Charlie McAvoy’s life would be pretty great right now regardless of what was happening on the ice. On Jan. 26, he and his wife, Kiley, welcomed their first child, Rhys Michael.
What’s happening on the ice has been pretty good, too. On Tuesday night, McAvoy opened the scoring for a second straight game, helping to lead the Boston Bruins to a second straight win, this one a 3-0 shutout of the Minnesota Wild.
“Dad strength, as they say?” McAvoy said after the game. “It's been an amazing week, week and a couple days for me. Life is awesome right now. I’m just through the moon, me and Kiley and the baby. And it’s nice to have some wins on top of it.”
McAvoy’s goal to jumpstart Saturday’s 6-3 win over the New York Rangers did require some “dad strength,” as he stepped into a one-timer that went bar-down.
Tuesday’s goal required a little more finesse from the defenseman. On an extended offensive-zone cycle shift, McAvoy wound up rotating to the front of the net and tipping in a David Pastrnak shot from the high slot.
McAvoy suspected it may have been the first tip-in goal of his career. While that part of the goal was unique, the shift leading up to it was an example of how McAvoy can impact the offense when he’s on the game.
McAvoy and D partner Mason Lohrei were on the ice with the top line of Pastrnak, Morgan Geekie and Pavel Zacha, a trio that has had plenty of chemistry over the last month-plus. McAvoy and Lohrei added to that chemistry with their own offensive creativity, carrying pucks down low and popping up on the wings or even the net-front as the cycling continued. It is hard for an opponent to maintain defensive structure when a five-man unit is clicking like that, as someone is bound to eventually get caught out of position or looking the wrong way. Predictable to each other, but unpredictable to the opponent.
“We used to play this game called ‘bogo,’ where it's just like five-on-five and everybody plays everything, and it was like a pre-practice game. We call that a bogo shift,” McAvoy said. “No one has any position. It's just playing fluid with creativity and wherever the puck takes you, and that's what that was. That's how I end up in front of the net, a place where I normally am not. As long as you have the structure of two guys high, then you're fine, you're protected. So, that was a little bit of what that was.”
It’s the kind of shift the Bruins haven’t had many of this season. They have struggled to find consistent chemistry within their forward lines, never mind the help from the blue line that’s required to turn a shift into a true five-man attack. With Hampus Lindholm still out of the lineup, McAvoy and Lohrei may be the only two defensemen on the roster capable of jumping into the offense like that.
This is the upside of putting McAvoy and Lohrei together. While there is some logic behind the idea of pairing McAvoy with someone who can provide more of a defensive security blanket, the fact is that over the years, McAvoy has generally been at his best when he’s been with someone who can go forward and attack with him, not just hang back and cover for him.
For years, that partner was Matt Grzelcyk. This season, it’s been Lohrei. In the 209 five-on-five minutes that McAvoy has played with Lohrei, the Bruins have 54.2% of shot attempts and have outscored opponents 10-5. In the 520 minutes that McAvoy has been with either Nikita Zadorov, Jordan Oesterle or Parker Wotherspoon, the Bruins have 49.3% of shot attempts and have outscored opponents by a tighter 20-18 margin.
There have been and will continue to be some growing pains with the 24-year-old Lohrei, like his ill-advised turnover right in his own crease that led to a goal against in last Thursday’s loss to Winnipeg. But McAvoy believes in Lohrei and seems determined to make this partnership work, perhaps realizing that the long-term payoff is going to make the short-term hiccups worth enduring.
“Hey, Mase is a stud,” McAvoy said on Saturday. “We're gonna keep getting better, me and him together. I got his back. I know he's got mine. Hockey’s a game of mistakes. I make plenty. Everybody has their fair share. It’s about just learning from them and putting them behind you, and that’s everybody, no matter what year you’re in. So, continue to lean on him and be there for him, and I know he’ll do the same for me.”
McAvoy’s leadership on and off the ice has been evident in the three games since he returned from an upper-body injury that sidelined him for nearly three weeks. It seems it was also evident to Team USA, who named McAvoy one of their alternate captains for the upcoming 4 Nations Face-Off – just another highlight of these last couple weeks.
If it seems like everything is coming up McAvoy, that’s because it is right now. Teammate Brandon Carlo had an idea for how McAvoy can keep the good mojo going.
“I think he needs to have more babies,” Carlo joked Tuesday night.