Connor Clifton is bringing more than just his trademark thump on this Bruins D corps

Off the ice, Connor Clifton doesn’t exactly instill plenty of fear — at least when lined up next to some of the NHL’s most physical blueliners.

Physically, the New Jersey native isn’t in the same weight class as a Jamie Oleksiak or a Nikita Zadorov. Now in his fifth season up in the NHL ranks, Clifton has tacked on some healthy weight to his frame, but at just 5-foot-11, the Quinnipiac alum wasn't exactly the type of player that most opponents envisioned being a heat-seeking missile out there on the frozen sheet.

Of course, that sentiment doesn’t exactly follow him around anymore — not with the number of bundled skaters that Clifton has left in his wake.

He may not be the biggest body, but Clifton has built a pretty lengthy resume when it comes to dropping opponents and leaving them sucking wind — the end result of an on-ice car crash generated by Clifton’s knack for picking the perfect window to deliver his bone-crunching checks. 

“I think his timing on hits is incredible,” Jim Montgomery said of Clifton. “Like, he rocks people.”

Count Roope Hintz as the latest skater to learn the hard way of Clifton’s propensity to bowl over opponents. 

With a puck skittering along the boards and up across the half-wall on Tuesday night, Hintz saw an opportunity to engage Clifton for the biscuit — with the Stars forward closing in on the defenseman in search of a board battle. 

What Hintz didn’t expect, however, was for Clifton to plant himself onto the ice and perform his best impression of a brick wall — dropping the Dallas forward with a devastating reverse hit. To add insult to injury, Clifton promptly dispatched Colin Miller in the subsequent scrap with a quick uppercut — dropping him to the ice just as Hintz managed to get his bearings.

But beyond just the shift in momentum that can be gained by doling out such a heavy hit, Clifton getting Miller to bite (and eventually get called for roughing) allowed Boston to open the scoring just 1:04 later — with David Pastrnak clapping a one-timer past Jake Oettinger on the power play en route to an eventual 3-1 win.

“I think that had a big impact early in the game — because you could tell that there were plays that I thought Dallas could have made where, because of Cliffy's early hits, they rushed their plays,” Montgomery noted.

There’s no question that the Bruins will be counting down the days until Charlie McAvoy finally returns to the ice and anchors Boston’s D corps once again. But that’s not just because of his O-zone and transition talents, shutdown capabilities and minutes-eating habits — but also the stability he offers on the right side of Boston’s defense.

Before Brandon Carlo received the green light to play on Tuesday following a four-game absence due to a concussion, Clifton stood as the lone right-shot D in Boston’s lineup, with the usual third-pairing stalwart suddenly pressed into top-four minutes on Boston’s patchwork defense. 

Sure, the physicality that Clifton has displayed in the early going of this season hasn’t exactly been much of a surprise. But the 27-year-old's stout and dependable play under a suddenly heavy workload has been a major lift for a defense that needs every able-bodied blueliner to pull on the rope.

While Clifton’s “bull in a china shop” mentality has occasionally been a double-edged sword — with that trademark aggression occasionally leading to D-zone lapses that have curbed his reps in the past — Montgomery has had no qualms with Clifton’s occasional risk-taking. 

The proof is in the reps, it seems. Entering Tuesday night, Clifton was averaging 22:22 minutes per game — the second-highest rate among B’s skaters behind only Hampus Lindholm. And with four helpers already through seven games (his career-high for assists in a season is eight), Clifton is also making the most of his new coach’s willingness to take the reins off in the offensive zone.

Yes, by the time McAvoy returns to the ice, Clifton will likely be relegated back to his usual spot on the depth chart, most likely joining Derek Forbort on the third D pair. But even if his minutes might dip some in the coming weeks, Montgomery is hoping that Clifton’s renewed confidence isn’t going to wane any time soon. 

“Cliff, he's a competitor,” Montgomery said of Clifton. “He's one of those guys, the more he plays, the more he gets in a rhythm and that rhythm of not having to think is good for most hockey players and Cliff is a guy that plays on his toes. …  I think when players get in a rhythm of playing, they get more confident, they're touching the puck more.

“And I think he knows that the team needs him to be really good. And he's a really competitive young man. And because he's so competitive, he relishes more minutes, he relishes being relied upon to help the Boston Bruins win hockey games.”