Bruce Cassidy clearly had a bone to pick as he fielded questions following Boston’s disappointing 3-1 loss to the Lightning in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
Cassidy could have directed his barbs at a number of worthy candidates on Saturday afternoon:
- A Bruins’ fourth line without Sean Kuraly driving the bus was once again left rudderless against Tampa, with the trio of Chris Wagner, Joakim Nordstrom and Par Lindholm getting front-row seats to Ondrej Palat’s opening tally less than nine minutes into regulation.
- Jaroslav Halak, pressed into service following Tuukka Rask’s departure, sapped any sense of momentum that Boston generated at the start of the second period — with Palat doubling the Bolts’ lead by sailing a puck past the goalie’s glove at 12:29 in the middle frame.
- And Nick Ritchie, acquired at the deadline in order to trade punches with a beefed-up team like Tampa Bay, put his club in a tough spot later in the second — drilling Yanni Gourde with a late hit and spending the next five minutes in the sin bin.
But rather than hammer Ritchie — with Tampa landing a knockout punch on that power-play off another goal from
Tyler Johnson
— Cassidy instead directed most of his frustrations toward the officials on the ice, even defending Ritchie’s rather clear late hit on Gourde.
“The discipline was nothing originally,” Cassidy said of Ritchie’s major, which was assessed upon video review. “There was no call, and then it turned into a five-minute major. I’m not sure. I guess we’ll get an explanation or we won’t, I don’t know. I didn’t get one of why that changed.
“Clearly Gourde was down on the play. He’s a good player, a real good player for them. Clever obviously. Got them on the power play for five minutes. He finished the game, had no problems in the third period. I didn’t agree with the call. …
(Karson) Kuhlman
got hit by (
Cedric)
Paquette
late in the first period, like I said, a very, very, very, very, very, very similar hit, no call. But I guess we’ll ask that question, find out what the thinking was.”
Steven Stamkos
Ryan McDonagh
Connor Clifton
Charlie McAvoy
Alex Killorn
Coleman, Blake
Danton Heinen
has Ritchie been the primary culprit as to why Boston sits on the precipice of elimination? No, of course not. He certainly has not been the answer Boston has been looking for as a physical equalizer that can still make his presence felt in the O-zone, but a 2019-20 season filled with so much promise isn't coming to an end because of the play of a third-line winger averaging a little over 12 minutes per game this season.
four
Brad Marchand
Craig Berube
Charlie Coyle
David Krejci
