Bruce Cassidy Wants Core Players To Step Up For Game 5

The Boston Bruins need scoring, and they need it now. Bruce Cassidy addressed the lack of finding the back of the net after Saturday’s 3-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning.

And on Sunday, Bruce Cassidy spoke to the media about who he hopes steps up for Game 5 against the Lightning on Monday.

“I think our core will,” said Cassidy. “They have to. Your best players need to be your best players. I think what I was getting at the other day was they’re going to have some nights where they need the secondary group to push up. Every team, if you’re going to advance in the playoffs, needs that.”

Sure, Brad Marchand may be having himself a phenomenal series, but the rest of the core? Not so much. Meanwhile, the Lightning have put on a show with all four of their offensive lines. And, Bruce Cassidy says that his team needs to match Tampa in that all every player, defense and offense, have to contribute just as much.

“You’re seeing it with Tampa,” said Cassidy. “Their third line had a game – listen, the games start running together. Coleman had a couple goals and I thought that really helped their cause. Obviously Kucherov and Point are doing their thing and Vasilevsky. At the end of the day, you need contributors…And then you need team defense and that’s where we’ve been off a little bit. So tomorrow, yes, you need your core guys. I believe they’ll lead us. But defense needs to be good. Especially against this club. We need to help Jaro out with the quality of shots we’re giving him.”

There were numerous times where the Bruins got caught up in traffic in front of their net, and Tampa was able to execute a play. However, Saturday’s defensive performance was much better than the game’s prior where the Bruins lost 7-1 and left both their goaltenders out to dry.

And, Cassidy acknowledged the slight improvement in defense, and hopes that Monday will be a different story.

“I think we were better at [defense],” said Cassidy. “Not good enough obviously. We had some breakdowns early with odd-man rushes. The Palat goal in front of our net where we’re usually terrific, we have to clean that up. We have to. To sit there and go into the game and say, ok we need that player, that player, and end up trying to score five goals is not the formula. That’s our goal tomorrow. Core, lead the way. Support guys, follow. Leaders and followers. That’s typically how we’ve been good and it won’t change tomorrow.”