Day: April 26, 2017

The Capitals welcome in the Pittsburgh Penguins to Washington on Thursday for Game 1 of last year’s rematch. Washington may have home-ice advantage after beating out Pittsburgh for the Metropolitan Division, but there are still plenty of reasons to be nervous about a matchup with the Penguins. 1. History The Caps and Penguins have faced one another nine times in the playoffs. Washington’s record? A paltry 1-8 with their lone win coming in 1994. Does the fact that the Caps lost to Pittsburgh in 1996 have any bearing on this series? No, but the Caps and Penguins have faced twice in the Alex Ovechkin/Sidney Crosby era with Pittsburgh emerging victorious both times including in 2016. The 2017 Penguins

Boston Bruins general manager Don Sweeney announced on Wednesday that Cassidy is the 28th head coach in team history, joining such illustrious names as Pat Burns, Milt Schmidt, Don Cherry and Mike Milbury.

Boston Bruins general manager Don Sweeney announced on Wednesday that Cassidy is the 28th head coach in team history, joining such illustrious names as Pat Burns, Milt Schmidt, Don Cherry and Mike Milbury.

Boston Bruins general manager Don Sweeney announced on Wednesday that Cassidy is the 28th head coach in team history, joining such illustrious names as Pat Burns, Milt Schmidt, Don Cherry and Mike Milbury.

Cassidy was hired in early February and spurred the Bruins into an 18-8-1 finish to the regular season before falling in six games in the first round of the playoffs to the Ottawa Senators, and showed an ability to spur Bostons offense while also working well in developing the Bruins young players at the NHL level. Since Cassidy assumed head coaching responsibilities on Feb. 9, the Bruins ranked first in the NHL in goals per game (3.37), first in the NHL in fewest shots allowed (741), tied for second in the NHL in wins (18), tied for second in the NHL in power-play percentage (27.8), tied for third in the NHL in goals allowed per game (2.30), tied for fifth in the NHL in faceoff percentage (53.6%) and tied for sixth in the NHL in takeaways (229).

BOSTON (AP) The Boston Bruins are bringing Bruce Cassidy back next season, dropping the interim tag from his title as a reward for leading the team back to the playoffs for the first time in three seasons. Cassidy replaced Claude Julien, the winningest coach in the history of the Original Six franchise, on Feb. 8 and led the team to an 18-8-1 record to finish out the season and earn a postseason berth. Julien led the Bruins to the NHL championship in 2011 and back to the Stanley Cup finals in 2013.