When Boston Bruins general manager Don Sweeney drove to Bruce Cassidy’s suburban Boston home in June of 2022 to fire the coach, it was one of the more head-scratching moves that he made. Whether it was Sweeney or Cam Neely who ordered the firing, we’ll never know.
Cassidy wasn’t a free agent for long as he was quickly scooped up by the Vegas Golden Knights to be their head coach and in his first season, he won the Stanley Cup. He won it while his former team set the NHL record for wins and points in a season, they suffered a historic collapse in the first round of the playoffs. You can’t tell me he wasn’t smiling behind closed doors.
Thursday night, the Black and Gold begin a five-game road trip against Cassidy and the Golden Knights and for the second time this year, Cassidy has a chance to inflict more pain on his former organization.
Bruce Cassidy can make the Bruins problems worse again in 2024-25
The first time the two teams hooked up was last month at the TD Garden when the Golden Knights scored late in the game for a 4-3 win. Boston was in control of the game late in the second period when Vegas scored a goal that Jeremy Swayman would like to have back (how many times have we said that this year?). It all added up to another game with zero points earned in the standings for the Bruins.
Now the Bruins and Vegas will meet with Boston showing up with a new-look roster after trading Brad Marchand, Charlie Coyle, and Brandon Carlo at the trade deadline. After impressive wins over the Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers in their first two games after the deadline, the Bruins have returned to the team we thought they would be with losses to the Ottawa Senators, Lightning, and Buffalo Sabres. That last one likely put the finishing touches on any hopes Boston had at the playoffs. Now Cassidy can add to their misery late Thursday night.