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The Bruins found themselves lost 2-0 in the third period to the Hurricanes and things started to look like Carolina would tie the series with Boston.
But then Charlie McAvoy arrived.
Bruins defenseman landed a clean, hard blow similar to Terry O’Reilly’s on veteran Jordan Staal who sent him down the tunnel for the rest of the game. And from there, Boston exploded for four unanswered goals – including two from Jake DeBrusk – to complete the comeback and win 4-3.
The Black and Gold took a crucial 3-1 series lead with the win.
But McAvoy’s hit changed the pace of the game and sparked a fire under the Bruins.
“Well from my point of view you clearly know that (Jake) DeBrusk is scoring, I mean we are going through a very difficult time, especially five on five, so this started for us,” said the coach. -Chief Bruce Cassidy to reporters during his Zoom post-game press conference. “Now we’re back in the right game, we have a chance. And then the McAvoy shot. I think we were playing and we were going to push and we were pushing, so obviously that helps us a lot, but I think it really demoralizes the other team. When one of your veteran players, a leader in your room, or really a respected player in this league, takes a clean hit, like I said, it affects your squad. So it affected us positively and probably negatively. They are losing a guy who is a center stop player and who had done a really good job against the line (from Patrice Bergeron) this game, so for us it really helped.
The boy did.
First DeBrusk took off over James Reimer to find some string, Connor Clifton got a good feed from Joakim Nordstrom which he sent buzzing through Reimer, Brad Marchand scored on the breakaway and DeBrusk finished the return.
Four consecutive goals to complete the return.
What a night for the @NHLBruins – owners of a series 3-1 advance. #Stanley Cup pic.twitter.com/2iy8pO4TQZ
– NHL (@NHL) Aug 18, 2020
* The chef’s kiss. *
DeBrusk called McAvoy’s hit “a good time” for Black and Gold.
“He’s got a lot of meat there,” the winger told reporters. “I didn’t see the hit live, but like you said, the bench reaction. Anytime – it’s so weird without fans, to be honest with you. Whenever there is a big play or a good chance to score, the only way to know it is the reaction of the bench. Obviously it was a great success and it was a good time for us. This is where we come hard.
What about McAvoy? Well, he just wanted to create his own energy.
“You have to be able to build your own energy on the bench and get into that third period and obviously you’re down two and the game hasn’t really been in our favor,” he told the journalists on Zoom. “We had chances and stuff, but we were looking to build energy and that was kind of the message – that we didn’t get out of it. It was an opportunity to get up and make a hit, to try to separate a man from the puck. We were already playing well. And seeing so many guys step up and make some great plays tonight when it really mattered how important we were to win was so great to watch. It really uplifts the spirit of the team.
The Bruins can now drive the Hurricanes away on Wednesday in Game 5.
Here are some other notes from Monday’s Bruins-Hurricanes:
– DeBrusk’s goal was essential for the winger, especially after missing so many chances in the round robin and the first three games against Carolina.
“He’s a guy who probably measures himself too tightly with his goal,” Cassidy said. “He can bring other things and chase pucks, make plays and be a net power-play presence, we’ve changed that a bit, but there are other ways to contribute, especially in the playoffs. But we need a few goals, let’s face it, we’re going through a tough time, we missed a few open nets at the start and the five-on-five score had been a few games. So good for him, happy for him. Sometimes he has streaks so hopefully that triggers him.
DeBrusk was happy that he could just contribute to the victory.
“Anytime you can contribute to a win it’s huge,” he said. “Obviously we had some really good looks on the show. I just wanted to be number one, try to find my game and just help the team. I was lucky on the first, I would say, and great play from my teammates on the second. We came together to win. ”
– Anders Bjork started the match on the first row, but Charlie Coyle ended up there Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand. So why this change?
“We needed an attack and he’s a more proven goalscorer than Anders,” Cassidy said. “Anders is playing hard,” the pucks continued, “it’s a big demand of him against the header, against (Jakob) Slavin and (Dougie) Hamilton too, so we just felt like we were struggling to score. We feel like we are defending very hard, not giving up much, but we need some offense to give us a boost, which is why we put Charlie there. Put (Sean) Kuraly back in the middle with young legs, that puts Bjork on his left side, I always said he seems to have a little easier time there.
– For what it’s worth, Reimer was also in the net for the epic 2013 Toronto Maple Leafs collapse in Game 7 as they were up three goals with just over five minutes to go.
You all know what happened next: Boston scored three unanswered goals to force overtime only for Bergeron to win it for the Bruins.
Ah, memories.
Thumbnail photo via John E. Sokolowski / USA TODAY Sports Images
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