The Bruins put up a fight Monday night, but it wasn’t enough to stay in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Tampa Bay Lightning eliminated Boston from contention with a 3-2 double-overtime win in Game 5 of the second-round series, punching their ticket to the Eastern Conference Final in the process.
It was a heartbreaking loss for the B’s, to say the least. But Bruce Cassidy had a message for his men after Monday’s defeat, and he shared it with reporters during his postgame video conference.
“First of all, I told them, for me it’s always an honor and a privilege to coach these guys,” Cassidy said, per a team-provided transcript. “Listen, there’s days where as a coach I’m frustrated, fans, organizations, players themselves, but they, we come to work every day. We’re disappointed it didn’t go better for us, no doubt. There will be some evaluation of players, coaches, up and down, that’s what any good organization will do once their season is done. That’s what I told them, it’s a privilege and an honor and I appreciate their commitment.
“So going to your second part, there was a commitment to be here, a lot of sacrifices for every player that’s here, management, worker, to be away, you’re confined. I still think the situation, the NHL handled it terrific, the accommodations, but you’re still confined to a certain extent, and that’s different so you have to be mentally dialed in so to speak and to find structure in your day that’s different than normal life. Having said that, probably better to ask that a few days from now, once you’re back to your normal life. You probably reflect on what you did for the five, six weeks a little better because it’s become routine for us. We’re at the hotel, at the rink, couple activities to do, we’re together eating all the time, so certainly some camaraderie, some bonding. Some lonely days too, you miss your family, but the end of the day, that’s the commitment you make if you want to win the Stanley Cup. That was the ask this year and here we are, but we’re not going to get that opportunity this year obviously.”
Well said.
