BOSTON BRUINS PREGAME QUOTES BOSTON BRUINS VS TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS Saturday, April 21, 2017
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BOSTON BRUINS PREGAME QUOTES BOSTON BRUINS VS TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS Saturday, April 21, 2017 BOSTON BRUINS HEAD COACH BRUCE CASSIDY POSTGAME On the Bruins’ start… It clearly wasn’t good enough. We let them get to the top of the paint for a couple of goals that we’re generally solid on. We had a couple of two-on-twos that turned into two very good chances, happened up there. So, clearly, we’ve got to address that. Those aren’t odd-man rushes, that’s not stretch plays, that’s just basic two on twos that we need to communicate better, square up better, defend better. Then obviously, you want a save, as well, mixed in in those, and that didn’t happen either. So, the stuff that we’ve done lately: defend, get saves, that didn’t happen early on. We found our legs eventually and fought our way back in, but the start wasn’t good enough. On if the power plays and late push just didn’t seem to be… Well, you’ve got to give their goaltender credit. Both games we’ve lost, we’ve put over 40 shots on net. At least 20-something chances, not all on net, that were great chances. So, he was very good tonight; let’s face it. He made a lot of good saves. The goals we got weren’t cheap. Maybe the last one he lost track of, but we were around their net a lot. They got out to the early lead. It’s always easier to play with the lead. I wouldn’t say it wasn’t meant to be. I thought we were very close. I mean, Pasta [David Pastrnak] had a rebound there that he made a hell of a save on, could’ve made it 4-4. Then, obviously from there it’s anybody’s game. So, we pushed back, just give him credit. He made saves. On if Patrice Bergeron’s injury could be an issue in the next game… I won’t project past Game 6. He made it through today’s game healthy, finished the game. You always want to see how they are in the morning. I don’t anticipate there will be any issues going in to Game 6. Of course, that could change, but that’s the way it is right now. On if David Backes brought fight… He generally does in these types of games. Got a big goal from being at the front of the net. We got a fortunate bounce there, but you’ve got to be in a position to capitalize on those. When we got down a little bit, he tried to stir it up a bit, and those are the things he does well. Those are the intangibles we rely on. Physicality part, the games we win, he is generally leading our team in hits. Maybe even did tonight without winning, but that’s what he brings this time of year. It’s that steady kind of plotting, play inside, win your puck battles. Type of players you need. On Tuukka Rask… I didn’t think he had it tonight, so we went with Anton [Khudobin], who has been very good for us. And then there’s always that part, gets the rest of the team’s attention as well. So, it’s both. I don’t want to measure, quantify what percentage of each, but clearly if I thought he was on, then he wouldn’t have got pulled. I guess I’ll put it that way. On the power play… They did a better job pressuring us. I thought we had numerous chances to score, so I’ll give, again, their goaltender credit. Five-on-three, we had some looks. He made a hell of a save on Marchy [Brad Marchand]. Our five-on-three’s been pretty good this year. We tend to look for a seam somewhere and get a high-percentage shot. We got a couple that we wanted. I think we had Torey backdoor that he just couldn’t quite get enough force on, would’ve been an open net. So, there was a couple opportunities there. Some of the other power plays early on I thought were good. We hit a post, maybe two. So, the power play, obviously, when you look at the numbers, one for six, the immediate thing is it’s not good enough, but I thought we generated on the majority of them offense to get goals. But again, I give their guy credit. In hindsight, we needed more from it. On the challenges that the Leafs line changes presented… Four balanced lines. Obviously, at the end of the day, you have to pick your poison when you see that balance. I think we roll out four balanced lines, maybe different kind of structure of how they play the game. I’ve said this, I think we’re comfortable with most of the matchups every night. So, at the end of the day, we’ve asked our players to accept the matchup you get, and play the guy across from you, and a lot of times we do. Tonight, even strength there at the start, we didn’t, and it wasn’t just young guys or a certain line. Different lines got scored on, and part of that was us just not being hard in front of our net. The [Tyler] Bozak goal, we got beat up the ice after a long O-zone shift, which is dangerous. That’s the one you really need a save right there. You’ve got yourself back in the game. The first period is almost forgotten about, it’s now 2-1, so that’s one we needed. We were a little late trying to kill that rush in three different spots, and they capitalized. On if he points out to the players what else is going on in the playoffs… No, we don’t talk about Tampa Bay. We talked about, the other night, this morning, we talked about how the two Stanley Cup finalists from last year couldn’t close out. It’s not easy. So, let’s just stay in the moment and stay focused, not think about tomorrow or what we’re going to do if we win or don’t win. Just go out and play. Whether that has any effect or not, I doubt it. I think the players, generally, our guys are a very professional group. They go show up and play. We saw that with our pushback. We just dug ourselves a hole we couldn’t quite dig out of, and nothing to do with Tampa Bay or what was ahead. We’ll talk about what’s ahead when we get our fourth win. BOSTON BRUINS GOALTENDER TUUKKA RASK On a summary of the game… Probably could’ve stopped more pucks with my eyes closed. That’s about it. It’s on me, but moving on to the next one and we’ll finish it out in Toronto. On how you felt going into the game… Yeah, you know, I felt good. Sometimes you track pucks better than other days. Today, as you can probably tell, I wasn’t tracking the puck very well and it happens sometimes. Too bad it happened today, but like I said, moving on to next game on Monday. So work on tracking the puck better next time. On realizing early on you might have trouble tracking the puck… No, I mean I didn’t have too many shots out there. But you know, it’s just one of those…you’re fighting it. Those first two goals had nothing to do with tracking, but you know, just really never got into the game and couldn’t make those stops that I should’ve made to keep the game tied. Especially that third goal, we scored to get the momentum going and then they get a chance and you know I couldn’t stop the puck there, so those are tough ones, but as I said, it happens. On running off the ice… Yeah, I have to burn the energy somehow. You know, I just run in here and grab a bottle of water and that’s it. On coach’s decision to pull him… Well, I mean I think a lot of coaches would have made the same decision. On Toronto having a little more energy at the start… Probably a little bit, yeah. But I don’t think we were bad. I mean obviously, you know, when they scored the first goal and then the second goal that gave them some life. That’s something we wanted to do; didn’t accomplish that, but that’s where your goaltender needs to step up and make one of those saves or both saves and kind of weather the storm a little bit. Today, I didn’t and we were playing catch up the whole night. On what you do to regroup for Game 6… Go home, sleep, eat, travel to Toronto, get some work done. That’s about it. You always prepare yourself that same way and try to feel as good as possible. On having a good game one night and a bad one the next… Yeah, that’s the way it is. You play good, you kind of put it behind you; you play bad, you put it behind you. You just stay even no matter what happens. That’s hockey. Sometimes you’re awesome, sometimes you’re not.