Bruce Cassidy’s message to Jeremy Lauzon can be summed up thusly: Mistakes happen, turn the page.
An ill-advised pass in overtime by Lauzon on Monday allowed for Casey Cizikas’ breakaway goal to give the New York Islanders the victory over the Boston Bruins in Game 2. It leveled the series, and Lauzon, visibly mad at his mistake of passing across the point and not sending the puck down the boards, smashed his stick against the goal.
A young blueliner playing on the third pairing, it would not be the most surprising path if Bruce Cassidy decided to healthy scratch Lauzon after what happened in Game 2.
But that won’t be the approach, as Cassidy confirmed Wednesday that Lauzon will be in the lineup for Game 3.
“He’s a confident kid. If you watch him, he tries, plays out there more than most than most that have his experience level, so I’m not worried about that part of it,” Cassidy said Wednesday over Zoom. “I think the message to Jeremy, for the most part, is, now, moving forward, we’re all on to Game 3, Game 2 is over and be true to your identity. In simplest terms, you have to be at your best to keep pucks out of our net, and that is your first job, that’s what you’re good at, that’s why you got into the lineup.
“You’re obviously hard to play against and willing to block shots, be physical, all those other things that go along with that, but hard to play against and keep the puck out of your net. That starts with good defending, that starts with a good stick — that’s what we addressed with him the other night. … Offensively, we have certain things we like to run in the O-zone, the other one didn’t work out the other night, we addressed it. But he still has to make the plays that are in front of him.
“He’s going to be like everyone else on our team, he’s going to make some good ones and other ones that could’ve been better. So we’ll keep encouraging him, working with him. He’s a great kid, he’ll be in there tomorrow night and hopefully he helps us win. “
Puck drop for Game 3 is set for 7:30 p.m. ET. NESN will have a full hour of pregame and postgame coverage.
