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Bruce Cassidy not happy with defense in ugly loss to Penguins |
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The state of Pennsylvania has not been too kind to the Bruins of Boston.
For the second time in as many trips to Pennsylvania this week, the Bruins found themselves with a three goal road lead. And for the second time in those two games, the Bruins blew their three goal lead, failing to earn the two points in the process.
The Bruins kicked things off perfectly Sunday afternoon, jumping out a 3-0 lead behind goals by Patrice Bergeron,—11 seconds into the contest—Anders Bjork and David Pastrnak.
But from there, the Bruins got sloppy, especially in the defensive zone, allowing four unanswered goals en route to another ugly loss, this time 4-3, and this time at the hands of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
It’s the second time this season that the Penguins have erased a three goal deficit against the Bruins.
"I think it's one of those games where we were playing a good team, they're gonna give you a push, but you can't let that go by. It's a 3-0 lead and you know there's a lot of game left,” Bergeron said. “You've got to play the right way and keep pushing to keep increasing that lead."
Failing to increase the lead when opponents begin that initial push is a big problem for the Bruins. We saw it Monday night in Philadelphia and saw it again Sunday afternoon in Pittsburgh.
Defensive zone breakdowns by the Bruins helped the Penguins push lead to goals by Dominik Simon and Teddy Blueger before Jack Johnson’s shorthanded strike tied the game early in the third period.
“We saw some poor defending, poor goaltending I think in Philly. Tonight I thought it was more the same to be honest with you,” said head coach Bruce Cassidy. “Not so much on the goalie, they were good goals. But we get beat off the wall on the first one. The last one I can’t tell you what happened to be honest with you. It’s a rimmed puck goalie needs to get out and stop. The D need to communicate.
But it was Bryan Rust’s game-winning goal, and the poor defensive effort on it that did not fly too well with the Bruins head coach.
“You need to make a play. You can’t turn the puck over there. There’s too much of that going on. Guys that have offensive ability have to start playing to their strength a little more on our back end, or we have to seriously consider what type of D corps do we want?” added Cassidy.
“We are supposed to be mobile, we are supposed to be able to move the puck, break pucks out and add to our offense. Right now that is a challenge for us.”
Cassidy didn’t name who he was referring to, but a quick look at the play the led to Rust’s goal and a look at the lack of offensive numbers (0 goals, 17 assists) makes it pretty clear that McAvoy was the target of his frustration.
It wasn’t just McAvoy that Cassidy was not pleased with. John Moore, who couldn’t get enough muscle on Sidney Crosby just prior to Crosby setting up the Simon goal played just 10:55.
“They were better…”These are correctible mistakes, but the goals we are giving up against this good team like tonight. What is it? Is it lack of focus? Did we lose our urgency? Because they are gifts a little bit. Little bit of gifts. You can get out played, you will by good teams in stretches, but they were gifts,” Cassidy said of the Penguins goals.
The Bruins offense is holding up their end of the bargain of late. Now it’s time for the defense to do the same.
Boston Bruins Blogger • 
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