So far, going on the road during the Stanley Cup Playoffs hasn’t been kind to the Boston Bruins.
And as the series shifts away from TD Garden following Boston’s 5-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday, Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy knows his team can’t get ahead of itself after two strong performances on home ice.
“We need to win a game on the road,” Cassidy said as seen in team-provided video. “If we don’t win a game on the road in this series, we’re not advancing. We know that. That’s been in front of us since the playoffs started, and we got an opportunity to do that Tuesday.”
According to Cassidy, one of the keys in stealing a game on the road could be staying out of the penalty box. Both teams have struggled to not commit infractions as the road team. The Hurricanes accrued eight penalties in Game 4 while the Bruins came away with a whopping 13 penalties in their Game 2 loss. The Bruins were outscored 10-3 in their two road games so far in the playoffs.
While the Bruins are certainly in a better position now by leveling the series, Cassidy still sees plenty of challenges ahead if the Bruins want to advance.
“We talked about it, there’s adversity,” Cassidy said. “We hit it early and we’re still going through it. We’re 2-2, but we’re going on the road. A place they’ve played very well in this series and we’ve played very well here. I thought we had pockets of real good game up there in Carolina. So, that part of it will be a positive for us. Getting some momentum here will be a positive.
“But they’re going to go back home and we’re going to see, I’m sure, their best effort in Game 5. Our adversity is still there. We have a couple of defensemen we rely on a lot that are right now unavailable to us. So, other people have to pick it up. It’s great to even it and get back into it, but we haven’t won anything other than get it back to even.”
The Bruins and the Hurricanes square off in Game 5 of their best-of-seven series on Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET. You can watch the game and an hour of pregame coverage on NESN.
