BOSTON — Just how the Boston Bruins don’t win Game 5 without a big play from Charlie McAvoy, they don’t win without an equally huge string of plays from Brandon Carlo a minute and a half earlier.
With the Stanley Cup playoff second-round Game 5 tied with just over 90 seconds to play, Aretemi Panarin gained the offensive zone for the Columbus Blue Jackets. Panarin tried to make a move as he dashed to the center of the zone, but he couldn’t shake Carlo. After trying to poke the puck away a couple times, Carlo elected to just throw his body and knock Panarin down. Seconds later, Carlo gathered a loose puck, found Brad Marchand with a diagonal pass. Marchand then fed David Pastrnak, who scored the game-winning goal.
It’s easy to forget that this is Carlo’s first postseason. There have been some growing pains, sure, but things mostly have been good. And even when things are bad, he’s responded nicely, which should encourage head coach Bruce Cassidy and Co.
During the second period Saturday, Carlo had a brutal (and, honestly, downright inexcusable) giveaway in the defensive zone. Cam Atkinson got the puck and had a 1-on-1 with Tuukka Rask, but the Bruins goalie made a big save to preserve the 1-0 lead at the time. Instead of letting the gaffe strike fear in Carlo and cause him to play with taciturnity, he instead proceeded with conviction.
“We’re not going to advance if those young guys freeze,” Cassidy said after the game. “Brandon had a moment there in the second period that he had to sort of reset himself, and good for him. You know, we’ll help him through that, but the individual has to be able to find his game, and he did. So, like I said, that’s critical for us that those guys do their part, and they did a little bit more tonight than that.”
Carlo acknowledged after the game that the experience he’s gaining is starting to kick in and allow him to play confidently.
“Yeah I definitely think there was nerves in that first game,” Carlo said. “I didn’t really know what to expect in the playoffs but as I’ve gotten more and more experience here I feel like I’m starting to grow my game even more. Feeling pretty good out there, confidence is definitely growing. I burped a puck out there, resulted in a great scoring chance but tried to not get too far ahead of myself and panic. I think that’s just going to make things worse for myself so that comes with experience in this league which I’ve appreciated from having that experience and then hearing it from the guys who are experienced, feeling pretty good.”
The 22-year-old has gotten some attention nationally, but he hasn’t established himself as any sort of household name just yet. But the play on Panarin prompted Carlo’s defensive partner, Torey Krug, to assert that there’s one thing he already is doing better than anyone else in the NHL.
“Brando’s been (making big plays) not just all playoff long, all year long,” Krug said. “He doesn’t get the credit he deserves; he ends more plays than I’ve seen by anybody in this league to be honest. Then he gets rewarded with an assist on the game-winning goal, it’s a big moment for our team. He takes one of the best one-on-one players in the world and ends a one-one-one and off we go and get a goal. A great job by him.”
Carlo has a bright future, and while he showed in the second period that there’s still a lot of room for him to grow, he showed a period later just how good he can be.
