Cassidy: B’s need better communication
Overtime loss to Red Wings looks familiar
It didn’t go the Bruins’ way in overtime yet again on Wednesday night.
BRUINS NOTEBOOK
For the fourth time this season, the Bruins dropped a contest in the extra period with their 3-2 loss in Detroit on the night before Thanksgiving. It wasn’t the first time they were handed a defeat after being outworked on a play in overtime. After winning the faceoff, the Bruins turned the puck over and allowed Andreas Athanasiu a quality look on net, which he buried. Mistakes like that burnt the B’s more than once on the road trip. “Him (Brad Marchand) and Jake (DeBrusk) had some issues in the slot, they need to stop and bear down when they’re circling away,” sBruins head coach Bruce Cassidy said. “If they’re misreading each other, whatever the case, again a new center iceman with JFK (Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson) or even (Joakim) Nordstrom, there needs to be better communication obviously so I don’t put it all on the wingers. But there were good looks in the slot that we need to tighten.” On the second Red Wings goal, Detroit rushed up ice on a two-on-one and beat Tuukka Rask off a rebound, but Cassidy also attested that to mistakes from his skaters. “I don’t fault him (Rask) on that goal,” said Cassidy. “That was a bad decision off the rush from Bjork not to shoot the puck and force it in there. When you have a lead that might be a play you make in the first period but not the third when you have a lead. That’s just learning to play winning hockey.” Beyond the forward corps, the inexperienced defense group -- manned by two rookies and two defenders without a full season of NHL experience -- allowed plenty of chances right in front of Rask and allowed some chances up ice starting in their offensive zone. “Our D pinched on another mistake and they have to learn to play winning hockey,” Cassidy said. “Mistakes get compounded, and that one cost us and it was pretty unfortunate.”
Fourth sticks to it
For all the line shuffling, the fourth line of all things has found a way to stay intact. They were rewarded for that effort in Detroit on Chris Wagner’s second goal of the season. “It always helps, even in practices too,” he said. “I think we’re starting to build a little more chemistry, we’re starting to make more plays coming over the blueline instead of just dumping it in every time and chasing it. We had a little more puck possession tonight and finally got rewarded.”
A stitch in time
Karlsson had to go off the ice at the end of the second period and missed the start of the third frame on Wednesday due to getting stitches on his lower lip after he blocked a shot. Of his six games in the NHL, he was having one of his strongest contests before hehad to go to the locker room. “I got the legs going a little bit there, it’s too bad I had to step off for a little bit to take care of that,” he said. “It’s tough when you’re up in the third period and they tie it up.” JFK got in the way of a shot from Detroit’s Dylan Larkin, which forced him to come off the ice and have it dealt with. “We had a little momentum going with the goal, so it was too bad I had to step off,” he said.