On Sunday, Islanders coach Barry Trotz engaged in a bit of gamesmanship, accusing Bruins captain Patrice Bergeron of "cheating" on faceoffs and calling on the linesmen to "make sure the cheating doesn't go on."
On Monday, Bergeron responded while meeting with the media via Zoom.
"Personally, I’m going to worry about what I’m going to do out there and what I can do," Bergeron said. "He said it was a veteran play. I think it’s a veteran play by him as a coach to get me to talk and try to get the linesmen and the officiating to think about it."
Trotz is certainly not the first coach to try to work the officials through the media, nor the first to raise concerns about faceoff tactics in particular.
Bergeron, who was announced as a Selke Trophy finalist for the 10th year in a row on Sunday, was asked if that kind of public lobbying has had any effect that he's noticed in the past.
"I’m not sure. It’s something you’re trying to do, trying to put the word out there and see what happens," Bergeron said. "That being said, for me as a player, I’m going to play my game and worry about what I can control and do what I can do to help my team win."
It is particularly interesting that Trotz decided to bring this up at a time when the Islanders are actually having quite a bit of success against Bergeron on faceoffs.
Bergeron, the top faceoff man in the league in the regular season with a 62.2% faceoff win percentage, is just 37-of-81 (45.7%) at the dot in this series. He has particularly struggled against Jean-Gabriel Pageau, going 14-of-37 (37.8%) against New York's third-line center.
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