There were many thoughts running through Charlie McAvoy’s head as soon as the puck slipped past Robin Lehner and found twine in the Blackhawks’ net on Wednesday night.
First? Relief, as to be expected when you finally snap a goalless streak that stretched all the way back to May 27, 2019 — Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final.
Joy came next, given that McAvoy’s OT strike capped off a 2-1 victory for Boston — with the club’s fifth consecutive win launching the B’s to the top of the NHL standings once again.
Then? Perhaps a fleeting moment of anxiety — given the amount of teammates piled on top of him on the United Center ice.
"They wouldn't let me up,” McAvoy joked postgame. “After about 30 seconds, I'm like, ‘I guess we're staying in Chicago tonight.’”
All kidding aside, McAvoy didn’t mask those sentiments of alleviation following his first goal of the 2019-20 season. Try as he might to tune out the noise, you can only do so much — especially given the amount of minutes the 22-year-old skater logs on Boston’s blue line.
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“It’s tough. It weighs, as much as you don't want to say it, you think about it and your confidence and everything,” McAvoy said. “You feel like you can contribute a set amount and sometimes when it's not there, it takes a bit of a hit. But as I said to these guys, ‘Thanks for keeping my confidence high.’ They all do. Everybody just saying, ‘It's coming, it's coming.’ Their response there was pretty neat.”
The mobbing that took place after McAvoy lit the lamp — highlighted by Jake DeBrusk’s form tackle (alright, maybe just a tad high) — was a fitting sight given the looming cloud hovering over McAvoy all season when it comes to his scoring drought.
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But, for as much as the negative narratives surrounding McAvoy in 2019-20 have hinged around his lack of tallies, the notion of Wednesday’s game being a breakthrough showing from the defenseman is a bit misguided.
Yes, it’s fantastic to see McAvoy finally break through and etch his name in the box score, but he’s been far from a net negative when it comes to production in the O-zone.
For as much as that goose egg under "goals scored" has caught eyes and led headlines when it comes to assessing McAvoy's game this year, the script has largely remained the same when his teammates have fielded that same question.
"He's doing a little of everything," Charlie Coyle said of McAvoy's impact following Boston's 4-0 victory over Vancouver on Tuesday. "It's not always going to be just the goals. We've got plenty of other guys who can score. Not saying he can't, because we know he can. But when you're not scoring, you're making sure you're contributing in other ways and he's doing a lot of that. He's doing a bunch, sticking up for guys, being a physical presence — big hit here and there.
"Great sticks. Stepping up on the blue line, forcing an offside, just little things in the game that are so big for our game as a whole, which sends off other guys and our transition and other guys are scoring because of plays he's making and we've got a lot of guys doing that for us."
On the defensive side of things, the Bruins shouldn't have many qualms with what McAvoy provides. Yes, there are still lapses that will be ironed out with additional reps, but McAvoy checks off plenty of the boxes that Boston is looking for in a legitimate top-pairing blueliner. Along with eating minutes (a team-leading 23:10 average TOI), McAvoy often puts his body on the line (a team-leading 102 blocks, 29 more than second place Zdeno Chara) and can dole out some punishment of his own —with his 110 hits tied with Sean Kuraly for second on the roster.
But down the other end of the ice, few Bruins players catch more flak than McAvoy when it comes to a perceived lack of offensive capabilities. Yes, there are warts to his game, namely when it comes to his tendency to defer on quality scoring chances. Among the 25 Bruins skaters with at least 50 minutes of TOI logged this year, McAvoy ranks 22nd with a shots per 60 minutes rate of 3.79.
But McAvoy's speed, assertiveness down low and ability to carry the puck with authority through the neutral zone have made him arguably Boston's most effective blue-line option when it comes to generating 5v5 offense.
Such was the case last season, when McAvoy's 0.92 5v5 primary points (goals and primary assists) per 60 minutes rate ranked ninth overall among NHL defenseman (min. 500 minutes). The only players in front of him were Kris Letang, Morgan Rielly, Tyson Barrie, Brent Burns, Mark Giordano, Shea Weber, Vince Dunn and John Carlson.
The 2019-20 campaign has been more of the same for McAvoy when it comes to his positive impact during 5v5 play, as seen below:
(For reference on Micah Blake McCurdy’s individual impact charts via Hockey Viz: On the offensive side of things, you’d want to see a player providing positive numbers — with the red blobs signifying where the team is generating a majority of their shots from whenever said player is on the ice. Defensively, negative numbers are a sign that a team is snuffing out opposing scoring chances whenever said player is on the ice. As such, the blue blobs represent where the opposition’s shots aren’t regularly coming from.)
As you can see, Boston's shot rates spike in Grade-A areas around the opposing net during the 983 minutes of 5v5 play that McAvoy has logged this season — especially when compared to those low shot rates found around the net and in the slot when he hasn't been on the ice.
And if we were to look at McAvoy's 5v5 production this year as far as generating scoring chances go, his assists per 60 minutes rate of 1.05 is tied with Toronto's Rielly for 12th among all NHL defensemen that have logged at least 500 5v5 minutes.
A few of the names in front of McAvoy? Carlson (1.56, 1st), Roman Josi (1.34, 4th) and Erik Karlsson (1.28, 6th).
A few of the names behind him? Jaccob Slavin (0.99), Victor Hedman (0.98), Quinn Hughes (0.9), Letang (0.86) and Dougie Hamilton (0.84).
Yes, there are plenty of D-men with more established track records when you factor in power-play prowess. But McAvoy's ability to be a top 5v5 playmaker while also excelling as a minutes-eating, top-pairing option puts him in some pretty rare company.
So no, McAvoy has been an offensive catalyst for this club long before he beat Lehner just 1:19 into overtime on Wednesday. But with the promising D-man finally off the schneid, look for these points to start coming in bunches down the stretch.
"Hopefully from here, (you get) a little bit more confidence and just start to maybe see more things go in for me," McAvoy said. "But as a team, that was a big win for us, big job on the penalty kill there to start overtime. I'm just really happy about the group effort."
Stats and graphs via Natural Stat Trick and HockeyViz.