The Bruins found themselves down 2-0 in the third period to the Hurricanes and things started to look as if Carolina was going to tie the series with Boston.
But then Charlie McAvoy happened.
The Bruins defenseman laid a clean, hard hockey hit on veteran Jordan Staal that sent him down the tunnel for the remainder of the game. And from there, Boston exploded for four unanswered goals — including two from Jake DeBrusk — to complete the comeback and win 4-3.
The Black and Gold took a crucial 3-1 series lead with the victory.
More Bruins: Sean Kuraly Reveals Why He’s So Good At Coming Through In Big Moments
But McAvoy’s hit changed the pace of the game and was as if ignited a fire under the Bruins.
“Well from my standpoint you know clearly (Jake) DeBrusk is scoring, I mean we’re having a really tough time, specially five-on-five, so that started it for us,” head coach Bruce Cassidy told reporters during his Zoom postgame press conference. “Now we’re back in the game right, we got a chance. And then the McAvoy hit. I think we were playing and we were going to push and we were pushing, so obviously it helps us a lot, but I think it really demoralizes the other team. When one of your veteran players, a leader in your room, or really a respected player in this league, takes a good hard clean hit, like I said it affects your group. So it affected us positively and probably them in a negative manner. They lose a guy that’s a shutdown centerman and had been doing a real good job against (Patrice Bergeron’s) line that game, so for us it really helped.”
Boy did it.
First DeBrusk went airborne over James Reimer to find twine, Connor Clifton got a nice feed from Joakim Nordstrom that he sent buzzing by Reimer, Brad Marchand scored on the breakaway and DeBrusk finished it off to complete the comeback.
Four straight goals to complete the comeback.
What a night for the @NHLBruins — owners of a 3-1 series lead. #StanleyCup pic.twitter.com/2iy8pO4TQZ
— NHL (@NHL) August 18, 2020
*Chef’s kiss.*
DeBrusk called McAvoy’s hit a “good moment” for the Black and Gold.
“He’s got a lot of meat over there,” the winger told reporters. “I didn’t actually see the hit live, but like you said, the reaction of the bench. Anytime – it’s so weird without fans, to be honest with you. Anytime there’s a big play or a good scoring chance, the only way you know is by the bench reaction. Obviously, it was a big hit and it was a good moment for us. That’s when we’re coming hard.”
And for McAvoy? Well he just wanted to create his own energy.
“You have to be able to create your own energy on the bench and going into that third period and obviously you’re down two and the game hadn’t really been in our favor,” he told reporters on Zoom. “We had some chances and stuff but we were looking to create some energy and that was kind of the message –- that we weren’t out of it. It was opportunity to step up and make a hit, try and separate a man from the puck. We were already playing well. And just to see so many guys step up and make tremendous plays tonight when it really mattered to get us a win was just so awesome to see. It really lifts the spirit of the team.”
The Bruins now can put the Hurricanes away on Wednesday in Game 5.
Here are some other notes from Monday’s Bruins-Hurricanes:
— DeBrusk’s goal was much-needed for the winger, especially after having so many missed opportunities through the round-robin tournament and the first three games against Carolina.
“He’s a guy that measures himself probably too much about just with his goal scoring,” Cassidy said. “He can bring other things and hound pucks and make plays and be a net-front presence on the power play, we’ve changed that up a little bit, but there’s other ways you can contribute, especially in the playoffs. But we need some goals, let’s face it, we’re having a tough time, missed some open nets early on and five on five scoring had been a few games. So good for him, happy for him. Sometimes he gets streaky, so hopefully this sets him off.”
DeBrusk was happy he could just contribute to the win.
“Anytime you can contribute in a win, it’s huge,” he said. “Obviously, we’ve had some pretty good looks in the series. I just wanted to number one, try to find my game and just help the team. I kind of got lucky on the first one, I’d like to say, and a great play by my linemates on the second one. We rallied to win.”
— Anders Bjork began the game on top line, but Charlie Coyle found himself up there Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand. So why the change?
“We needed offense and he’s a more proven scorer than Anders,” Cassidy said. “Anders is playing hard, pursuing pucks, that’s a big ask of him going against top line, against (Jakob) Slavin and (Dougie) Hamilton, too, so we just felt that we’re having trouble scoring. We feel we’re defending really hard, not giving up much, but we do need some offense to give us a boost so that’s why we put Charlie there. Put (Sean) Kuraly back in the middle with some young legs, it puts Bjork on his left side, I’ve always said he seems to have a little easier time there.”
— For what it’s worth, Reimer also was in net for the Toronto Maple Leafs’ epic 2013 meltdown in Game 7 when they were up by three goals with just over five minutest left in the game.
You all know what happened next: Boston scored three unanswered goals to force overtime only for Bergeron to win it for the Bruins.
Ah, memories.
