Thursday had already turned into a milestone night for Charlie Coyle a few minutes into the second period. When he buried a Pavel Zacha pass for a power-play goal, it was the 150th goal of his NHL career. Combined with his assist on Trent Frederic's goal in the first period, it was also his 400th career point.
By the end of the game, Coyle had an even bigger milestone under his belt: His first career hat trick. He extended the Bruins' lead over the Islanders to 4-2 midway through the third when he banged in a nice feed across the top of the crease from James van Riemsdyk. Then he capped off the hat trick and the 5-2 win when he tapped a David Pastrnak pass into an empty New York net – after passing to Pastrnak instead of going for the empty net the first time.
"I was just trying to point at him to just shoot it," Pastrnak said. "He did make me skate forward a little bit, but glad that I was able to catch it and give it back to him."
In a way, it was fitting that Coyle nearly passed up on his first hat trick in order to get the puck to a teammate who had more open space to work with. Coyle has always been an unselfish player, and not just because he has a pass-first mentality.
He has embraced taking on a more defensive role the last couple seasons and has evolved into Boston's top penalty-killing forward. When Bruins coach Jim Montgomery slid him back down to the third line early on this season after Coyle spent all summer preparing to finally be a top-two center, he didn't pout or allow his game to drop off.
"Charlie's a consummate player," Montgomery said at the time. "All he cares about is winning, whatever he can do to impact the team."
It's those qualities that endear Coyle to his teammates, and it's why they lit up after Thursday's game when asked about Coyle getting his first hat trick 12 years and 798 games into his career. According to the Boston Globe's Kevin Paul Dupont, only eight forwards in NHL history have played more games before getting their first hat trick.
"He's a big part of our team," Pastrnak said. "He's been used for every single situation. So, glad for him."
"He's a super valuable player, super versatile player for us, plays every situation," van Riesmdyk said. "You can't speak enough about what he does in all facets of the game. So, it's nice to see him get rewarded."
"CC was a beast tonight and got rewarded for it, so it's awesome to see that," Frederic said.
As for Coyle's own reaction, naturally he passed the credit onto his teammates.
"I'm just on the end result of a lot of good plays," Coyle said. "…Sometimes it just pans out like that. Some good battles, even [Brad Marchand] on that last one, wins that battle. JVR hit me backdoor. Like sometimes you're just on the end result of some really good plays by your linemates."
There might be some truth to that, but Coyle did plenty to set up scoring chances, too. He made the steal deep in the offensive zone that set up Frederic's goal. He set up van Riemsdyk on the doorstep for a golden chance that was saved. He set up a Hampus Lindholm one-timer through traffic that was turned aside. He consistently went to areas where goals are scored, something he continues to try to do more.
With van Riemsdyk and Frederic on his wings – a combination that worked well earlier this season and was just reunited this week – Coyle drove the Bruins' best line Thursday in what Montgomery called Boston's best offensive game of the season.
"I'm always pushing to get better," Coyle said. "I'm always harping on myself to shoot the puck more and get in those scoring areas, and that's a work in progress, too. I want to keep adding to my offensive game, but making sure I bring my defensive game and what I've been doing decently well over the years. I want to bring that, too, so I don't want to lose that part of it. But it's finding that balance and knowing when I can take those opportunities to be on the offensive a little more and get in those spots."
His coach also saw him playing faster, something Montgomery has been pushing Coyle to do.
"You see it in flashes. This was his most complete game," Montgomery said. "When Charlie's skating like he was tonight … I've talked to him about, I thought he was playing slower than he did last year. He plays a lot of hard defensive minutes for us on the penalty kill and the matchups that I give him. He's just a team-first guy, but when he has that jump like he had tonight, he becomes a dynamic offensive player."
Whether Coyle could tap into more offense was one of the big questions for the Bruins entering this season, especially if he was going to be their first- or second-line center. Well, Coyle has been listed on the first, second and third lines at various points this season, and his offense had ticked up even before Thursday.
He had eight points in 12 games entering the night, a 55-point pace for the season. That would be one shy of his career high and would be his most in his six years as a Bruin. After Thursday's four-point outburst, Coyle now has 12 points in 13 games and is on a 76-point pace for the season.
It's unlikely Coyle will stay at quite that pace, but a career high in points could certainly be on the table, and that would be huge for the Bruins.
