So, it’s time to talk about Bruce Cassidy and his role in the run and going forward.
I’ll preface this post by saying I really respect Cassidy and majorly credit him for the new bruins turn around, he absolutely deserves the accolades he get. That said there’s always room for improvement and I personally feel he is primarily responsible for the Bruins loss in game 7
I’ve only seen a few “outcoached” posts, and a lot of first line this first line that, and some tuukka can’t play the big game garbage posts
But I really do feel Cassidy made some critical errors in the SCF and now with the injuries coming out I feel even more strongly about it
One thing I’ve always had an issue with Cassidy going back to last year’s regular season, he occasionally beats himself in games, he never uses the time out properly, and really has a problem with pressure situations - when things are going well they’re going really well, but when the bruins start running around he looks nervous and makes decisions that reflect that.
Back to the time out, the time out when used properly, is an extremely effective tool. We saw peter laviolette burn us with it in 2010.
Cassidy routinely refuses to use his time out in perfect moments to do so. He always assumes you’ll need it in case you’re down 1 with 1 min to go, and aside from ways you can extend that without a time out, if you use your timeout properly, you might be up 1 instead of down
There have been over a dozen times just this season I can see when the bruins start to run around and it’s obvious a goal is coming, and then it comes. And I don’t just mean after 30 seconds, I mean after a few minutes.
It happened in game 2 and 4, and then the fatal game 7
Now let’s focus on game seven because while I think game 4 especially was a huge missed opportunity, game 7 was the final chance and Bruce and boys did enough to get within 1 so credit where credit is due
In game 7, when the bruins were controlling the play then got scored on quickly, you could argue Bruce could have called a timeout here - reasonable that he didn’t, but the way that goal happened it’s somewhat reasonable he would at least take advantage of a whistle and change to settle the team down. Then when they really started pressing, another opportunity to try to settle them down AND identify that while the plan to go low on binnington had worked before, Binnington was overcompensating low and therefor nothing was going in. But they kept going low instead of lifting it. This is a coaching error if you ask me. Once players started to go high, some puck luck and tight sticks gave Binnington some confidence to grab everything that came his way, and sometime around then bruins gave up another one, because they were pressing too hard and Marchand went for a line change
After the first intermission, I’ll bet cassidy’s Message was keep it going put pucks on net, but by the second period the blues were collapsing everything and no one on the bruins was really willing to go straight to the net and pay the price to stay there, so they kept everything to the outside and would only sort of go to the net when the puck was already fired there
At that point, another time out could have been called. Guys were making unforced errors like it was the only message they heard. It’s on the coach to chill everyone out.
By the third period the bruins started to pressure again, but still all the same flaws in the offense as the last two periods, which brings me to my next point
Now that we know the injuries, I really question Cassidy’s decision to sit Backes and not mix up the lines a tad prior to the game. I get they won game 6, but it was so painfully obvious with how the series went that what worked in game 6 wouldn’t work exactly that way again in game 7. Sitting Backes prevented them from having a guy that would go to the net and pay any price asked. if Acciari has a broken sternum, and Debrusk dealing with concussion issues, one of those guys might have been able to sit. You can’t convince me Backes would have unleashed another level for that game, and in any case he can still use his strength and take a ton of punishment. The bruins desperately needed a greasey goal in the first, certainly by the second, and maybe even before that third killer goal they get that and it completely changes the game.
Krejci should have been moved between Marchand and Pastrnak, or at the very least move someone in Pasta’s place. If you intimately know your players injuries and struggles, it’s time to make some adjustments to get guys easier minutes or put different types of style out there. Instead he haphazardly sends out combos frantically in the third of game 5.
When you’re playing a 7 game series. You can’t just roll your lines and play to system. You have to change it up and adapt to what the other team is doing. Too often Cassidy looks freaked on the bench and I think it rubs off on the players
There was a lot of time in game 7 and for whatever reason, he froze and just had them keep playing, while the rest of us watched them miss pass after pass, force it into areas with no support, give the puck away instead of slowing it down and doubling back and then taking it with speed, force pucks through 4 blues players and on and on, until we all finally got taken out back and took two in the back of the skull with goal’s 3 and 4.
So yea, love Cassidy, but hopefully he learns from these mistakes like he learned from his gig with Washington. The bruins team and he could certainly grow a lot from these finals but I think it needs to start with Cassidy
