The Bruins are set to meet the Washington Capitals in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, beginning on Saturday. It will be another chapter in what has been one of the more heated rivalries in the NHL this season. That bad blood mainly stems from a hit by Capitals forward Tom Wilson that caused Bruins defenseman Brandon Carlo to miss a significant amount of time with a head injury.

Since that game, Wilson’s antics have only gained momentum. Most notably, he was at the center of the Rangers-Capitals saga last week.

On Thursday morning, Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy joined Toucher & Rich and was asked how he and his team plan to handle Wilson in their upcoming series.

“We’re a little better equipped – and I got to be careful how I see this – to handle the Tom Wilsons than maybe the Rangers were,” Cassidy explained. “It showed with Carlo. Listen, we can’t take back the hit on Carlo, right? It happened. The refs didn’t feel it was suspendable, yet the league gives him seven games. So we felt, ‘O.K., if the refs aren’t going to sort of handle this, then we will internally.’ And I thought we did. We had guys lined up to take care of business that night.”

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  Cassidy noted that while the Bruins need to keep an eye on Wilson, they can't give Washington's third-ranked power play unit any extra chances. "I don't think you can go looking for it and put yourself in a position where they're power player is taking advantage of us. Because it is very good. Our penalty kill is excellent as well so we'll deal with that, but we don't want to put extra burden on ourselves," he explained.
  
  "There has to be a little more awareness when he's on the ice. That's built in, I think guys know that," Cassidy continued. "But the other stuff, you've got to be careful that you're not putting your team at a disadvantage, yet still keep them honest."
  
  At the same time, Cassidy says he feels the Bruins have the size to deal with any issues that may arise. "That's why we have some some bigger bodies in the lineup I feel that can handle that," he said. "Right now we do have Richie, we have Kevan Miller, we have some bigger bodies that can talk to him as it goes along. So I think that's why it's going to be such a good series."

You can listen to the full interview with Bruce Cassidy below:

Click here for 98.5 The Sports Hub’s complete coverage of the Bruins.

Alex Barth is a writer and digital producer for 985TheSportsHub.com. Any opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of 98.5 The Sports Hub, Beasley Media Group, or any subsidiaries. Thoughts? Comments? Questions? Looking for a podcast guest? Let him know on Twitter @RealAlexBarth or via email at abarth@985TheSportsHub.com.

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