Bruce Cassidy Held ‘No Bulls–t’ Meeting Before Bruins-Canadiens

Bruce Cassidy knew Monday’s tilt against the Montreal Canadiens was a must-win for his Boston Bruins, so he took it upon himself to call a meeting before the puck dropped at Bell Centre.

The B’s bench boss clearly had been frustrated after two straight losses to the Pittsburgh Penguins and Buffalo Sabres. Even without key players like Patrice Bergeron, Zdeno Chara and Kevan Miller, Cassidy knew those games were winnable for Boston.

The meeting was short and sweet, according to The Athletic’s Joe McDonald. It took just 10 minutes for Cassidy to get his message across to his players:

“Cassidy didn’t call out any individuals,” McDonald wrote. “It was simply a matter of ‘this is what we need to do in order to win.’ The message was to start with a better checking game. Play with a purpose. Be accountable. To a man, the Bruins responded.”

“It was no bulls–,” one Bruins player told McDonald regarding the meeting.

Boston didn’t want to give its head coach any more reason to be frustrated, and the team responded with a 4-0 shellacking of its rival. Cassidy noticed how the Bruins played with a purpose and credited how his team was, once again, “hard to play against.”

The Bruins will have a tough task ahead of them with their next two games against the Anaheim Ducks and Nashville Predators. Although it’s possible Boston could see the return of Bergeron, it still will need all its players to continue to play with a purpose.