'Rust' Was Real: Bruce Cassidy Wants Better Start From Bruins In Game 2
By Michael Hurley, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- Rust, rust, rust. Rust. Rust. Rust. It's all anyone could talk about during what seemed like an eternity of a layoff for the Bruins, who had to sit for 10 full days after winning seven straight games to earn a spot in the Stanley Cup Final.
Turns out, the case ended up having some validity. Through the opening 20 minutes of Monday night's Game 1, the Bruins seemed to be skating uphill.
The Bruins landed three power-play shots on goal but were otherwise outshot 8-5 by the Blues, with St. Louis nabbing a 1-0 lead off a Patrice Bergeron giveaway and some loose Boston coverage in the defensive zone.
The hole grew deeper just a minute into the first period, when David Pastrnak carelessly reversed a puck behind his net, leaving it perfectly for Brayden Schenn. The Blues capitalized in an instant, giving St. Louis a 2-0 lead.
From there, the Bruins simply dominated in every facet of the game en route to the victory. But head coach Bruce Cassidy is hoping to perhaps avoid such a quagmire come Wednesday night in Game 2.
"Start on time," Cassidy said when asked what the Bruins need to do in their next game. "We pride ourselves on that. I didn't think we were bad but you know, at home you want to be the dominant team. We're been really good in the playoffs first period, so that's one thing."
While Cassidy wasn't eager to use the long layoff as an excuse for anything, he was realistic about the effects of sitting still for 10 days in the middle of a playoff run.
"I thought we were bad at the blue lines in terms of being hard on pucks early on. I think that had to do with, you don't like to talk about it, but the time off," Cassidy said. "You're not – you don't have your edge yet to battle. You try to replicate it in practice but it's just not going to happen, you're risking injury too much. So those things should come a little more naturally on Wednesday, I hope."
Rookie defenseman Connor Clifton, who got the Bruins on the board just 1:16 after St. Louis' second goal, agreed with Cassidy's assessment.
"Yeah, we weren't pretty hot at first, but we weren't expected to be," Clifton said. "Obviously 11 days off, long time, but thought we came out OK, and then even better in the second. ... Eleven days off. It's tough to come out and be 100 percent. We were a little flat. It is what it is. We knew we could play better."
What works in the Bruins' favor is that they largely figured out the right way to play against the Blues. Boston led in shots, 30-12, over the final 40 minutes, while scoring four unanswered goals. Cassidy credited his players' ability to keep their feet moving, even after losing puck battles, thus limiting St. Louis' forecheck and allowing Boston to control the pace of the game. Marcus Johansson, who was at times the most dazzling player on the ice, echoed that sentiment.
"I think come second period we picked up our game a little bit, we got a little more physical, we started moving our feet and moving the puck and we ended up spending time in their end," Johansson said. "We didn't give them as much room, and I think that's kind of when we started taking the game over and from that point we had control of most of it. For 40 minutes there we just kept going."
To be sure, the Blues coaching staff will do what's needed to try to better compete against a stifling Bruins defense. Replicating Monday's performance will not be a cinch for Boston. But, at the very least, the Bruins are just hoping to avoid digging a needless hole for themselves before getting to work.
