Thrust back into a top-pairing, shutdown role, Brandon Carlo picked a great time for 'his best game of the year’

The role was a familiar one for Brandon Carlo. But the task in front of him on Friday night? Given the circumstances, familiarity was only going to go so far, given the competition staring across the ice at the 23-year-old defenseman. 

With both Charlie McAvoy and Torey Krug ruled out of Boston’s road matchup against the Sabres, Carlo was slotted up onto the Bruins’ top D pairing, alongside his old partner in Zdeno Chara. Carlo has logged plenty of reps in a shutdown role next to Chara before — both this season and especially during Carlo’s rookie campaign in 2016-17 (1,053 5v5 minutes together).

But with two key cogs knocked out of Boston’s D corps, the onus was going to be on Carlo to log the lion’s share of minutes against Buffalo, most of which would likely come against the Sabres’ top line and Jack Eichel — who had racked up a casual 32 points over his previous 19 games. 

But on a night in which Boston’s decimated blue line could have signaled a potential mismatch for the Sabres to exploit, Carlo didn’t budge on the blue line.

In fact, the B’s promising defenseman did a whole lot more than just tread water against a daunting matchup.



“I thought Brandon Carlo had his best game of the year,” Bruce Cassidy said following Boston’s 3-0 victory against Buffalo. 

Boston’s puck-moving capabilities might have taken a hit with both Krug and McAvoy on the mend, but Cassidy and his staff still have the luxury of rolling out a shutdown duo as a contingency plan on the backend — as Carlo and Chara stymied Eichel and Co. throughout the night.

Jaroslav Halak deserves most of the stick taps following a 26-save shutout on Friday, but Carlo played a key role in preventing a red-hot Eichel from tilting the ice in Buffalo’s favor during 5v5 play. 

In total, Carlo matched up against Eichel in 15:16 of 5v5 ice time — with just 20% of Carlo’s faceoffs during that stretch coming in the O-zone. Given Eichel’s recent play and the amount of shifts starting in Boston’s own zone, one would figure that Carlo would, at the least, be forced to spend most of these 5v5 shifts under duress around the B's net.

But in that 15:16, Boston was actually all even in shots on goal with Buffalo, 5-5, to go along with a 6-6 draw in scoring chances.

Beyond his head-to-head matchups with Eichel, Carlo left his fingerprints all over Boston’s victory. Logging a team-high 26:22 of ice time, Carlo was as advertised on the penalty kill — with Buffalo only mustering one shot on goal and zero high-danger chances during Carlo’s 2:13 of 4v5 ice time.

During 5v5 play, Carlo and Chara only had the luxury of 18.75% of their faceoffs coming in the offensive zone. And yet, the Bruins were only outshot, 8-6, and relinquished three high-danger scoring chances over that extended window of play. And, for good measure, Carlo was rewarded for his defensive efforts down the other end of the ice — capping off the win with his fourth goal of the 2019-20 campaign by way of an empty-net strike. 

“He was really good,” Patrice Bergeron said of Carlo. "He was in it right away from the drop of the puck on. Making some assertive plays, on his toes, skating, reading plays well. I thought he was terrific all night. He was noticeable every time he was on the ice. It’s great to see.”

It stands as just one game weathered without Krug and McAvoy in the lineup, but Carlo's dominant outing on Friday night could open the door for more minutes in a shutdown role going forward — even when Boston's D corps is back at full strength. Especially if paired next with Bergeron's line (making up for some of the puck-moving capabilities lost when Carlo + Chara are paired together), this defensive duo could excel when it comes to eliminating an opposing top-six line during 5v5 play.

The track record is certainly there this season, with Boston now holding a 7-1 edge in 5v5 goals during Carlo + Chara's 132:41 of 5v5 TOI together. That equates to a 5v5 goals against per 60 minutes rate of 0.45 — far and away the best result of all Bruins D pairs that have logged over 100 minutes of ice time together.

It presents an interesting conundrum for Cassidy when it comes to sorting out his blue line when the likes of McAvoy and Krug are given the green light to return. But for now, Cassidy doesn't have spend much time dwelling on what is a good problem to have. In fact, he doesn't have to worry about all that much when Carlo and Chara are both out patrolling the blue line together.

“They’ve been together before," Cassidy said of Chara and Carlo. "So I think Brandon really enjoys the shutdown role. When he plays with Krug, it’s a little bit of a different animal. Zee is always going to like it. Charlie relishes it, but also likes to get going offensively. But there’s two true shutdown guys. I guess what you lose is a bit of the puck movement ability when you put them together and the other two together from one of the pairs. But I thought Brandon was actually skating with pucks well and was making the plays he was supposed to, so good for him. But he had more jump, more assertiveness, eating pucks.

"Real good stuff for him as an opportunity, maybe, for him to say, 'You know what, I’m the top guy on the right side tonight, I’m going to grab ahold of it'. That’s the kind of competition we talk about — when Charlie comes back, to have that same mentality that, 'Hey I can play more minutes than him some nights if he doesn’t have it' or whatnot, so good for him.”