BOSTON — Marcus Johansson and Charlie Coyle certainly are making their presence known for the Boston Bruins.
Both skaters were acquired via trade — with Johansson being traded by the New Jersey Devils in February and Coyle coming from the Minnesota Wild for Ryan Donato at the NHL trade deadline — and have made a significant impact throughout the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Coyle had a huge night in Thursday’s wild 3-2 overtime Game 1 win against the Columbus Blue Jackets, scoring both the game-tying and game-winning tally, while Johansson had a goal in Game 7 against the Toronto Maple Leafs and accounted for two assists Thursday.
The duo clearly is building chemistry, despite the limited time they’ve had together. And Bruce Cassidy is a fan.
“Well, it’s starting to develop, obviously. That second goal is an all-world play,” the head coach said after the Game 1 victory. “I mean, shot-ready Charlie (Coyle). We’ve talked about Marcus, right? He had some, an injury here early with us, then he got sick, so he hasn’t had time to really develop a lot of that. Practice time is limited down at the end of the year, so he’s got to do it on the fly.
“They all made a great play. If you go back to the start, Danton (Heinen) wins the puck on the wall. Charlie outlets to Marcus. He flips it out. Danton stays onside, so then . for a coach and any team that plays the way we do, we like to see offense be rewarded with good defensive play, good structure, so that’s even that. It’s great, what a great video, teaching point for young guys that come in here, how they were in good spots. They won a puck, and then your skills take over at the other end.”
Coyle and Johansson will have a chance to continue the chemistry building and impress their coach Saturday when the puck drops for Game 2 at TD Garden.
