How the Bruins’ next wave of star defensemen picked up a shorthanded blue line on Saturday

Charlie McAvoy was all too familiar with the play developing in front of him. 

Just eight days ago, the 22-year-old skater found himself in one of the worst spots to be in as a defenseman — sandwiched in the middle of an opposing 2-on-1 rush.

With not much time to react during a 3v3 overtime stretch against the Blue Jackets, McAvoy made the call to crowd the puck carrier, Seth Jones, in an attempt to cut off a pass or steer the biscuit away from the Grade-A areas of the ice. 

Fair to say, it didn’t work out. As McAvoy pivoted to face Jones, the Blue Jackets star fed the puck to a charging Pierre-Luc Dubois — who promptly rifled it home to hand Columbus a 2-1 victory. 



The stakes weren’t quite as high on Saturday night at Barclays Center. But for an Islanders team that ranks fourth overall in team defense (2.56 goals against per game), any slim lead might be enough for a Barry Trotz-led club that loves to clog up the neutral zone and stall even the most explosive offenses. 

As such, the 2-on-1 rush developing between Brock Nelson and Anders Lee in the second period could have potentially been all the Islanders needed to build a lead they would not relinquish against the Bruins. 

The one man in the middle of their scoring bid? McAvoy, who was determined to not make the opposing highlight reels once again.



"Man, you're trying to play right in the middle and you don't want to give up too great of a shot, but you don't want to get beat backdoor,” McAvoy said postgame. “Trying to work on that in practice. I got backdoored good in that Columbus game and you've got to put the onus on yourself to make sure — if you're going to give up something, you're giving up the shot. 

“I tried to just stay in the middle and he kind of looked like he wanted to pass it pretty bad, so I was just trying to stay between me and him.”

Backing off as Nelson and Lee broke into the B’s zone, McAvoy negated the potential high-danger look with a timely stick, tipping Nelson’s feed and corralling the puck in the slot before firing it out of danger.



It was one of a number of standout plays that McAvoy recorded in what was ultimately a 3-2 overtime victory for the Bruins — their third win in a row.

McAvoy, who logged a season-high 28:43 of ice time on Saturday, stepped up in a game where Boston’s already battered blue line was once again put on the ropes.

Zdeno Chara made his return after getting ruled out of Thursday’s game against Winnipeg due to complications from a procedure on his jaw last month. Still, Boston did what it could to limit his workload as he continues to fight some discomfort in that jaw — “limiting” him to 19:47 of ice time. 

But as Chara drew back into the lineup, Matt Grzelcyk was the next one to fall to the injury bug. The shifty, puck-moving skater only clocked 1:27 of ice time before exiting Saturday's game in the early going — with a slash from Derick Brassard to the knee/leg putting the Charlestown native on the shelf for the rest of the night. 

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“He went for X-rays,” Bruce Cassidy said postgame. “I have no other update other than obviously he didn't return. Hopefully, it's a negative and just one of those ones that stung and will be better tomorrow.”

With Connor Clifton already out due to an upper-body injury and Kevan Miller still not skating, Boston was going to have to rely on its young guns to pick up some of the slack against a stingy Islanders club. 

McAvoy made the most of his hefty workload, doling out five hits while blocking four shots — including a stinger off the stick of former Bruin Johnny Boychuk in the third period. 

Down the other end of the sheet, that elusive first goal might still elude him, but McAvoy played a key role in getting Boston’s offense rolling in the second period.

Skating into New York’s zone, McAvoy drove to his right and into the slot, prompting the Islanders’ defensive structure to collapse in toward him. Before a skater could attempt to poke the puck free, McAvoy fed it out to Jake DeBrusk, who fired one in from a sharp angle that fluttered past Semyon Varlamov and into the net. 



The warts in his offensive game still remain (primarily a shots per 60 minutes rate of 3.31), but if McAvoy can continue to drive 5v5 offense with assertive zone entries and log heavy minutes in the D zone, Boston should have few issues with what he brings on a nightly basis. 

“He's really important,” Patrice Bergeron said of McAvoy. “Even last year, he keeps getting better. He's a huge part of our team and our defense. I think the organization has shown that with him with his contract. He's been who he is all along. One of those guys that always brings it and it's not just about creating offensively. It's also making a big block, getting the puck out and being sound defensively. And I thought he was doing that tonight."

McAvoy was far from the only youngster to shine on Boston’s shorthanded D corps. Brandon Carlo was also credited for snuffing out a high-danger scoring chance for the Islanders, keeping up with speedster Mat Barzal on a breakaway and thwarting his chance with a poke check during the final minutes of the second period. 



Carlo finished the evening with 26:03 of ice time, including 1:17 on a penalty-kill unit that held the Islanders to zero shots on goal during their lone power play of the night. 

With Chara not getting any younger in his 22nd NHL campaign, games like these should provide some sense of comfort for Bruins fans dreading the days in which the keys to the B’s blue line are handed to the next generation of skaters. 

Fortunately for the franchise, that transition has already been underway for quite some time. And both McAvoy and Carlo still have an awful lot of room to grow.

“I think it was a tight game, for sure,” McAvoy said. “Just take pride and you don't want to leave two points on the line, so it felt like a good game and we were in it and you got to step up and try to do whatever it takes to win and a lot of guys stepped up. And we won an overtime game.”