Charlie Coyle finished with a goal and an assist in the Bruins' 2-1 win against the Maple Leafs as the B's top point-getter of the contest.
Coyle has been stellar as the Bruins' third-line center throughout the season and on Thursday, the Weymouth native picked up his ninth multi-point game of the year.
"It's something I keep telling myself to do," Coyle said about employing a shoot-first mentality. "I'm just a pass-first-natured guy. I've been told my whole life to shoot the puck, so it's nothing new. I stay on myself and people stay on me and we talk about that a lot, and see what happens when guys go to the net, usually good things happen."
The Bruins have tremendous offensive depth and Coyle's 43 points are the best of any forward not in the top-six. Coyle's strengths don't always show up on the scoresheet, but when they do, it usually means good things for the B's.
Of Coyle's nine games scoring two points, the Bruins are undefeated in those games.
"I think he has a lot of grit," Jim Montgomery said. "When he wants to he can be a power forward, most of the time he's a skilled forward. Most of the time we need him to be a skilled forward but there's a lot of times where I've seen him go head-to-head with some of the elite defensemen. It's a great battle. I saw it in Denver against [Cale] Makar, and I've seen it against [Morgan] Rielly here against the Maple Leafs. When he wants to take over a game he can take it over with his power or his skill."
To compare, Toronto's third-line center on Thursday was Ryan O'Reilly. In 48 games, O'Reilly has compiled 24 points. The recently-acquired Maple Leafs center missed the last 14 games with a finger injury.
Perhaps a better comparison to Coyle is former Bruin Erik Haula. The B's will see him and the Devils next on Saturday and Haula centered New Jersey's third line against the Blue Jackets on Thursday.
Haula also earned a goal and assist and now has 39 points this season. The Devils are similar to the Bruins in their offensive output as they've scored 277 goals to date. The B's have secured 284 and trail the Oilers for the most, who have 312.
With the return of Taylor Hall appearing to approach, it'll be interesting to see Coyle's numbers in the playoffs. A line with Coyle, Hall and Tyler Bertuzzi will be very difficult third line for the opposition and Coyle has history of stepping up in the postseason.
During the Bruins' Stanley Cup run in 2019, Coyle concluded with nine goals and 16 points and looked particularly strong with Marcus Johannson, who also happened to be a deadline pickup.
While Bertuzzi doesn't have any playoff experience, his game looks to suit Coyle's well and along with Hall's dynamic capabilities, the B's third trio has the chance to be very effective.
In the playoff-like tuneup against Toronto, Coyle proved he can step up when the game gets tight.
"It could be a team we play in the playoffs if we get where we want to be," Coyle said. "They're a good team so it wasn't hard to get up for tonight. We knew what they were going to bring."