Bruins’ Bruce Cassidy Explains Mindset Starting Linus Ullmark In Game 2

Bruce Cassidy didn’t see Linus Ullmark’s performance as the biggest issue the Bruins faced in their Game 1 loss to the Hurricanes on Monday night. That’s why he’s getting the net for Game 2.

The Boston goalie stopped 20 pucks in the 5-1 defeat to Carolina, but the game was much closer than the score indicates. The Bruins were able to keep pace with the ‘Canes, and even though Ullmark struggled in the first half with rebounds and tracking pucks, he settled in during his first ever Stanley Cup playoff game.

Cassidy confirmed Ullmark would start Game 2 on Tuesday, and shed more light into the decision to start the veteran over rookie Jeremy Swayman.

“Well, Swayman’s played well. We talked about at some point we’d probably use both, but I didn’t see this being the reason why,” Cassidy told reporters at PNC Arena, per team-provided video. “So that’s why I went back to Ullmark. He’s played really well the last six weeks, or whatever it was, his stats back that up. I thought, certainly, their pucks had eyes (in Game 1). They do put a lot of pucks on net so the challenge with Linus is going to be fighting to find them and, I’m not going to say anticipating deflections, but you got to stop the first shot but understand how they’re going to get some action at the net, control your rebounds. He did a real good job with that in the second half. So there’s no reason not to give him another look.”

The Bruins outshot the Hurricanes in the loss but could not capitalize on the opportunities in front of them, something that Cassidy noted needs to change in Game 2.

“We need to finish some plays at the other end to give him some goal support, as well. It’s tough when you’re in there and you’re not scoring to know that any goal could be the difference,” Cassidy said. “There’s a little bit at the other end we gotta do better. I thought it was less about Linus and more about our urgency in front of the net that needs to go up.”

The Bruins look to tie the series at 1-1 on Wednesday night. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. ET on NESN.