speed over experience and physicality in keeping David Backes out of the lineup, some about the lack of in-game adjustments vs. Toronto and some of it certainly about matchups where John Tavares’ line did a good job of neutralizing Patrice Bergeron, David Pastrnak and Brad Marchand in 5-on-5 play.
Still, it was also clear that the B’s generally didn’t look ready to execute and operate at a playoff level at the drop of the puck in Game 1. The mental and physical errors at both ends of the ice made it quite obvious. The handful of breakaways and odd-man rushes allowed to the speedy, skilled Leafs in the second period were about as bad as the Bruins have been defensively in months and it came at a horrendous time.
“They probably outplayed us at every position and they outcoached us, obviously. So they deserved to win, and that’s an area where [Nazem] Kadri hits [Jake] DeBrusk and it’s a borderline [hit], but we need to get into that mode as well to get them off their game," Cassidy said. "That’s where the Acciaris and the Wagners do bring some of that. I thought [Connor] Clifton and Charlie [McAvoy] started to get hard on the back end and finished some checks. Obviously, Clifton did it to [William] Nylander and drew a penalty right after that. So, we need a little more of that in our game when the situation dictates. Physicality when it’s there and check with your feet, your brains and your stick when you’re not able to get there. I didn’t think we were good enough [in Game 1].”
“You expect in Game 1 [for us] to be on our game. We weren’t as much as we’d like. There were pockets of it in the second period where we, unfortunately, going into the intermission [down] 3-1 and we’d done a lot of things well. But we didn’t play a smart enough hockey game and we paid the price.”
One would expect that the Bruins will bounce back in Game 2 Saturday night after showing resilience all season in overcoming adversity for a 107-point regular season and that Cassidy will bounce back after admitting he was outcoached.
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But that’s why they play the games in the playoffs and the B’s obviously have plenty to prove after putting their worst foot forward in Game 1.
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