You can’t say Bruce Cassidy didn’t give us the heads-up.
The Boston Bruins head coach said after Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Final that he wasn’t happy with his team’s performance in the first period. Boston’s power play couldn’t take advantage of multiple opportunities, and a desperate Carolina Hurricanes team blitzed the Black and Gold to begin the game.
The Bruins were under siege, and Cassidy thought his team could have been better.
“I don’t want to go through it all; we’re all mic’d up, there are cameras, so you’ll probably find out whenever the show comes on, so you can sort it out for yourself and take the pieces you like, (but) I wasn’t particularly happy with our compete level,” Cassidy told reporters after the game.
Well, the show, ESPN+’s “Quest for the Stanley Cup” (subscription required) released its latest episode earlier this week, and viewers were able to see — and more importantly, hear — Cassidy’s profanity-laced message to his team after the first 20.
“Don’t kid yourselves here,” he said. “This guy’s (Torey Krug) taken three (expletive) hits already to put us on the power play. He’s the smallest (expletive) guy. So wake the (expletive) up. Start competing. This is bull (expletive). He’s getting the (expletive) kicked out of him, and our goalie has made 50 stops. That’s not who we are. Let’s (expletive) play hard. Play hard, play smart and we’ll be fine.”
The message was received, and the Bruins came back to win. Cassidy was in a much better, more appreciative mood following the win, especially after watching Bruins forward Chris Wagner put his season on the line to block a shot late in the game.
“Hey, listen, we talked about ironically before the game the theme: It hurts to win, especially this time of year, and I think a few guys proved that,” Cassidy told his players. “Torey took a few hits to get us on the power play, but boy, Wags, what a big play at the end, kid.”
Cassidy also was mic’d up following the Bruins’ blowout win in Game 2. That contest featured defenseman Matt Grzelcyk taking a massive hit from Micheal Ferland early in the game, only to rebound and eventually score a pair of goals. In the locker room after that game, Cassidy couldn’t help but express his love for the young defenseman.
“Jesus, Grizz. You’re a sexy, tough little son of (expletive), man,” Cassidy raved with a giant smile plastered on his face. “Good for you. Good job, buddy. Good job hanging in there.”
The ESPN show has followed every series throughout the playoffs, and this most recent episode ended after the Bruins’ Game 3 win, meaning we’ll have to wait for the next episode to get the sights and scenes from Boston’s series-clinching win and the Stanley Cup Final.
