Brandon Carlo had no qualms about getting ‘dragged into the fight’ Friday, and that’s good news for Bruins

He might not boast the same Herculean build as fellow B’s blue liner Zdeno Chara, but it’s not like you’re going to mistake Brandon Carlo for Nathan Gerbe when the Bruins defenseman hops over the boards for a shift. 

Carlo, now in his fourth full season with Boston, has seen his stock soar as one of Bruce Cassidy’s go-to defensive anchors — with his 6-foot-5 frame often entrenched at the front of Boston’s net during PK shifts. 

Give both his size and defensive instincts, Carlo is more often than not giving opponents fits when patrolling Boston’s zone. As for giving out welts to the opposition? Well, that’s a bit of a different story.

The tale of the tape might often swing in Carlo’s favor against most matchups in the NHL, but Carlo is usually not the first one called upon when it’s time to drop the gloves.

Even with his heavy minutes and taxing assignments, Carlo has often been on his best behavior throughout his early pro career — entering Friday’s road matchup against the Jets with only three fighting majors on his record, to go along with just 12 penalty minutes over 51 games in 2019-20.

But something rubbed him the wrong way up in Winnipeg. After all, he nearly doubled the amount of minutes he’d spent in the sin bin all year — and there was still a whole period of hockey left to play.



Carlo might not be the one to let his fists do the talking, but in a game that devolved into a ‘70s-era scrap in short order — it’s not like the defenseman was necessarily going to have much of a choice. 

By the time the dust settled on Boston’s 2-1 victory over the Jets, 74 penalty minutes were doled out by the officials, six fighting majors were clocked into the box score and two misconducts were assessed.

Carlo was one of the recipients of these misconducts, although he didn’t exactly have too many reservations when discussing the infraction postgame.

“I think, for us, we’re trying to build more into our identity of being a physical team and never backing down," Carlo told reporters in Winnipeg. "I think when a team wants to start playing physical with us, we definitely want to show that that’s not going to work and that’s honestly going to maybe feed into our hands a little bit. That’s the kind of mentality we had tonight.”

Given that mindset, Carlo didn’t hesitate when he spotted Jets forward Gabriel Bourque stopping Charlie Coyle dead in his tracks with a heavy hit on an attempted zone exit. While Coyle gathered himself, Carlo engaged Bourque, drawing his attention with a slash to the leg before eventually dropping the gloves at center ice. 

After Carlo and Bourque dropped to the ice (with Bourque in a headlock grip) Carlo was handed 17 minutes in the penalty box — 10 for a misconduct, five for fighting and two on an instigator ruling. Add in a delay of game off of an unfortunate puck that flipped over the glass, and Carlo closed out the game with 19 penalty minutes.



Even if Carlo’s PK prowess was missed on a night in which Boston had to kill off six full Winnipeg power plays, Cassidy was pleased with his defenseman’s willingness to step in to defend another teammate. 

Since catching flak when it came to the club’s lack of snarl and failure to respond when liberties had been taken against teammates, the Bruins have made a concerted effort to dispel that notion over the last couple of games. 

During a home win over Pittsburgh on Jan. 16, Torey Krug traded punches with Patric Hornqvist, a scrap prompted by the latter’s decision to cross-check Matt Grzelcyk while on the way back to the bench. 

On Friday, Carlo was one of four Bruins to drop the gloves against a frustrated Jets club in the midst of a four-game losing skid.

Charlie McAvoy stood up for himself after Neal Pionk objected to a heavy, clean check against Mark Schiefele in the opening period. Brad Marchand landed plenty of punches after Nikolaj Ehlers caught him with a hit near center ice. And Karson Kuhlman recorded his first fighting major after defending himself during a bout against Luca Sbisa. 

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Friday’s brouhaha was far from what many expected would transpire in Boston’s first taste of game action in over a week. 

But as Cassidy was quick to note – in a sport like hockey, sometimes games can just go off the rails. 

And when they do, your club better be prepared for it.

“Part of the message, it was definitely about being harder to play against and building these type of games into it if they're out there for it,” Cassidy said. “It was there, it presented itself. (Zdeno Chara) had a good hit, Charlie (McAvoy) has a good clean hit, they come after him. All of a sudden, that changes the complexion of the game — okay, it's going to be one of those games. 

“So you get dragged into the fight, something that our team, I think, needs. Typically (we) respond well. Obviously too many penalties to go down 5-on-3, some were warranted, some weren't. But at the end of the day, Brandon was a big part of that as well. Wanted to play harder. He's a big boy, wanted to take care of the front of the net and he gets dragged into it and does a good job."