Charlie Coyle Hero in OT Winner

After finishing off the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday night in a series that took all seven games to declare the winner, the Boston Bruins found themselves right back at it Thursday night, as they met the Columbus Blue Jacketsin Game 1 of the second round.

Some expected that the Bruins might come out at the beginning of the game showing a bit of fatigue. Likewise, since the Blue Jackets had swept the Tampa Bay Lightning, they were rested, and it was expected that they would quickly set the tempo. Instead it was Boston that set the tempo to start the game, and throughout most of the first period. In fact, without the absolutely stunning performance by their netminder Sergei Bobrovsky, who played a major role in Columbus’ Round One upset, the game could have quickly gotten away from the Blue Jackets. At the end of the first period, the Bruins had managed 12 shots on goal, with another 12 attempts, and notched one goal. On the flip side, Columbus had four shots on goal, and only three additional attempts. The Bruins goal came while they were killing a hooking penalty assessed to Charlie Coyle. Noel Acciari, earned his first goal of the playoffs, while Charlie McAvoy got the assist. Secondary scoring has been crucial to the Bruins in the postseason, as their top line has seen some struggles to produce.

“Typically, the secondary scorers aren’t going to score every night. That’s why they’re secondary scorers, right? Because they’re not guys that do it every night. So far, they have the last few. We talked about it here. I think any good Stanley Cup caliber team has to have it at some point. We’re getting it. Great job by those guys in the bottom of the lineup. Not only do they score, they killed, what – that was a 50% power play going into this game for Columbus, and we killed every one. So, they did a hell of a job in that area too. So not only did they do what they always do well, and they pitched in on the scoring, so good for us,” Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy shared.

The Bruins weathered a more difficult middle frame in which it did look like a bit of fatigue had caught up to them. Meanwhile the Blue Jackets seemed to be finding their rhythm after that rusty first period. Despite Columbus outshooting the Bruins in that period, Boston was able to go into the second intermission still in the lead on Acciari’s goal back at 10:34 of the first.

The second period had been a bit of an issue throughout much of Round 1 for the Bruins and was a time when they were likely to dial back their pressure some. Like Game 7 against the Leafs, Tuukka Rask stood his ground between the pipes, and once again gave his team the chance to win.

Early in the third period, as Boone Jenner was sent to the box for a holding penalty the Bruins had an opportunity to try and give themselves a little breathing room on the scoreboard while on the man advantage. However, Bobrovsky continued to do everything he could to remain a brick wall in net. It would soon look like perhaps Boston’s inability to convert on the power play might leave them with regrets at the end of the game. At 7:39 of the third, Brandon Dubinsky got things tied after Coyle turned the puck over in the Bruins’ end. The deflection that resulted in the goal wasn’t something that Rask could have anticipated.

A tied game didn’t seem like a problem, except that 13 seconds later, it wasn’t tied, and the Bruins were now on the losing end of the scoresheet, when the puck ricocheted off Pierre-Luc DuBois to put the Blue Jackets up 2-1 with 12:08 remaining.

While fans on social media began their meltdowns, the Bruins continued to bring their game. They had picked up the pace in the third. Despite the score, they were in more control of the overall play in the third and were again outshooting Columbus. Though down a goal, they focused on the work at hand and remained calm on the bench.

“I think it starts with our leadership group. You go back to their most successful season with that core group. They were down 2-0 at home to Vancouver. They came back to win a Stanley Cup. They know what it takes. They know what it takes. It’s not the end of the world to have things not go your way right away. You have to work hard to correct it to play the right way, so I have to credit it all to the guys in the room. As a staff, we’ve read off them, so we try to be the same way. Listen, of course you get upset if something doesn’t go your way. You know, if we’re not playing the right way, we move on. We address it, ‘hey let’s get back to the way we need to play.’ I just think it’s the guys that go over the boards. They start that process again. Those guys that are going over the boards are generally the Bergys [Patrice Bergeron], the Krechs [David Krejci], the [Zdeno] Charas, and then the guys, it snowballs from there. The rest of the soldiers kind of fall in line, and then off you go,” Cassidy said of their response.

Respond they did and it came from the player who perhaps felt he needed to make amends—Coyle.

“I had a costly turnover in the third period, you can’t have that during the game. I’m glad our line kept playing and kept going out there to redeem ourselves,” Coyle stated honestly. As Marcus Johansson and Coyle were coming into the Blue Jackets’ end, Johansson got the puck down low along the right wall and shot it at Coyle. Coyle’s one-timer was perfectly timed, as even half a second later and Bobrovsky would have closed off the narrow slot the puck squeaked through. It was so fast that the on-ice official didn’t even give the goal sign right away, the puck having come out so quickly. With just 4:35 remaining in that third period, Coyle had given the Bruins the opportunity to push even harder and possibly get the win.

Nothing would be decided in regulation. The teams came back out after a 15-minute intermission and once again it the Bruins confidence was on display. They were limiting the chances of Columbus while making some good shots on Bobrovsky. Once again it would be the magic of Johansson and Coyle who would put an end to the game and give the Bruins the win.

For Coyle, who had a penalty and the costly turnover, he was simply happy the Bruins notched the win. The Weymouth native, one of a couple of hometown boys on the team, proved what a great acquisition he was at the trade deadline. He now has five goals in eight playoff games.

“Yeah, he’s a really important forward for us. Such a great pickup at the deadline and if we’re going to go far, he’s going to be a key guy for us. Obviously, exciting for him being a hometown guy to lift the Bruins to an overtime playoff victory. Exciting stuff.  We’re glad to have him,” Torey Krug said. There are things that the Bruins need to fix, as there always are. They will enjoy the win briefly and then get right back to work on Friday. The teams meet again on Saturday night at 8:00 p.m. ET for the second game in this series.