Ryan: Stepping into void left by Brad Marchand’s injury, Charlie McAvoy ‘rises up’ once again for Bruins

For just a fleeting, split-second instance, the synapses firing off in Brad Marchand’s brain offered a respite for the ailing winger.

As David Pastrnak tucked a puck through Vitek Vanecek’s five-hole and into Washington’s net, Marchand joined the chorus line of black-and-gold sweaters on Boston’s bench, raising their hands up in synchronized triumph. 

Well, for a moment, at least. 

Before Marchand’s reactionary revelry could be completed, the searing pain in his right shoulder screamed back into his consciousness — stopping Marchand in his tracks and planting him back on the B’s bench. 

Just minutes earlier, that right shoulder was crunched into the unforgiving boards encapsulating the TD Garden ice — a car-crash cacophony of pain bestowed off of a dangerous hit from behind, courtesy of Garnet Hathaway.

For the Bruins, it was far from a surprise — given Hathaway’s previous track record of questionable hits on B’s skaters.

“Went straight at Marchy,” Pastrnak said of Hathaway. “He's that kind of player. We saw him a bunch in a couple of games. So I didn't like it. Obviously one of our best players. ... I think it was a little dirty."

What was a surprise, of course, was the sight of Marchand eventually heading down the tunnel for good. 

For all of the beatings that the 5-foot-9 Marchand takes on an almost daily basis, the franchise winger has routinely served as the B’s real-life incarnation of Wolverine — getting back up from every bone-crunching hit seemingly unaffected (albeit significantly more pissed off).

So to see Marchand— who, earlier this month, diced up the Capitals just minutes after his nose was rearranged into a modern-day Picasso canvas — unable to solider on following Hathaway’s hit served as a sobering visual for the rest of Bruce Cassidy’s club.  

Beyond the fact that Marchand has executed as Boston’s cheat code in the offensive zone for years now, the 33-year-old forward has also thrived as the Bruins’ on-ice injection of adrenaline — more than willing to dole out a heavy hit or pull the rest of the roster along with him when the temperature of a contest begins to rise.

Very few players can fill the void created by a player of Marchand’s caliber exciting a contest — especially against a formidable foe like Washington. 

But with Boston still in need of a retort against a physical Caps club, they found it from another usual suspect on their roster — this one on the blue line.

Charlie McAvoy may not be as tenured as names like Marchand or Bergeron in Boston's room, but the 24-year-old defenseman has always had a knack for providing the proper response at the proper time.

Just ask Jordan Staal.  

And with Boston in desperate need of a result, McAvoy once again delivered, capping off a dominant night with a game-winning tally with just 45 seconds left in regulation — the coup de grace in a hard-earned 4-3 win over the Caps.

“Obviously a guy that rises up,” Cassidy said of the performance of McAvoy, who also logged a team-high 24:35 of ice time. “We've seen it over the years here for a young guy. But both ends (of the ice), right?  I mean, he's involved in the penalty kill as well, so he’s a solid player. He can play in any situation and nice to see him get rewarded offensively. … Under pressure, he's executed in the big moments and he typically does that."

"He's a hell of a player,” Pastrnak added. “He gets himself in the games.”

Indeed, McAvoy’s power-play snipe from the slot might have been the final determinant in Boston’s two-point night — but the team's top D-man was shifting momentum back in Boston’s favor long before his last-minute heroics. 

Marchand was not the only B’s forward that was knocked out of the contest by Washington’s bruising forward corps — with Tom Wilson barreling over Anton Blidh in the first period with a crushing, clean hit that left the fourth-liner reeling out on the ice. 

No penalty was warranted against Wilson for the check, but it was McAvoy who answered back just minutes later with a clean hit of his own — dropping Trevor van Riemsdyk behind Washington’s net in the closing seconds of the period.

"He just made a hell of a hit during the first and from that point on, he was just unbelievable,” Pastrnak said of McAvoy.

Boston and Washington continued to trade punches (and goals) as the contest wore on — with McAvoy earning the lion’s share of his minutes matched up directly with Hathaway.

And even though the B’s were not able to dole out punishment to Hathaway by way of a spirited scrap, McAvoy did find another way to silence the winger and the rest of Washington’s top line in Alex Ovechkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov.

After being on the ice for Kuznetsov’s short-side snipe early in the first, McAvoy and the Bruins shut down Washington’s first line the rest of the way — with Boston holding a 7-2 edge in shots on goal (and a 1-0 advantage in goals scored) in the 7:42 of 5v5 ice time that McAvoy and Hathaway were on the ice together. 

Given his efforts at both punching back against the Caps’ physicality — and containing them in Boston’s zone — it was only fitting for McAvoy to eventually be the one to net the game-winner, handing Boston at least some good news in wake of Marchand’s exit. 

“My momentum kind of just took me up that lane,” McAvoy said. “It was something we talked about before the game, that it might be open there. So it was a great play by (Jake DeBrusk) to buy time. I had a feeling he was gonna see me. It's a great play by him. And then I was able to just get that shot through and to see it go in, I was really excited.”

For the Bruins, a night like Thursday is not only another in a long list of examples of why they were wise to back up the Brink’s truck for McAvoy when they did. 

It stood as another impressive bounce-back performance in the midst of adversity — especially in the aftermath of Tuesday’s drubbing at the hands of the Hurricanes. 

“Today was a big character win for us,” Pastrnak said.

Time will tell if tomorrow will offer even better news when it comes to Boston’s Wolverine.