From baby boy to big goal: A day Brandon Carlo will 'remember forever'
Brandon Carlo's night ended with a big goal in the Boston Bruins' 5-1 Game 1 victory over the Florida Panthers, followed by a postgame interview with Scott Van Pelt on ESPN's SportsCenter.
None of that was even close to the best thing to happen to Carlo on Monday. Roughly 20 hours earlier, around 3 a.m., his wife, Mayson, gave birth to their second child and first boy, Crew.
Carlo was there for the birth, staying in Boston while the rest of the Bruins traveled to Florida. He missed morning skate, flew down in the afternoon, got in a quick nap on the plane, and arrived at Amerant Bank Arena a couple hours before puck drop, to a predictably excited welcome from his teammates.
It was not a guarantee that Carlo was going to make it to Sunrise in time for Game 1. He initially thought baby Crew was going to arrive on Sunday, but the process could have dragged on later into the day Monday.
"We sped it up as fast as we could. We were flipping her around, putting her upside down, whatever we could do to get that baby out of there," Carlo joked.
If there were any concerns about fatigue Monday night, Carlo quickly put those to rest. In a series everyone knew was going to be physical, Carlo helped set the tone in that department, throwing a game-high five hits in the first period.
The game was still 0-0 after one, but opened up in the second period. Matthew Tkachuk struck first for Florida, but the Bruins quickly answered with goals from Morgan Geekie and Mason Lohrei to take a 2-1 lead. And then came Carlo's back-breaker.
With just 21 seconds left in the period, Carlo jumped into the rush as the trailer, took a pass from a patient Charlie Coyle, and snapped a shot bardown past Sergei Bobrovsky's glove.
A 3-1 lead heading into the third was pretty much checkmate with the way Jeremy Swayman has been playing in the Boston net. Sure enough, he finished the night with 38 saves on 39 shots, adding yet another spectacular performance to his 2024 postseason resume. Justin Brazeau pushed the lead to 4-1 and Jake DeBrusk added an empty-netter.
For Carlo, the goal and win capped off a wild 48 hours. It's easy to forget now, but Saturday's Game 7 was almost a night to forget for him. It was Carlo losing his footing that handed the Maple Leafs the goal that gave them a 1-0 lead midway through the third period. Thankfully for him and the Bruins, Hampus Lindholm tied the game 1:21 later and then David Pastrnak won it in overtime.
Carlo would not have deserved to be the goat. He was otherwise terrific in the first round, just like he was again on Monday. Maybe it's the hockey gods or good karma or just a player and team digging deep and responding, but the fairytale story Carlo got to write for himself on Monday felt much more fitting.
Speaking of Pastrnak, he was the one who fished the puck out of the back of the net for Carlo. That will make for a nice family keepsake. It will not be needed to remind Carlo of what happened Monday, though. Despite the lack of sleep, he is unlikely to ever forget any of it.
"Bringing that little boy into the world is a super special thing for me," Carlo told ESPN, "and to score tonight for him was definitely something I'll remember forever."
