The changes, he said, will still allow him the opportunity to pair Lindholm and McAvoy together as he sees fit based on what Game 2 may dictate on Wednesday night.
"I just thought Grizz and Carlo had a bit of a challenging night," said Cassidy. "So, we talked about using Lindholm with Carlo at times as well. It also allows you then to in-game put Lindholm and McAvoy together maybe after they've sat a shift for [Derek] Forbort and [Connor] Clifton going over, so we can still keep them as a pair.
"When they're always together, then they're together and that's it. So, it might up Lindy's minutes a little bit in certain situations. It's that time of year, he looks healthy, so there's a little bit of that involved. And you can still go back to the other. He can play with both."
Cassidy also believes the switch will give both pairings a player that is capable of being a "one-man breakout" as he lauded Lindholm and McAvoy for their ability to skate the puck out of trouble in the Bruins' end of the ice.
"[Lindholm] is excellent on the breakout like Charlie is, so now you've got one in each pair that can be a one-man breakout as opposed to loading them up," said Cassidy. "Loading them up, obviously, frees one of the others up to join the offensive attack, right? You're taking from one to give to another and see how it works out.
"And as I said, in game you could still, coming out of a timeout, maybe use Lindholm and McAvoy if it's an offensive draw or a key defensive draw or you need a breakout or etcetera. So that's the reasoning and it's just a little different look for the matchups as well."
Cassidy's plan was to take a look at Lindholm and Carlo together at various points during the stretch run, but Lindholm's lower-body injury - which cost him seven games in April - squashed that plan and allowed for only brief glimpses of the two as a duo. Carlo, however, is looking forward to playing alongside Lindholm, who he has admired from afar.
"Obviously we haven't had many games or shifts together, necessarily, but from watching him along the bench and just over the past couple years, a guy that I have a lot of respect for in his game," said Carlo. "I feel like I'm pretty familiar with the way that he plays the game from watching him. The biggest thing for us will be communication and using our big bodies and long sticks to keep things to the outside tomorrow and go from there and just continue to build chemistry.
"He's a great player and those kinds of players are also fun to play with. He'll make the game easier in some regards. I hope to do the same for him."
