Barry Trotz drew the ire of Bruins fans with his comments Sunday afternoon regarding Patrice Bergeron knowing "how to cheat on the faceoffs."
Bergeron, to the surprise of no one, responded to those comments in a level-headed way, but his head coach went one step further after the Boston Bruins dropped Game 5 to the New York Islanders on Monday night.
In case you need a refresher: Bergeron was tossed from the first faceoff of the game, and a few more after that. After Trotz's comments, it probably got some fans thinking if that had any influence on what was happening.
And Cassidy didn't take too kindly to that.
"He was thrown out of what, the first two, three, four faceoffs he takes because someone mentioned (something)," Cassidy said after the game over Zoom. "Have a little respect for Patrice Bergeron. He's up for the Selke Trophy. He's been a warrior in this league, a face of the franchise, he does everything right for hockey and sells the game. And that's the way you treat him? Come on.
"Just because someone speaks out and says something, like all of a sudden. (The referees) just need to be better than that. Call the game that you see and quit listening to these outside influences and get it done right because I don't think they were great tonight."
Cassidy, understandably, was frustrated with the officials as a whole after the game, not just for how they treated Bergeron.
Game 6 is do or die for the Bruins. Puck drop from Nassau Coliseum is set for 7:30 p.m. ET. The game will air on NBC, but NESN will carry an hour of pregame and postgame coverage, as well as intermission reports on NESN.com.
