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Bruce Cassidy Needs “Every Individual” To Get Their Game Together

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Boston Bruins

The Boston Bruins have not had the start they were hoping for in the Toronto bubble. After dropping a 4-1 decision in their exhibition tilt on Thursday, the Bruins were determined for a better effort in Game 1 of their round-robin slate on Sunday. The start was better, but the result the same. The Bruins fell 4-1 to the Philadelphia Flyers. On Monday, coach Bruce Cassidy didn’t sugarcoat what he needs from his team moving forward.

We’ve got three really good center men, those guys are all good players,” Bruce Cassidy told reporters on Monday when asked about his lineup. “DeBrusk, Ritchie, Bjork, so wherever they end up, we just expect them to take care of themselves right now. We’re two games in, an exhibition and a round-robin game, after a long pause. It’s more about right now, every individual has to get their game together and then we’ll, the team stuff I believe will come.”

The Bruins jumped out to a good start on Sunday. They didn’t give up much, but were unable to break the ice. Things fell apart in the middle frame. Cassidy didn’t hold back when breaking that down on Monday either.

“We were fine, it was a good first period for us. Didn’t give up anything,” Cassidy began. “Structurally we were good. Second period we had some breakdowns with the puck, managing the puck, it led to three goals where we had it on our stick. Just didn’t execute a play under pressure. Then it came back the other way and we weren’t able to recover with enough bodies, and so odd man rushes and we didn’t get a save.

“So, you put all those three things together. Sometimes a team is opportunistic, Philadelphia was. Other nights, you get away with it, they might ring it off the post, they might shoot it wide, you might get a stop. They might not execute. That’s what we ran into the second period, and then a good team is going to close you out. They did.”

POWER OUTAGE

Mistakes with the puck isn’t the only thing plaguing the Bruins. Through two games, their potent offense has only scored two goals. It’s an area Bruce Cassidy admits still needs work.

“Offensively we’re still struggling to find our game,” Cassidy said. “If you look around the league I don’t think it is unique to the Boston Bruins, right now there are a lot of teams. Some of that has to do with rust. Some of it is the ice conditions, pucks are hopping around.

“Most teams are going to check well this time of the year, I thought we did yesterday. Our problem was more what we did with the puck and in certain circumstances it came back to bite us. That’s how I summed it up. I suspect we will get better Wednesday with that area. We’re gonna have to. We’re playing good teams and can’t get away with those mistakes.”

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