For the first time since 2013, the Bruins are set to battle for the Prince of Wales Trophy, with Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Final against the Carolina Hurricanes set for Thursday night at TD Garden.
Unfortunately for the B’s, they will be without arguably their best defenseman for the series opener.
Following a ruling from the NHL’s Department of Player Safety on Tuesday night, Charlie McAvoy will sit out of Game 1 of the ECF due to a one-game suspension — handed down after the 21-year-old defenseman delivered an illegal check to the head of Blue Jackets forward Josh Anderson on Monday night.
While McAvoy only spent two minutes in the penalty box for the hit — and Anderson returned to the contest at the start of the third period — the Bruins managed to catch a break in that the defenseman wasn’t handed a five-minute major or was tossed from Game 6 entirely.
However, supplemental discipline of some sort was to be expected after the league announced that McAvoy was to take part in a hearing with DOPS Tuesday morning. This is the first suspension or any kind of disciplinary action levied against McAvoy in his NHL career.
“McAvoy comes across the front of his body and delivers a high, hard check that makes Anderson’s head the main point of contact — on a hit where such head contact was avoidable,” the NHL DOPS video notes. “This is an illegal check to the head.
“It’s important to note that while Anderson’s body and far shoulder do absorb some contact on this check, the main point of contact on the hit is the head. … If McAvoy wishes to deliver this check, he must stay low, and take an angle of approach that hits through the core of Anderson, rather than one that makes his head the main point of contact.”
Losing a player of McAvoy’s caliber is a bit of an easier pill to swallow at the start of a playoff series — rather than a potential Game 7 against Columbus had Boston dropped Monday’s matchup — but there’s no way to sugarcoat it. This is a sizable hit for the Bruins’ blue line.
BSJ Analysis
It’s only one game, but it’s hard to spin many positives out of Tuesday’s news — as McAvoy has been superb in his third go-around in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Leading the B’s in average ice time (24:46) while tallying a power-play goal and notching six assists over 13 games, McAvoy has produced on both ends of the ice.
Despite his heavy minutes and shifts spent defending in Boston’s own zone (46.24 O-zone faceoff percentage) — McAvoy still ranks third on the team with a 1.32 5v5 goals against per 60 minutes, even if most of his matchups are against against a top-six combination on the opposition.
Add in the fact that the Bruins have generated 12 5v5 goals — and given up just six — during the 272 minutes of ice time in which No. 73 has been out on a shift, and there’s really no easy way to replace McAvoy in the lineup.
Charlie McAvoy helps out Zdeno Chara on a scoring bid by Matt Duchene ...
... then generates a scoring chance of his own down the other end of the ice.
All in the first two minutes of play.
He's locked in. pic.twitter.com/p5AdTCZwLe
— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) May 6, 2019
