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Boston Bruins

It’s still a little personal for ex-Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy

Author Ty Anderson
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - OCTOBER 13: Head coach Bruce Cassidy of the Vegas Golden Knights speaks during a news conference after the team's home opener against the Chicago Blackhawks at T-Mobile Arena on October 13, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Golden Knights defeated the Blackhawks 1-0. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

The scoreboard reflects that ex-Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy has already won.

In actuality, too.

Fired from his post with the Bruins in June 2022 in a move that outright stunned Cassidy, it took Cassidy just one season to lead the Golden Knights to a Stanley Cup championship. Speaking with the media moments after lifting the Cup over his head, Vegas captain Mark Stone outright admitted that Cassidy ‘brought an intensity’ that the Golden Knights needed to take their game to the next level. The Bruins, meanwhile, found tremendous record-breaking success under first-year B’s coach Jim Montgomery, but flamed out in the first round in truly stunning fashion.

If Cassidy drew up a revenge tour, his 2022-23 campaign broke more records than The Eras Tour.

But, even with the scoreboard decidedly in his favor, Cassidy couldn’t hide his feelings when it came to a successful showdown with his former club Thursday night in Las Vegas.

“I love to beat the Bruins,” Cassidy said following his team’s 2-1 overtime win over Jeremy Swayman and the Bruins. “I didn’t have the opportunity to do it until last year. Big piece of my heart will always be with that organization. I got friends on the other team [and] I’m gonna go talk to a few of their coaches as soon we come out of here.

“But it’s always nice to beat a team that let you go. I think any coach would tell you that after they’ve been at a certain place [or] a player that moves on. So, [wins] are always nice.”

That ‘tattoo’ that Cassidy left Boston with has understandably turned to a scar of sorts. And, honestly? I get it.

What people seem to sometimes forget about Cassidy is that this guy loved the Bruins. Despite his Ottawa roots, and despite a mother who was a Canadiens fan and father who was a Maple Leafs fan, Cassidy grew up a diehard Bruins fan. Bobby Orr was his favorite player, and if you talked with him for more than five minutes, you quickly realized it wasn’t just Bobby. Cassidy has encyclopedic knowledge of the Big Bad Bruins, and beyond.

The Bruins were his team, and Boston became his city. So much so that Cassidy opened Thursday’s postgame press conference with a comment on the departure of Bill Belichick from the New England Patriots.

“I wanted to tip my hat to Bill Belichick for a great tenure in New England,” Cassidy said at the start of his postgame press conference. “I know we’re not the New England area, but he’s a friend of mine and I heard the news today, so congrats to Bill on an outstanding run. I wish you all the best going forward.

“I took a lot from him. He was good to me as a young coach there. Our relationship grew over the years as I got to know him better, and I had a long tenure there. So I wish him all the best wherever he lands.”

As for his relationship with the Bruins, Cassidy has taken comfort in the fact that all three of his post-firing showdowns with the Bruins have been good games… and that the Golden Knights have won two of the three meetings.

And with both the Bruins and Golden Knights looking like contenders in their respective conferences once again, it’s enough to leave us all still hungry for a Stanley Cup Final that’ll give Boston a chance to truly even the score.

3 Stars: Bruins struggle to generate enough in latest setback

Let’s be real: Perspective can be a reeeeeeeeal bitch.

And perspective is one of those things that nobody, especially when the ears are hot and the blood is boiling, wants to have in the heat of the moment. Sometimes we just want to be pissed off, stomp around, and maybe even throw a snowball or two. Maybe even torch a car, or at the very least fire off a tweet you delete approximately 14 seconds after pressing send. I get it. Been there. Done that.

But if I told at 9:55 p.m. on Thursday night that the Bruins were going to grab a point against the defending Stanley Cup champions (and in their building) with a Jesper Boqvist in their top six, Parker Wotherspoon in their top four, and just one goal of support for netminder Jeremy Swayman, would you have taken that deal? 100 percent. Not even 99, but 100. You don’t need Aldo Raine and Smithson Utivich to convince you that that’s a good deal.

Yes, even after a miscommunication in overtime gave the Golden Knights the easiest-looking 2-on-1 you’ll see this year, you’d take that deal. (Again, I’m offering you this deal before the puck dropped. Perspective, you see.)

  • So while Boston’s third straight ‘OTL’ may have led to some snowballs (good luck finding one) and deleted tweets, the Black and Gold’s ability to grab a point in this one is worth noting. It not only kept them in first place in the Atlantic Division over those surging Florida Panthers (winners of nine in a row), but it also pushed the Bruins to 0-0-3 on this road trip, giving the Bruins three of a possible six points on this trip so far. That .500 mark was always a possibility (or likely outcome) given it was a 3-in-4 with stops in both Colorado and Vegas, and if anything, the Bruins are simply following the most likely script.

    Of course, if there’s one thing to take away from this game, it came before the overtime frame, as this was a night where the Bruins failed to generate enough against a stout Vegas defense. And that, coupled with a parade to the penalty box for entirely-too-many stick infractions, was a recipe for disaster.

    A disaster that somehow led to a point for the Bruins, mind you. Perspective, baby.

    Here are the 98.5 The Sports Hub (dot com) 3 Stars from a loss in Vegas…

  • No. 3 Star: Matt Grzelcyk

    Jan 11, 2024; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Boston Bruins defenseman Matt Grzelcyk (48) warms up before a game against the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports

    Jan 11, 2024; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Boston Bruins defenseman Matt Grzelcyk (48) warms up before a game against the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena. (Stephen R. Sylvanie/USA TODAY Sports)

  • Finally, Bruins defenseman Matt Grzelcyk has something to feel good about.

    Listen, even the most ardent Grzelcyk supporter you know has had a tough time of late, with the 5-foot-9 defenseman simply not looking like himself for large stretches this year, and especially since returning from injury. There’s been too many nights where Grzelcyk’s transition game hasn’t been where it needs to be for the Bruins to maximize his skill set. Even his reunions with longtime pairing partner Charlie McAvoy have struggled to click at their usual rate at various points this season.

    But Thursday night in Vegas featured one of Grzelcyk’s best performances to date, as it was Grzelcyk who scored Boston’s lone goal in this contest, and off a quick release that was good for his second goal of the campaign and his first goal in 19 games.

    And in addition to the goal, Grzelcyk also had the analytics working in his favor, as the Black and Gold outshot Vegas by a 15-5 margin during No. 48’s five-on-five, on-ice sample (15:21 of time on ice).

    With Derek Forbort out, Mason Lohrei in a true first-year situation, and Hampus Lindholm going through some high highs and low lows, getting Grzelcyk rolling would provide a huge lift to Boston’s left side.

  • No. 2 Star: Logan Thompson

    Jan 11, 2024; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Alex Pietrangelo (7) celebrates with Vegas Golden Knights goaltender Logan Thompson (36) after scoring a goal against the Boston Bruins in overtime to give the Golden Knights a 2-1 victory at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports

    Jan 11, 2024; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Alex Pietrangelo (7) celebrates with Vegas Golden Knights goaltender Logan Thompson (36) after scoring a goal against the Boston Bruins in overtime to give the Golden Knights a 2-1 victory at T-Mobile Arena. (Stephen R. Sylvanie/USA TODAY Sports)

  • Dealing with an illness and with the Golden Knights’ goaltending depth chart absolutely ravaged by injuries, Logan Thompson decided to go full Michael Jordan flu game in this one, with a 32-of-33 effort.

    Thompson was especially lethal in high-danger situations, too, with the 26-year-old credited with a perfect 8-for-8 line on high-danger shots at all-situational play, according to Natural Stat Trick.

  • No. 1 Star: Jack Eichel

    Jan 11, 2024; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Vegas Golden Knights center Jack Eichel (9) celebrates with Vegas Golden Knights right wing Jonathan Marchessault (81), Vegas Golden Knights center Ivan Barbashev (49) and Vegas Golden Knights right wing Mark Stone (61) after scoring a goal against the Boston Bruins during the third period at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports

    Jan 11, 2024; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Vegas Golden Knights center Jack Eichel (9) celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal against the Boston Bruins at T-Mobile Arena. (Stephen R. Sylvanie/USA TODAY Sports)

  • Another Vegas talent that had to battle through it tonight, Jack Eichel scored the power-play goal that put Vegas up in the third period and came through with the secondary assist on the Knights’ overtime winner for a two-point effort against his hometown team.

    The North Chelmsford, Mass. native is up to seven goals and 16 points in 18 career head-to-heads against the Bruins.

Ty Anderson is 98.5 The Sports Hub’s friendly neighborhood straight-edge kid. Ty has been covering the Bruins (and other Boston teams) since 2010, has been a member of the PHWA since 2013, and went left to right across your radio dial and joined The Sports Hub in 2018. Ty also writes about all New England sports from Patriots football to the Boston Celtics and Boston Red Sox.

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

Ty Anderson is a writer and columnist for 985TheSportsHub.com. He has been covering the Bruins since 2010, and has been a member of the Boston chapter of the PHWA since 2013. Yell at him on Twitter/X: @_TyAnderson.

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