When Bruce Cassidy and, heck, even Jim Montgomery, were head coaches of the Boston Bruins, there would be times when they would get their point across through the media in postgame interviews. Those were some good times. They really were.
Last June, Bruins general manager Don Sweeney hired Marco Sturm as his next head coach, and what a move that is turning into right now. He has the Black and Gold in the first Eastern Conference wild-card spot, seven points clear of the ninth-place teams entering Monday night's action.
Boston and the Tampa Bay Lightning just played a tremendous Stadium Series game that will be talked about for a long time. It had a goalie fight and 10 goals before the Lightning won in a shootout, 6-5. It was so much more after the game about who won, but how they won.
Trailing 5-1 in the second period, the Lightning were gifted five power plays, including a pair of 5-on-3's. Then in overtime, they were given two more power plays and had the last seven of the game. What happened in between were penalties that were not called on the Lightning. Then there was the bizarre penalty called on the Bruins' David Pastrnak that was now whistled by the officials until after he scored what appeared to be the game-winning goal in overtime.
The penalty happened in the Boston defensive end, but somehow they let the play continue before instead of calling it a good goal by Pastnak, they sent him to the penalty box. Everyone deserved better. After the game, Sturm missed a golden opportunity to blast the officiating and received a fine that would have been worth it.
Bruins coach Marco Sturm subtly calls out officiating after loss to Lightning
After the game, Sturm could have gone full Cassidy-mode and blasted the officiating and picked up a fine that would have been worth it. He had every right to. Instead, he subtly called out the officials and missed an opportunity.
“We all have good days, we all have bad days,'' said Sturm. "I know some of them were not in our favor. We have to do a better job, and they probably have to do a better job too.”
He's not wrong, but he could have blasted the officiating and taken the fine from the league. Trust me, it would have been met with open arms from other teams, coaches, and fanbases across the league. Instead, he swung and missed, like his shootout decisions.