Bruce Cassidy had a lot to get off his chest Monday night.
The Bruins head coach blasted the Game 5 officiating crew after Boston's 5-4 loss to the Islanders at TD Garden, lamenting that New York benefits from the belief that it can do no wrong.
"I think they sell a narrative over there that it's more like the New York Saints and not the New York Islanders," Cassidy said. " ... The exact calls that get called on us do not get called on them, and I don't know why."
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Game 5 takeaways: Disastrous penalty kill sinks B's
Islanders head coach Barry Trotz seemed a bit perplexed when asked about Cassidy's comments in his postgame video conference.
"You'll have to ask him about that," Trotz told reporters. "Just look at where we ended up during the year: I think we were one of the least penalized teams in the whole league. So, I don't know what he means by that. You'll have to ask him."
Trotz is right: The Islanders ranked 29th of 31 NHL teams in penalty minutes per game (6.61) during the regular season, while the Bruins ranked fifth at 9.52 PIM per game.
While that's likely evidence of a disciplined hockey club, Cassidy and Bruins fans could argue those low penalty numbers are proof that the Islanders may get away with a few calls thanks to their clean reputation.
Meanwhile, Islanders fans didn't pass up the chance to troll the Bruins by running with Cassidy's "Saints" remark with some photo editing magic.
The New York Saints were actually a real team that played in the National Lacrosse League in 1990s (they're now the New York Riptide), so perhaps Islanders fans will bust out some old Saints jerseys for Game 6 at Nassau Coliseum on Wednesday night.
It's unclear whether Cassidy was aware of the lacrosse connection, but he gave Islanders fans plenty of ammunition with his team already on the ropes.