NHL Notebook: McAvoy elevating game in big spot for Bruins

“They can just control the play. As a player playing against them, when you have ‘D’ that can break it out themselves and skate out of situations and are really good on the attack in the O-zone with the way they move, it’s frustrating [for opponents] and it gets tough on breakouts,” said Brad Marchand. “You feel like you don’t have any space, especially when Chuck is as physical as he is as well.

“[McAvoy] kills plays and it’s great to see them going because [the defenseman] is such a big part of our offense is having the ‘D’ controlling pucks, joining and then jumping in down low. We’ve kind of found another gear with that lately and it helps a ton.”

The big game also got McAvoy back into the positive after a plus-2 evening and has him on pace for 12 goals and 55 points this season in the kind of big number offensive season that Boston needs out of him. To wit, the 12 goals scored would be a career high and McAvoy has a really good chance of topping his career high of 56 points set during the 2021-22 season.

But it’s about more than offensive statistics or game-winners because McAvoy has been forced to elevate his game with Brandon Carlo injured and on the shelf during the road trip, and Hampus Lindholm not matching the standout campaign he had last year. McAvoy averaged over 28 minutes of ice time during the four-game trip with four overtime games, and needed to muster that heroic performance up at the end of a five-games-in-nine-days stretch where you could see the fatigue on the faces of B’s players as they trudged through it.

Clearly it says something about McAvoy that he was able to summon a little extra to make certain Boston took five of eight points on the road trip with a win in St. Louis.

"This felt good," admitted McAvoy. "Points in every game sounds good, but it was kind of disheartening losing three overtimes in a row. Tonight, we blow a lead and go into overtime again. But it all worked out.

“It feels good right now to end the trip with a win.”

McAvoy may not be in the Norris Trophy conversation with guys like Quinn Hughes and Cale Makar after a slow start, but the Bruins fortunes rest on his shoulders more than anybody else as he showed again on Saturday night.

ONE TIMERS 

1. Love the “Goaltending Excellence Department” line from Bruins goalie coach Bob Essensa in announcing that Jeremy Swayman will be a first-time All-Star this season for the Black and Gold. Swayman will join David Pastrnak and Jim Montgomery in a B’s contingent that will have good organizational representation at the league’s Midwinter Classic.

2. It’s a shame that Kevin Hayes got caught up in some baseless speculation from a Flyers blogger that he had some kind of dramatic impact in Cutter Gauthier spurning Philly, and thereby forcing them to deal him to the Anaheim Ducks. Does anybody really think a former first-round pick like Gauthier is going to pull this kind of thing based on something like a few disapproving words about an organization, or that John Tortorella is the coach there right now? That’s not going to faze a kid in his early 20’s that would be with an organization a lot longer than the current NHL coach. What makes way more sense than the conspiracy theory stuff is what Elliotte Friedman reported that Gauthier wanted to sign a deal last summer and wasn’t accommodated by a Flyers team concerned about the cap implications. So Gauthier and his camp decided on a change in NHL scenery and a move to Anaheim with Trevor Zegras and company. I just hope Gauthier is ready for his first trip to Philly, a place where they threw batteries at JD Drew when he spurned the Phillies for the St. Louis Cardinals.

3. The Bruins continue to have a serious penalty problem. They are second in the NHL with 192 penalties taken this season in a stat that you don’t want to be among the league leaders, and they are third worst in the NHL in penalties taken/drawn differential with a minus-28. The other two teams up there with them (San Jose, Anaheim) are way out of the playoff picture to give you an idea how much this is a problematic problem area for a team with Stanley Cup aspirations.

4. Jesper Boqvist is really taking advantage of his latest stint with the Boston Bruins to try and establish himself on the NHL roster. He’s definitely looked the most comfortable (and dangerous) in this latest period of time and again made a play on Saturday night assisting on Charlie McAvoy’s first goal with a nice drop pass to the trailer. Boqvist finished with an assist and a plus-1 rating in 13:59 of ice time while playing in a top-9 role for the Black and Gold.

5. The Maple Leafs are never going to learn, are they? Now William Nylander has his $88 million contract extension and Toronto will have a fourth eight-figure salaried player on a roster (and all of them with no-movement clauses) that’s won a grand total of one playoff series during their time together. This is not sustainable, and it surely means somebody is going sooner rather than later when the same old weaknesses crop up and doom them in the postseason again this spring. It’s a tale as old as time.