McAvoy finding his groove
Scores fourth goal in the last 12 games
UNIONDALE, N.Y. — All of the Bruins’ defense stepped up in a complete effort Saturday on Long Island, but there was a little extra for Charlie McAvoy.
The Long Beach, N.Y., native didn’t grow up an Islanders fan, but he did go to Nassau Coliseum. McAvoy scored en route to the Bruins 4-0 win, and it did have some meaning.
“As far as Charlie goes, that’s great,” said Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy. “Long Island kid, comes home, probably a little more excited to play and good for him.”
After being shut out the first 51 games of the season, McAvoy has four goals in his last 12 games.
He’s never going to be the offensive presence who’s going to carry the Bruins as far as a puck-mover, but in his shutdown role he’s grown — and any offense is gravy.
Playing on a third period power play against the Islanders offered an opportunity to build on the lead, and with a couple of goals under his belt over the past few weeks, McAvoy’s confidence is going to be there.
“I just try to play and play the right way and not really look for it, but tonight was a great opportunity,” said McAvoy. “Torey (Krug) made a great pass to me and I could step into that, take all the thinking out of it and just shoot it.”
Any time McAvoy scores is going to feel pretty good with the way his season started. Doing it in a game where the entire blue line stepped up to combine for seven points has more meaning, and doing it at the rink he grew up going to even more.
Either way, it seems like McAvoy’s long scoring drought is behind him, and while that’s not something they need him to do every night, it sure doesn’t hurt.
“Nice to contribute and score one here,” said McAvoy. “Grew up coming here as a kid. That was special.”
Ritchie in the sin bin
Nick Ritchie came the Bruins
with a reputation of having a physical presence, but he also brought 19 minor penalties over with him.
That was on display a bit on Saturday on Long Island with two penalties from the former Duck.
“Ritchie wasn’t as good as the other night,” said Cassidy. “Got himself in penalty trouble a little bit today, so he never seemed to get going.”
Bjork benched
Anders Bjork didn’t play on Saturday, Cassidy instead opting to put Karson Kuhlman back in the lineup.
The Notre Dame alum was benched for much of the second period on Thursday night against the Stars and Cassidy said before Saturday’s game on Long Island there’s a good reason for that.
“I want him to go watch the game up top and realize where the ice is, how to manage the puck,” Cassidy said. “How hard it is to get inside, when you can work to get inside, stuff like that. Playoff hockey becomes a little more difficult, so that’s what we’re trying to prep Anders for, he hasn’t played any, at least not in the NHL.”