Cassidy takes Bruins' leadership to task following another disappointing showing against Islanders

For the first time in a long time, things felt somewhat normal over at TD Garden.

After over a year spent in muted, solemn purgatory due to the damage dealt by the COVID-19 pandemic, Causeway Street once again felt alive on Thursday evening, with black-and-gold sweaters littering the avenue on a balmy 70-degree evening.

Bars that had previously shuttered for months on end buzzed with business, while the statued visage of Bobby Orr was once again frequented by joyous fans — many of whom were permitted, at long last, to cheer on their hometown club within the B's own barn.

Inside, the first 2,191 fans granted passage to sit back in those Garden seats in 383 days sounded a whole lot more like 21,000 — with the bellowing anthem performance of Todd Angilly and the raucous cheers (and jeers) emanating from the nosebleeds creating a familiar cacophony that had been sorely missed since last March.

But looking beyond those familiar sights and sounds present in and around the Garden on Thursday — the actual product on the ice was far from normal for a Bruins club still trying to find any semblance of traction in the East Division.

While Boston has often relied on its top-flight triumvirate of Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak to keep the gears turning for an underwhelming even-strength offense, Thursday saw all three of the B's goals come off the sticks of either bottom-six options or depth pieces in Karson Kuhlman, Steven Kampfer and Anders Bjork. An unorthodox OT grouping of Bjork, Charlie Coyle and Matt Grzelcyk started — and ultimately ended — an extra period of play. And postgame, Bruce Cassidy channeled most of his frustrations following the 4-3 loss into a largely absolved grouping for years now: the tried-and-true veteran core.

In particular, Cassidy was irked about what he viewed was the game-changing sequence in the game — in which Boston, already up 2-0 against the Isles — failed to cash in on a four-minute, power-play stretch in the second period, with just one more special-teams tally both serving as a knockout blow to Semyon Varlamov and potentially launching the TD Garden roof up and over into Chelsea.

Not only did Boston fail to find twine despite the extended 5v4 opportunity, but the rushed and forced plays from key cogs like Marchand — who overstayed their time on ice during these shifts — ultimately left the club in a bad spot for the inevitable New York counter-rush. By the time Scott Mayfield exited the box, a sleepy change had Boston on the ropes — with Charlie McAvoy and Connor Clifton left to try to defend a 3v2 push. Things didn't end well, as expected.

"You're not going to score on every one," Cassidy said of the four-minute power play. "We did get one to extend the lead. Had a few looks we misfired on. But it was a bad change and we got frustrated late in it and guys that we rely on — leaders that I've praised for years here — disappointed in not just being able to grind it out. Change when you're supposed to. Make the plays you're supposed to on that power play. Might not go in, but keep the momentum. Obviously they're going to get a bit of juice off of it from killing the penalty. But now they get a kill and they cut the deficit in half, all in a quick strike. So they need to be better in that situation. I expect better. And that to me gave the Islanders some life that really wasn't necessary."



Given how often Boston's veteran leaders directly drive this club's offense — coupled with the lack of consistent production from the rest of the supporting cast — it's not often that Cassidy doles out such sharp critiques for his locker-room mainstays. But even if most of the flaws and shortcomings present on the roster can't be directly tied to the play of names like Bergeron, Marchand or David Krejci — that doesn't mean that these choice individuals are immune to all forms of criticism.

Cassidy especially has a case when it comes to how his 63-37-88 line has fared against the Islanders this season. In four games against the Isles, the Bergeron line has logged a combined 47:47 of 5v5 ice time. And during that stretch...

Boston leads in shots on goal, 31-20.
Trails in high-danger scoring chances, 11-8. 
And is even in goals scored at 2-2. 

Fair or not, that's not nearly good enough, especially for a unit that had close to 70% of their 5v5 faceoffs set in the offensive zone on Thursday night.

And while secondary scoring, a depleted D corps and a goaltending rotation that could be without Tuukka Rask for another stretch here are all larger targets when it comes to charting Boston's slide in the standings, this marks the second time in under two weeks in which Cassidy has called out his veterans following a lackluster power play.

"We never really got in sync on our entry and got settled down and made the plays you’re supposed to, force the goalie to make saves,” Cassidy said following Boston's 4-0 loss to the Rangers back on March 13.  “And then the frustration sets in because you’re not playing well anyway, you’re behind. And it gets away from you and that’s what happened. I’ve credited this leadership a lot. And that’s where tonight they needed to be better — is take ownership of that say, ‘Hey, let’s just settle down, run a play.’ Run a play, we’re on the same page, run an entry where we’re going to support one another and get in and build some momentum. We weren’t able to do that.”

If Boston's month-long slump lingers into April and beyond, it's fair to assume that Bergeron and Co. will not be the primary architects in any potential second-half collapse. If anything, the efforts of those key cogs have been the duct tape that have kept this top-heavy, mismatched roster intact and winning games at a steady clip for years now. But on Thursday — on a night in which normalcy once again found its way back into the Garden — the tried-and-true veterans that have made a habit out of putting this team on their backs unfortunately weren't able to follow the same familiar script.

"It's not going to replace 18,000. But it's nice to hear them again," Cassidy said of fans returning to the Garden. "Unfortunately we couldn't send them home in a better mood. There's some good pockets of hockey for them and some other pockets they're probably disappointed and frustrated, but we are as well. So hopefully Saturday we'll give them more to cheer about."