What Bruce Cassidy had to say about the Bruins’ 8-5 loss to the Canucks
"We need to redefine a few roles."
Defensive struggles were a notable reason for the Bruins’ 8-5 loss to the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday night at TD Garden.
Head coach Bruce Cassidy explained his team’s struggles in a postgame interview on NESN, saying he’s unhappy with the team’s lack of urgency on defense.
“I didn’t like the pushback of certain guys in our group,” Cassidy said. “Listen, the goaltending wasn’t great, we all saw that tonight. They had off nights, it’s going to happen. We play 82 of these. Halak’s been great for us, we know Tuukka’s going to be solid. … We need to redefine a few roles, that’s on the coaching staff to make sure the message gets across in games like that. You’ve got to turn the tide and it’s through goals, it’s through big hits, through physical play and I just think we have to readdress certain individuals in that aspect of the game.”
🎥 Bruce Cassidy, Jake DeBrusk, David Krejci, Tuukka Rask, and Jaroslav Halak react after tonight’s 8-5 loss to Vancouver: pic.twitter.com/cYYDtnLZQA
— x – Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) November 9, 2018
Halak, with a save percentage of .936, has been leaned on pretty heavily since the Bruins signed him in July.
“Sometimes bad bounces or bad goals go in,” Halak said. “But as a goalie you have to have a short memory. You have to forget about those and just try to stop the next one. I mean tonight, like I said, was one of those games that just a few pucks found a way [in]. We had a chance; we scored and they scored. Just got to forget about this one, look at the video tomorrow and get ready for this weekend.”
Offensively, the Bruins young guys kept things moving. Jake DeBrusk scored two, and Danton Heinen netted his first of the season. The Bruins also saw goals from Patrice Bergeron and Matt Grzelcyk.
“I think you’ve seen this year, when we’ve got behind by, say two or three [goals], then we tend to want to press and instead of sticking with the plan and try to get chip-aways,” Cassidy said. “That’s a product — we have some young forwards that are skilled and they want to kind of do it themselves, and that’s a good thing that they want to take it upon themselves, it’s just they need to be reminded that it’s a tough league and you can’t do it by yourself.”
