Bruce Cassidy wasn’t in the talking mood Monday night, except for a brief, biting critique of his team’s effort.
The Boston Bruins dropped yet another shootout, this one to the Flyers in Philadelphia. Brad Marchand’s shootout gaffe, however, might have overshadowed the real issue for Boston, as the B’s inexplicably failed to protect a 5-2 lead midway through the second period.
The Flyers stormed back to tie the game before winning it in a lengthy shootout, but Cassidy’s primary gripe was with how his team performed in the 60 minutes of regulation. The Bruins head coach was especially terse in his postgame media availability, but he made sure to lay into his team, especially for its effort on the Flyers’ game-tying goal in the third period when Travis Sanheim beat Jaroslav Halak as well as a Black and Gold trio of Charlie Coyle, Brandon Carlo and Matt Grzelcyk.
“Talk about the goaltending, talk about the (defensemen) in front of them. I think they both can take their share of blame for some of those goals, especially the 4-on-4, we’ve got three different guys circling around there,” Cassidy ranted after the game.
“It’s inexcusable. You’re in the third period, you’ve got a lead that’s getting away from you — we’re pretty good at buckling down. I don’t know what to tell you about that particular play. No compete in front of the net, no urgency to keep the puck out of the net from three of our players. … Clearly, not a good enough job.”
It’s a pretty brutal setback for a recently struggling Bruins team that appeared to be turning a corner. Boston had won three in a row after a forgettable stretch in which it had dropped 11 of 15. The Bruins don’t have to wait long for a chance to bounce back, as they travel to Columbus to face the Blue Jackets on Tuesday night.
