Bruins’ McAvoy lights lamp against Rangers
NEW YORK — For more than half the season, Charlie McAvoy could not buy a goal. Now they’re coming in bunches.
McAvoy, who did not score his first goal of the season until Game 55 when he notched the overtime gamewinner in Chicago, has now scored three goals in six games. The one he scored on Sunday in the Bruins’ 3-1 win over the Rangers was not a thing of beauty — a pool cue shot that popped in the air and eluded New York goalie Alexander Georgiev — but no one was complaining.
And they sure are not complaining about McAvoy’s overall game, either. In Sunday’s victory, McAvoy again played like the No. 1 defenseman he’s become at the ripe age of 22, calmly skating the puck out of trouble and settling the play down. He’s even listening to his coaches and shooting the puck every now and then. He took five shots on Sunday, two that hit the net.
Once a diehard Ranger fan, the Long Island native’s first goal was his first in five visits to MSG.
“That was really cool,” said McAvoy. “Growing up and being a big fan of the Rangers and going to games here, that’s special no matter what. It’s been fun coming here and playing and we’ve had pretty good success.”
While the easy narrative is that the first goal took the weight of the world off his shoulders and now he’s playing more freely, McAvoy said he’s felt pretty confident even before the goals came.
“Honestly, I don’t want to pat myself on the back, but I think I was fine,” said McAvoy. “I knew I hadn’t scored, but I wasn’t losing sleep at night. I was finding things to be happy about in my game. But since that point, yeah, it has been nice getting a couple in a short amount of time. More importantly, getting two wins on that back to back, that’s what feels best.”…
Where’s the beef?
Brad Marchand had a running feud going with defenseman Ryan Lindgren, the Bruin draft pick who was included in the package that brought Rick Nash to the B’s two years ago. They got into a scrum in the first period, with Lindgren getting suckered into the retaliatory penalty. They got into it again in the second, with Marchand crosschecking Lindgren to the ice after the latter was jousting with Patrice Bergeron. Pavel Buchnevich charged Marchand and crosschecked him from behind, sending the Bruin’s helmet flying. But Marchand was the only player to go the box on that one.
“They kind of said earlier in the game they were going to take one guy. So they kind of lived by that code I guess,” said Marchand. “That was probably a situation where they could have taken two, they were pretty even crosschecks. Or not taken anybody. But that’s the nature of the beast, it happens quick. But I think they had their mind made up that they were going to take one guy out of the pile. But we ended up scoring, so it was a great play by me.”
Yes, Marchand had his tongue firmly in cheek in his post-game interview, and continued to take some verbal shots at Lindgren.
Was there any history between Lindgren and him from the brief time Lindgren was Bruin property?
“I didn’t even know he was here,” said Marchand. “He’s not going to be a player that’s going to have a very long career, so I’m not overly concerned about him.”
What gave him that opinion?
“He’s a good steady defenseman, but there’s nothing that has come up in the past,” said Marchand with a shrug. “All the best to him. Hope he does a great job. But I can’t see it.”
Ouch…
Sent down
Connor Clifton, out since Dec. 27 with an upper body injury, accepted a conditioning assignment to Providence. As it is, the B’s would not have any place to put him as they are at roster limit of 23. …
Bergeron had one of his dominant days in the faceoff circle, winning 12 of 18 draws. …
The Bruins were spending the night in NYC and then travel today to Edmonton for the annual western Canada swing to visit the Oilers, Flames and Canucks.