With season on line, Charlie McAvoy’s luck finally turns for Bruins
Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy has taken an absolute beating this postseason.
It’s gone beyond the black eye and bruising that’s currently turned the right side of his face a different shade of yellow and brown with each passing day, too. With the Bruins on death’s door and in a 3-1 series deficit, the cries for McAvoy to become the game-breaking defenseman he can be have only intensified, and even made their way to Don Sweeney’s press conference on Monday. Throughout his struggles struggles, the Bruins have stressed ‘puck luck’ more than anything else.
And down to what was potentially their last roll of the dice, that luck finally turned for McAvoy and the Bruins in Tuesday’s Game 5, with McAvoy on the board with the game-winning goal and an assist in the Black and Gold’s 2-1 survival win over the Panthers.
“I thought in Game 4, Charlie asserted himself really well,” Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery said of his top defenseman following the victory. “Maybe he wasn’t as clean as with the puck as we usually see him, but that big hit on [Sam] Reinhart [was]. He’s extremely competitive. He’s kind of quiet, like he doesn’t say much, but you could see him talking a lot tonight on the bench. And his play was instrumental in our victory, and I think the the goal for him is huge.”
Talk about an understatement.
Through four games of this second-round showdown with Florida, McAvoy had registered a grand total of zero shots on goals. Something that even Derek Forbort had accomplished in the first of his three-game run off the injured list and back into action for the Bruins. Now, McAvoy had done his part to land looks on net — McAvoy’s 12 shot attempts in the series were tied for the fourth-most among all Boston skaters — but they simply weren’t landing. That had to change for the Bruins, and McAvoy knew it.
“I’ve been trying certainly, taking shots and [I] just haven’t seem them be able to get to the net,” McAvoy, who finished Game 5 with a team-leading six shots, admitted. “You never lose confidence. It’s the playoffs. It’s up-and-down, it’s emotional. Every day is a new day, and that’s all we’re given. And so I’ve been trying to just keep the same mindset, and I’m grateful for these opportunities and the guys that I get to go to war with, and I want to be my best and do the best that I can. Tonight was good to just see them get on net and create some opportunities for our team.”
And on what proved to be the game-winning goal, McAvoy was the opportunity.
“Chucky came off like an animal,” Bruins center Charlie Coyle said of the play that ended with the McAvoy tally. “It’s nice to see him rewarded for everything he does. Charlie does it all. Even when he’s not scoring, I know he wants to score and contribute, which he’s more than capable of.
“We’ve seen it, but when he’s not, he just leads and leads and whatever the situation calls for in a game, it’s like he comes and makes that big play. And tonight it was the goal at that moment, but even besides that, it’s everything else he does within the game to make a big difference.”
Beyond his own strike, it was indeed McAvoy who kicked things off for Boston with a strong keep-in at the attacking blue line, which was followed up on with a great look down low, where Jake DeBrusk ultimately fed Morgan Geekie for the goal that put the Panthers on their heels early.
The obvious hope for the Bruins is that McAvoy’s first multi-point playoff game since a two-assist night in Boston’s Game 1 win over the Maple Leafs can serve as a springboard that allows his game to take flight and help drag the Bruins to a second-round comeback from down 3-1.
But as McAvoy himself has said, it’s one game at a time, and with that next game coming back home.
“Never say die,” said McAvoy. “We’re going home and this series is wide open.
“Let’s go home and win a hockey game.”
