BOSTON – It had been more than 13 years between wins behind an NHL bench, so nobody would blame interim head coach Bruce Cassidy for being pretty excited after his Bruins taking down the Sharks by a 6-3 score at TD Garden. Instead he was looking forward to hitting the sheets after an action-packed couple of days going from an assistant coach to getting a 27-game tryout as the head coach of the Black and Gold.
“I feel great. It’s been a busy two or three days, so I’ll tell you this, I’m going to sleep well tonight,” admitted Cassidy. “Tomorrow’s a new day, so we’ll get back to work, and see if we can build on this one. But I mean, yeah, who doesn’t enjoy a win?”
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Cassidy’s last win with the Capitals arrived in Dec, 2003, so Thursday night’s win led by a Bruins offense that cranked out six goals was deeply satisfying for the 51-year-old coach. Part of it was simply getting back to the NHL after grinding away in the AHL over the previous eight seasons in the Bruins organization, and part of it was simply being a kid that used to daydream about the B’s long before he was associated with the franchise.
“I went out to the bench, the first thing I did was look up at the banners, the Stanley Cup Championship banners. You know, I’ve been a lifelong Boston Bruins fan since I was this high,” said Cassidy, an offensive defenseman prior to moving into his coaching career. “My first pair of skates were black and gold and I’ve loved Bobby Orr ever since. I could probably name every player in those Stanley Cup teams… I mean, I’ve had an attachment to the Bruins my whole life, so it’s a great honor for me to stand up there and to be in charge. It was a great night that way.”
Now that the first one is out of the way for Cassidy after replacing Claude Julien, now it will be about seeing just how good the Bruins can be with a new voice behind the bench, and a renewed energy up and down the lineup.