BOSTON BRUINS POSTGAME QUOTES BOSTON BRUINS VS OTTAWA SENATORS Saturday, April 7, 2018
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BOSTON BRUINS POSTGAME QUOTES BOSTON BRUINS VS OTTAWA SENATORS Saturday, April 7, 2018 BOSTON BRUINS HEAD COACH BRUCE CASSIDY POSTGAME On when the Hurricanes scored in overtime… No, me and Joe [Sacco] and Kevin [Dean] and Goalie Bob [Bob Essensa], we were in there watching. I think they had a breakaway right before that, [Jordan] Staal. Opportunity for us, hopefully we’re up to the task. I’m sure the guys will be excited tomorrow. On if he would have thought the team would be in this situation… I would not have thought that. Let’s face it, we were trying to find our own game and get to where we thought we were at the start of the year, which was definitely a playoff team. We just didn’t know where we would fit, and the way Tampa got out of the gate, and Toronto for that matter, it was going to be an uphill battle, but here we are. We’re in a position to take it, and that’s a credit to the guys. We’ve worked hard to get here. This wasn’t by accident. We didn’t back in, I don’t think. Tampa, they beat us the other night in their building, and they deserved to win that game, and we thought, well it might be a little tougher, but here we are. On which goalie will start tomorrow… Tuukka [Rask] goes tomorrow. On if the power-play goal energized them… Yeah, and I think it got those guys going. They needed something good to happen; they were frustrated after the first period. When you’re a skill player and you don’t get on the sheet or you’re not getting on there regular, you get frustrated. That’s what all the good ones do. We’ve seen it from Sidney Crosby, Mario [Lemieux], Wayne Gretzky, you can go right down the list. So, it was good to get us going, and it was a nice goal, too, and a goal they’ve scored in the past. So, it was a credit to them to make a nice play, and after that, I thought that [Noel] Acciari line did a real good job. It was a good game for them. Right type of hockey for them to excel, and they did. On if they had a conversation about urgency during the second intermission… No, I had a conversation with Bergy’s [Patrice Bergeron] line just a bit about the way they were – their spacing was off. When they start supporting one another, those little quick passes and the cuts and the drops and the tight turns, and they’re all – they can dominate teams. So, they’ve been getting away from that a bit so. No, we didn’t talk about – just about playing the right way and getting out there and getting it done. We generally find our legs. That’s the good news. I didn’t like our start. We do have to work to correct that, but I think our group is confident to know they can overcome that, so that’s part of it. On how important the fourth line will be in the playoffs… Well, I mean, I think every good team, that’s the story eventually. Yes, your best players need to be your best players; your goalie needs to do his thing. But, usually there’s a line out there that’s a gritty line, and we saw it last year for us. We used different guys because of injuries, but [Sean] Kuraly was a good story with [David] Backes and Acciari or sometimes it was [Riley] Nash there, [Tim] Schaller. We moved different people around, but, I mean, it matters in those games when the other team’s big line can’t, kind of, cancel out because every team has a top D pair, then you need it from somewhere. That’s secondary scoring. So, that was the conversation to the group between periods, to go back to your question. Not, about urgency, about secondary scoring, support scoring. Can’t be three, four guys every night or just the power play, and I think the guys took it to heart. On the five-man attack… Well, I liked it. The goal we did give up, our D hung on to it and got caught a couple times tonight. So, there’s always going to be that balance you want to have, but I thought we were doing a better job of being part of it, getting up the ice then the offensive blue line, trying to keep pucks alive and making plays. That’s when we were the most dangerous earlier this year, and we’d like to get back to that. I know some of it – Charlie [McAvoy] was very good at it; he’s been out, and Zee’s [Zdeno Chara] got that shot from the point, so he’s always been a contributor in that area. So, missing some pieces didn’t make it as easy, but hopefully they’ve developed that mindset tonight and got a little bit more confident in that part of it. On Anton Khudobin’s big stops… He did. He really did the start of the second period. He’s getting beaten on that blocker side a little bit lately, so it was good to see him make a – power play, made a big save, the two on one. And listen, when goalies make saves, the crowd’s into it; it energizes everybody. Guys feel like, well, the goalie just picked me up, I’m going to go out there and score some goals for him, and that’s just how it works. I thought their guy was very good in the first period as well, and eventually we got to him. That’s what you need to win. On how David Pastrnak has handled this season after signing a big contract… I think he’s handled it well. He’s thought of as a scorer, and if he hasn’t had a career year, he’s been very close. I think he’s much stronger on the puck, so the maturity part of his game is there. He doesn’t – I think his consistency from night in, night out has been better, not as streaky. His wall work has been better because he’s stronger. I think he’s handled it very well. He’s playing in a good spot; it’s a good line, but he’s done his part, so kudos to him. On tomorrow’s game… Well, there’s pressure, obviously, to win. You want that number one seed, but when you have pressure, and you have expectation, what does that tell you? It means you’re good, so you’ve got to be able to handle it. That’s, I think, as a professional athlete, you want that, where there is an expectation. We’ve raised that throughout the year, going back to [the other] question. November, I don’t think it was there. It was like, let’s get in; let’s play well, see where we can go. Now, well what have we got here? Where we can have home ice throughout the whole playoffs; we’re a very good home team. However, it turns out tomorrow, there’s no easy team in the NHL playoffs, I don’t believe. Nashville proved that last year; Ottawa proved that. I mean, everybody that gets in is a good hockey club. So, it’s not about who you play, it’s just about the honor of being Eastern Conference champions and Atlantic Division champions and having that number one seed. I think it gives you some confidence. On how gratifying it is seeing the plan of implementing rookies come to fruition… Well, it’s gratifying when we all went out there and said it. We lived by our words when it came to that. We left – I think, this summer, Donnie [Sweeney] signed some depth players, but we allowed competition and hoped it would bubble up and there would be some young players. We’ve seen it with [Jake] DeBrusk, [Danton] Heinen, [Anders] Bjork unfortunately got injured, Charlie I think we had a pretty good idea, but Grizz [Matt Grzelcyk] – we’ve allowed players to go out there. [Peter] Cehlarik was here. The competition, that’s the way, hopefully, it will be going forward. Now, I don’t think we can incorporate as many young guys as we did this year every year; it just wouldn’t work. But, this year was the year we decided that – especially the way last year finished, and there were some casualties. Frank Vatrano was a young guy, but some guys passed him, so that’s the way it works out. That’s what we’d like to have, and hopefully we’re better off for it next year. I think we’re better off for it this year, so, so far so good. But, let’s see how they do in the playoffs, too. That’s a different animal, and that’s right around the corner. BOSTON BRUINS FORWARD DANTON HEINEN On how he feels about his game going into the playoffs… I haven’t felt bad. I think the last week or so, or couple of weeks, compared to a little bit before that, I felt a little bit better. There are definitely some areas I have to clean up. Tomorrow we are going to try to get the win and go for that top spot, but I think we will try to clean up everything.