NHL hits Bruins’ Charlie McAvoy with suspension

The NHL Department of Player Safety announced a four-game suspension for Boston Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy on Tuesday.

McAvoy landed himself in trouble with the league offices after an illegal check to the head of Florida Panthers defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson during Monday night's comeback win at TD Garden. Officials gave McAvoy a match penalty for the hit, ejecting him for the rest of the game.

Mere minutes before the hit, McAvoy scored the game-tying goal in the third period as part of a Bruins comeback from down 2-0 to the Panthers. The suspension comes at an unfortunate time for both McAvoy and the team. McAvoy is up to two goals and eight points in nine games so far. That includes six points in his last five games, which is tied for the league lead among defensemen in that span.

The Bruins are also potentially losing McAvoy at an inopportune time. Assuming McAvoy doesn't appeal his suspension, the Bruins will be without their top defenseman for Thursday's showdown with the division rival Toronto Maple Leafs. They would also lose McAvoy for road games against the Detroit Red Wings and Dallas Stars, and a home matchup against the New York Islanders.

On top of that, the Bruins will be without McAvoy's most common defensive partner, Matt Grzelcyk, for around two weeks, as indicated by head coach Jim Montgomery. It's going to be a big test for the Bruins' defensive depth over the next week of the calendar if they're without one of their top defensive pairings.

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Matt Dolloff is a writer and podcaster for 985TheSportsHub.com. Any opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of 98.5 The Sports Hub, Beasley Media Group, or any subsidiaries. Check out all of Matt's content here.

Read more on the Boston Bruins from Ty Anderson below...

Revenge was never an option for the Bruins in Monday's showdown with the Panthers at TD Garden.

The Panthers ruined a dream season for the Bruins six months ago, and there was no changing that.

The Bruins admitted that it made the early-season showdown between the teams feel like something bigger than their ninth game of the season, sure, but no matter what happened in this contest, it wasn't going to undo what happened back in April.

But that didn't mean that it wasn't a game that the Bruins could take something from as they continue to build their foundation for the 2023-24 campaign.

In an 0-2 hole through 20 minutes, and playing with five and then four defensemen when the club lost Matt Grzelcyk to injury and then Charlie McAvoy to a match penalty, the Bruins had to dig deep in this one.

And they did exactly that en route to their best win of the season to date by way of a 3-2 overtime win over the Panthers.

"It was a big character win, Bruins coach Jim Montgomery admitted following the victory. "We lose Grizzy halfway through the first, we're down to five D and then you got the five-minute major you got to kill off and now you're down on four D and, you know, just tremendous character by our four defenseman that gutted it out and also just our team coming back from two nothing against a real good team and being able to come away and find a way to win."

Here are the 98.5 The Sports Hub (dot com) 3 Stars of a comeback win in Boston...

There's something about forward Sam Reinhart's move from Buffalo to Florida that has turned this dude into one of the game's top Bruins killers. And that remained the case Monday night at TD Garden, as Reinhart factored in on both of the Panthers' goals in this contest with a goal and an assist in the losing effort.

And sure, Reinhart has been good against everybody out of the gate this season, as he's now up to eight goals and 11 points through eight games. But as a Panther, and including last year's playoff showdown, Reinhart is up to nine goals and 15 points in 15 head-to-heads with the B's since 2021-22.

Speaking after last Saturday's win over the Red Wings, Bruins superstar David Pastrnak was talking about his chemistry with Pavel Zacha and mentioned that he wanted to see Zacha shoot the puck more because he has a 'bomb' of a shot. And Zacha didn't want long to follow through on Pastrnak's request, as it turns out.

In addition to the overtime winner, Zacha also came through with an assist on Charlie McAvoy's game-tying tally in the third period, and finished with four shots on goal, as well as two hits in a season-high 21:10 of time on ice. The Bruins also moved Zacha from center to wing in the second period to put Matt Poitras between he and Pastrnak for what felt like a first-line load-up in terms of skill and puck abilities.

Zacha has now recorded three goals and five points in his last four outings.

Even with the Bruins in a two-goal deficit through 20 minutes of play, things could've been a lot worse for the club, all things considered. The only reason it wasn't? Linus Ullmark.

Tagged for 16 shots in the opening 20 minutes of play, and with the Bruins outright giving the puck to the Panthers at a ridiculous rate, Ullmark limited the damage to just two. The Bruins gave Ullmark a breather with a second-period blitz at the other end, but in the third period, Ullmark had to be nails once again, and he was.

The face of Boston's five-minute kill following Charlie McAvoy's match penalty for an illegal check to the head, Ullmark kept the Bruins and Panthers knotted up at 2-2, and his best save over that five-minute sequence came with a huge right pad stop on a Sam Reinhart second-chance look at the Boston doorstep.

Ullmark finished this context with 35 saves, and improved to 4-0-1 out of the gate this season, while his season save percentage went up from .937 to .939 with Monday's 35-of-37 performance.

NEXT: Bruins Decide On Matt Poitras' Status In NHL