The undermanned Bruins will remain exactly that in a must-win Game 6 at Nassau Coliseum, with Bruce Cassidy ruling both Brandon Carlo and Kevan Miller out for Wednesday’s contest.
Cassidy’s squad has been without Carlo for the last two games (both losses for the Bruins) and since the third period of Game 3 after a hit from New York forward Cal Clutterbuck, while Miller has been out of action since taking a hit from Dmitry Orlov in Game 4 of Boston’s first-round series win over the Capitals.
Both players skated after the Black and Gold’s morning skate at Warrior Ice Arena ahead of Game 5, and there was some sort of optimism when it came to both players given the fact that they did exactly that.
But that will not lead to a return just yet, as Cassidy confirmed. And it doesn’t get any easier for the Bruins with Curtis Lazar also ruled out after suffering a lower-body injury in Monday’s loss, and with uncertainty in net following Tuukka Rask’s 12-of-16 performance in the B’s net and obvious health concerns surrounding the less-than-100-percent netminder.
In other words, the Bruins are going to have to dig deep to bring this series back to Boston for a winner-take-all Game 7.
“We need to go win a game,” Cassidy said of the challenge in front of the Bruins entering Wednesday’s Game 6. “That’s it. There’s nothing else other than we’re not looking ahead or behind now either. We’re going up to New York to win a game. We have to win. We won Game 3 there, we were right there in Game 4. We felt we played well enough [in Game 5] to win.
“So in terms of the mindset of the guys, they know that they can we can outplay the opposition. We just got to get out and do it. We got to minimize some of our mistakes from our blue line back, obviously, do our best to stay out of the box. Obviously, the [New York] power player is clicking. Keep going get into the net to create our offensive opportunities. So at the end of the day, we need to be one goal better than them. And how we get there, we’ll talk about. But I think our guys know the challenge that’s in front of them, but certainly capable of of getting the win. Just got to prepare accordingly and get it done.”
The Bruins are 2-1 in must-win Game 6 contests since Cassidy took over in 2017.
Ty Anderson is a writer and columnist for 985TheSportsHub.com. Any opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of 98.5 The Sports Hub, Beasley Media Group, or any subsidiaries. Yell at him on Twitter: @_TyAnderson.
