Cassidy gives passionate defense of Patrice Bergeron after Game 5 originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
BOSTON — Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy isn’t happy with the way his team’s captain, Patrice Bergeron, is being treated.
One day after the Islanders won Game 4, head coach Barry Trotz had some interesting comments about Bergeron in the faceoff dot.
“Bergy’s a really good faceoff guy — one of the best,” Trotz told reporters. “I think (the Islanders’ centers) all study what he does. The biggest thing with Bergy, and really linesmen can control this, is he doesn’t like to get his stick down. He’s got to come to a stop, and then you have a fair fight.
“So, he’s a veteran guy who knows how to cheat on the faceoffs. I’m relying on our very capable officiating crew and linesmen to make sure the cheating doesn’t go on, because he’s good at it. All the veteran guys are. He’s not the only one, trust me.”
Bergeron had a pretty good response Monday morning, but Cassidy took it a step further after the Bruins lost 5-4 to the Islanders in Game 5 of their second-round playoff series Monday night at TD Garden.
“He was thrown out of what, the first two, three, four faceoffs he takes because someone mentioned (something). Have a little respect for Patrice Bergeron,” Cassidy said. “He’s up for the Selke Trophy. He’s been a warrior in this league, a face of the franchise, he does everything right for hockey and sells the game. And that’s the way you treat him? Come on.
“Just because someone speaks out and says something, like all of a sudden. (The referees) just need to be better than that. Call the game that you see and quit listening to these outside influences and get it done right because I don’t think they were great tonight.”
Cassidy was critical of the officiating as a whole. The Bruins committed four penalties and the Islanders scored three times on the power play. It proved to be the difference in the game, so it wasn’t surprising to see Cassidy so frustrated.
The Bruins need to win Game 6 on Wednesday night in New York or their season will be over.