Bruins need to substitute pugnacious for polite - The Boston Globe
“It’s time,” said a serious, somber-sounding Bruce Cassidy, following his club’s early-afternoon workout Saturday in Brighton. “We have to step up our urgency level.”
Truth is, his team has been on a dangerously low simmer for all but Game 2. Cassidy knows it and he also knows his team is in trouble. He has stood behind his bench for 300 minutes the last week-plus, and other than the night Kadri again jetted off to crazy town, both the Bruins and Leafs have played like a couple of high-end private school clubs stocked with kids hoping to land Division 1 scholarships.
Not a single fight in five games. We have witnessed (shield your eyes) a whopping five roughing minors. Oh, the humanity. But let’s not forget the requisite amount of high sticks, holds, and interference calls. All that stuff qualifies as the burr in the saddle of what so far has been a $1,000 claimer of a series.
“I think sometimes you overthink the X’s and O’s — you are trying to think a little too much about what they’re bringing to you,” said veteran pivot Patrice Bergeron. “I think sometimes you’ve got to, I guess, rely more on instincts. That’s what hockey is about. You know, your first play is usually your best play, so don’t overthink stuff.”
“It’s tough . . . we are playing every other night, each game means a lot, and when your team doesn’t show up and doesn’t show that fire, have that edge . . . ,” mused defenseman Torey Krug, “. . .
because I think we have that edge when we bring it, it really shows in our game and it pushes them back on their heels.
“We’ve got to bring it. No question about it. We’ve got to bring it.”
