Facing elimination, Charlie McAvoy delivered the performance he and the Bruins needed
It's a cliché, but sometimes Stanley Cup playoff games really do just come down to who wants it more. Charlie McAvoy wanted it Tuesday night.
With his team facing elimination, McAvoy stepped up and delivered a dominant performance at both ends of the ice to lead the Bruins to a 2-1 Game 5 victory over the Florida Panthers and send the series back to Boston for Game 6 Friday night.
McAvoy helped set up the Bruins' first goal and then scored the goal that proved to be the game-winner, but it was his final two shifts of the game that best embodied the determination he brought to the ice on Tuesday.
The Panthers pulled goalie Sergei Bobrovsky for an extra attacker with 3:05 remaining ahead of an offensive-zone faceoff. Aleksander Barkov won the draw for Florida, but McAvoy proceeded to immediately block a Sam Reinhart shot and clear the zone.
After a quick respite, McAvoy went back on the ice for another defensive-zone faceoff with 2:02 to go. Right off the draw, he won a race to a loose puck and cleared the zone. Ten seconds later, McAvoy won the puck off Carter Verhaeghe and flipped it into the neutral zone. Twenty seconds after that, he dove at a loose puck in the slot and whacked it out of the zone again.
McAvoy's best clear was still to come. With under a minute to go, at the end of a long shift, McAvoy sealed off Verhaeghe with a good check along the boards, and then dove at the loose puck to poke it past an oncoming Brandon Montour and up to David Pastrnak for yet another clear. McAvoy looked like a man possessed, one who simply refused to lose that battle with the game on the line.
And the two points? Yeah, those were pretty good, too. On the game's opening goal, McAvoy had a good keep-in at the left point before making a nice indirect pass down to Jake DeBrusk, who then set up Morgan Geekie in front.
Four minutes after the Panthers tied the game, McAvoy gave the Bruins the lead for good midway through the second. He charged into the offensive zone off the bench, took a drop pass from Charlie Coyle, and snapped a shot past Sergei Bobrovsky.
"He's extremely competitive," Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said of McAvoy. "He's kind of quiet. Like, he doesn't say much, but you could see him talking a lot tonight on the bench. And his play was instrumental in our victory. And I think the goal for him is huge."
This was exactly the kind of game that McAvoy needed, and that the Bruins needed from him. It's no secret that Boston's No. 1 defenseman hasn't been at his best this postseason, especially in this series. His stat line in the second round entering Tuesday wasn't pretty: Zero points, zero shots on goal, minus-4.
By the time McAvoy scored Tuesday night, he had already landed three shots on goal. He finished the game with a team-high six. He also had four blocks and three hits, and the Bruins had a 7-3 advantage in high-danger chances during his 15:07 of 5-on-5 ice time, the majority of which came against the Panthers' top two lines.
"I've been trying, certainly," McAvoy said. "Certainly taking shots, but just haven't seen them be able to get to the net. You never lose confidence. It's the playoffs. It's up and down, it's emotional, and every day is a new day. That's all we're given. So, I've been trying to just keep the same mindset.
"I'm grateful for these opportunities and the guys that I get to go to war with. I want to be my best and do the best that I can. Tonight it was just good to see them get on net and see them create some opportunities for our team. Yeah, it's up and downs. You just have to stay even keel."
It wasn't quite a perfect game. McAvoy was also on the ice for the Panthers' lone goal, although he did have his man boxed out on the play; D partner Hampus Lindholm was the one who lost the decisive net-front battle. McAvoy also took a careless roughing penalty early in the third period.
It was pretty darn close, though. McAvoy looked aggressive, decisive and confident all night. He and Jeremy Swayman, who stopped 28 of the 29 shots he faced and made a big save on Sam Reinhart in the final seconds, were far and away the Bruins' best players.
Sure, Boston could have used more of this in Games 2-4, but it's better late than never. With his team's back up against the wall, McAvoy helped keep the Bruins' season alive and gave them a chance to get captain Brad Marchand back. He was the difference-maker the B's need him to be. Now he'll need to be that again Friday night if they're going to force a Game 7.
"We didn't say die," McAvoy said. "We wanted to see this thing go back to Boston and give him [Marchand] a chance to get right and hopefully be back."
