Plenty has been made of Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy calling out players during some of his postgame press conferences. After Thursday's 5-3 loss to the Oilers -- a game in which the Bruins blew three different leads and completely collapsed in a third period that saw Edmonton score three times -- Cassidy took a different approach: He called out himself.
During the course of his six-minute press conference, Cassidy said he (or he and his staff) needed to "do a better job" six times. He said the Bruins' various mistakes were "on us" six times as well.
It was about as thoroughly frustrated as Cassidy has sounded in a long time. He seemed to be making a concerted effort to not call out players by name and to instead point the finger at himself, but you could tell he was also still frustrated that what he's been preaching doesn't seem to be finding a receptive audience.
"We absolutely beat ourselves, 100 percent," Cassidy began. "So I have to do a better job, because obviously the mistakes we made … When a team beats itself, that's on us as a staff. We have to do a better job getting them ready to play and understanding the details of what it takes to win. Not shooting, that's 100 percent on us.
"We just have to get that message across, because we're not good enough to make some of the plays we're trying to make. So that's on us to make sure we're playing the right way and giving us the best chance we have to win, because again another good team found a way to beat us. At some point, it's not by accident anymore. So we have to do a better job."
Next came a question about the Bruins' continued lack of secondary scoring, as all three of their goals Thursday came with Patrice Bergeron's line on the ice -- a line that also had to deal with being matched up against Connor McDavid and/or Leon Draisaitl all night.
"You have to get the message across that there's different ways to score goals," Cassidy said. "Not everybody can be Bergeron's line. Not everyone can play like McDavid. Like I said, as a staff we have to do a better job getting the players to understand what they can be successful at, how they can help the team win. The offensive part of it is just getting a little more shot mentality. We have addressed it, but clearly it's falling on deaf ears. So we have to do a better job messaging that."
Then Cassidy was asked about the most egregious defensive mistake of the night, which came on the Oilers' tying goal 6:22 into the third. After Matt Grzelcyk turned the puck over on the breakout, Brandon Carlo then committed an even worse turnover on a D-to-D pass right in front of his own net, inadvertently setting up Draisaitl with a golden opportunity that he buried.
"They both need to pass the puck up the ice, play north. Again, on us as a staff," Cassidy said. "We talked about that after the first period, that in order to beat a fast team, you have to move the puck forward. There's certain areas, how they forecheck, but obviously the message didn't get through. We have to do a better job."
Later on, Cassidy was asked to elaborate on what goes into "beating yourself."
"There's a lot that goes into beating yourself, and some of it is the respect for the game of freaking hockey. Like who you're playing against and how to play the right way," Cassidy said. "Again, as I said, that's on us to make sure that the message gets across that you have to respect the game and play the right way and play the way you need to play to have success."
Lastly, Cassidy addressed the team's ongoing issues with over-passing, which once again popped up in the third period especially. He was asked why he thinks it keeps happening.
"Well, that's a good question," he said. "I think they're trying to make plays because some of these guys are talented, and that's what they've done in the past. But when teams can check well and have good sticks, you have to rethink your attack and strategy. Again, as I said before, that's on us to get the message across, because we're not getting it across. So we have to find ways to get it across."
Within all that "We have to do a better job" and "That's on us," there is clearly still a lot of frustration with players, no matter how much of an effort Cassidy made to not rip them by name. Why the Bruins continue to commit careless turnovers and pass up shots despite Cassidy and his staff repeatedly making both areas points of emphasis seems to be legitimately vexing for the Bruins coach.
Perhaps Cassidy's different approach after Thursday's game will land better with his team. Regardless of where fingers are being pointed, though, it's clearly going to require a lot more work -- from both the coach and the players -- to snap this team out of these bad habits.
