Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy has sounded like a broken record at times this season when it comes to his team’s five-on-five offense.
He wants the Bruins to shoot more and he wants them to be “tougher to play against” -- meaning getting to the front of the net for screens, deflections, rebounds and any other greasy chances.
The Bruins have done all that at times, but not nearly consistently enough. It’s a big reason they entered Thursday night ranked 29th in the NHL in five-on-five scoring.
Thursday’s 3-2 loss to the Devils only exacerbated the problems. The Bruins got outscored 2-0 at even-strength (one New Jersey goal was five-on-five and one was four-on-four), with both of their own goals coming on the power play as they continue to have to rely on the man advantage for much of their offense.
Complicating matters further was David Krejci suffering a lower-body injury and leaving the game after the first period. That threw the Bruins’ lines into further flux, but Cassidy made it clear after the game that line shuffling doesn’t explain Boston’s offensive woes and can’t keep being used as an excuse.
Asked about that notion after the game, Cassidy launched into his most pointed critique of his offense yet, and it’s clear that his frustration level is rising.
“I get tired of the new lines. I mean, you’re a hockey player. If you’re in a good spot, you shoot the puck,” Cassidy said. “You’re not even looking who’s with you, right? You’re trying to score goals. That’s how you win games. You defend better than the other team and allow less and you score more. When you boil it down, players just have to -- especially when you’re struggling offensively -- it’s a little more simplified.
“So, the message didn’t get through. It’s been an issue for our team here. We tend to overpass a little bit. There’s certain players that obviously come around, and other ones we still have to kind of hammer away on, and we’ll continue to do that. But the onus becomes on the player when he’s on the ice to make the right decision. Coaches, we’re here for structure, we’re here to make sure we instill discipline, culture, how we want to play, all those things. We didn’t have much of that in the first or second period either, but the shooting part, once they’re on the ice, falls on the player.
“We just have to buy in a little bit more, and it was addressed. If we’re not, then we have to defend better than anybody in the National Hockey League every night, because it’s going to be a lot of 2-1 games if we’re not willing to put pucks on the net. That’s kind of been the message. We’ll keep harping away. I think there’s more offense in that room. We have to get it out of them. That’s our job, my job, but at some point you do have to recognize what’s in front of you and get pucks on the net and get some second-chance opportunities.”
The Bruins next play on Sunday afternoon in a special NHL Outdoors game at Lake Tahoe against the Flyers.
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