The Bruins found themselves 2-0 down in the third period after the Hurricanes and things started to look like Carolina would tie the series with Boston.
But then Charlie McAvoy happened.
The defender of Bruins suffered a clean, hard Terry O’Reilly-like hit on veteran Jordan Steel 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 Blacks and Golds took a crucial 3-1 series lead with the victory.
But McAvoy’s hit changed the pace of the game and ignited a fire among the Bruins.
“Now, from my point of view, you know clearly (Jake) DeBrusk scores, I mean we’re having a really hard time, especially five on five, so that started it for us,” head coach Bruce Cassidy told reporters during his Zoom postgame press conference. ‘Now that we’re back in the game, we have a chance. And then the McAvoy hit. I think we play and we will push and we push, so of course it helps us a lot, but I think it really demoralizes the other team. If one of your veteran players, a leader in your room, or indeed a respected player in this league, takes a good hard clean hit, like I said, it will affect your group. That it affected us positively and probably them in a negative way. They lost a man who is a shutdown center and did a really good job against (Patrice Bergeron) his line that game, so for us it really helped. ‘
Young did it.
First DeBrusk went up in the air over James Reimer to find twine, Connor Clifton got a nice feed from Joakim Nordstrom that he sent through Reimer, Brad Marchand scored on the break and DeBrusk made it off to complete the comeback.
Four straight goals to complete the comeback.
What a night for the @NHLBruins – owners of a 3-1 series lead. #StanleyCup pic.twitter.com/2iy8pO4TQZ
– NHL (@NHL) August 18, 2020
* Chef’s kiss. *
DeBrusk called McAvoy’s hit a “good moment” for the Black and Gold.
‘He has a lot of meat there,’ the wings told reporters. “I did not actually see the hit, but as you said, the reaction of the bank. At any given moment – it’s so weird without fans, to be honest with you. Every time there is a big play as a good scoring opportunity, the only way you know is through the bank reaction. Of course it was a big hit and it was a good moment for us. That’s when we get hard. ”
And for McAvoy? Well, he just wanted to create his own energy.
“You need to be able to make your own energy on the bench and go into that third period and apparently you two are down and the game would not have really been in our favor,” he told reporters on Zoom. ‘We had some opportunities and things, but we were looking for some energy and that was kind of the message – that we were not out there. It was a chance to perform and make a hit, trying to separate a man from the puck. We’re playing well already. And just to get so many guys up tonight and make great plays when it really mattered to get us a win was just so amazing to watch. It really lifts the spirit of the team. ”
The Bruins can now place the Hurricanes in Game 5 on Wednesday.
Here are some other notes from Monday’s Bruins Hurricanes:
– DeBrusk’s goal was much needed by the winger, especially after she missed so many chances through the round robin tournament and the first three games against Carolina.
“He’s a man who probably measures himself up too much just with his goals,” Cassidy said. ‘He can bring other things and make pucks dogs and plays and be a non-front presence on the power play, we’ve changed that a bit, but there are other ways you can contribute, especially in’ and playoffs. But we needed some goals, let’s face it, we had it tough, missed some open nets early and scoring from five to five had been a few games. So good for him, happy for him. Sometimes he gets upset, so hopefully this puts him off. ”
DeBrusk was glad he could just contribute to the win.
“If you can contribute to a profit, it’s enormous,” he said. ‘Of course, we looked something nice in the series. I just wanted to be number one, try to find my game and just help the team. I luckily had something on the first, I would say, and a great play from my linemen on the second. We ran to win. ”
– Anders Bjork started the game on the top line, but Charlie Coyle found himself on top of that Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand. So why the change?
“We needed offense and he has a more proven score than Anders,” Cassidy said. “Otherwise he plays hard, chases pucks, which is a big question for him against the top line, also against (Jakob) Slavin and (Dougie) Hamilton, so we just felt we had problems scoring. We feel like we’re defending really hard, not giving up much, but we need some misleading to give us an impetus, which’s why we put Charlie there. Put (Sean) Kuraly back in the middle with some young legs, it puts Bjork on his left, I’ve always said he had a little easier time there. ”
– For what it’s worth, Reimer also sat in the net for the 2013 Toronto Maple Leafs epic in Game 7 when they stood out with three goals with only five minutes left in the game.
You all know what happened next: Boston scored three unanswered goals to force overtime only for Bergeron to win it for the Bruins.
Oh, memories.
Thumbnail by John E. Sokolowski / USA TODAY Sports Images
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