BOSTON — Right now, the New York Rangers are in a total rebuild, with much of their roster being youngsters that are trying to prove they can hack it in the NHL.
One way to turn a head or two is by playing physical, and they indeed turned Bruce Cassidy’s head, but not always in the best way.
The Boston Bruins’ 6-3 win over the Rangers at TD Garden on Wednesday featured plenty of physicality, to the point where Patrice Bergeron nearly dropped the gloves with Lias Andersson. And after the Bruins began piling goals on the visitors late in the third period, some hits read more like headhunting. That ultimately led to David Backes trying to rough up Andersson, which resulted in more tussling.
After the game, the Bruins head coach acknowledged that he thought the Bruins responded well, but made clear he wasn’t overjoyed by the way the Rangers at times handled themselves.
“Well, we talked about it, players did, coaches did. Listen, this is a time of year where you can’t get goofy, either. So it’s got to be a controlled response, and I thought we did that by taking care of business on the scoreboard and then trying to assert ourselves physically throughout the period when the situation dictated it. They’ve got a lot of young players there, at times a little bit disrespectful I think at times, but if that’s their makeup that’s their makeup. I don’t know them as players and if that motivates them, but at the end of the day I thought we handled it well.”
To kick off his press conference though, Cassidy did crack a joke about the Bergeron situation when asked if the center, who also had a goal and assist, qualified for the Gordie Howe hat trick.
“Requires a five-minute, unfortunately,” Cassidy said. “Maybe a Alex Delvecchio hat trick?”
As far as playing against teams already eliminated from the playoffs, the Bruins have a pair coming up this weekend. They’ll take on the Florida Panthers on Saturday and Detroit Red Wings on Sunday. From there, they’ll finish the regular season against three teams either in the postseason or in the hunt.
So given Cassidy’s comments Wednesday night, it seems likely a point of emphasis the next couple days will be to not get caught up in antics down the stretch.
