Bruins
It did not take McAvoy lengthy to get entering into his return to the rink on Saturday.
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Charting out Mason Lohrei’s subsequent steps is a looming lineup choice for Bruins
Charlie McAvoy wasted no time reinserting his offensive presence into the Bruins lineup on Saturday.
In his first sport again from serving a four-game suspension, the alternate captain arrange a aim simply 36 seconds into the primary interval in opposition to the Montreal Canadiens.
The Bruins weren’t notably set again by McAvoy’s absence; they went 3-1 in the course of the stretch of his suspension. However, they positive don’t thoughts having his playmaking capacity again on the blue line.
On his opening shift, McAvoy fired a shot from the purpose, seemingly trying to find a deflection. Pavel Zacha bought simply sufficient of the puck to ship it spiraling previous Canadiens goalie Sam Montembeault.
That gave Boston a lead for an extended stretch on Saturday earlier than Montreal responded with a pair of targets in fast succession to achieve the lead. However, McAvoy got here by means of once more to assist the Bruins reply.
Within the third interval, McAvoy danced alongside the blue line earlier than feeding the puck to David Pastrnak. Pastrnak despatched the puck throughout the crease and hit Brad Marchand’s foot for the game-tying aim.
The pair of assists gave McAvoy his third multi-point sport this season. He additionally performed a key position in granting Boston a 5-on-3 energy play, drawing two separate hooking calls on the identical play. The Bruins weren’t capable of capitalize on that chance, although.
One silver lining of McAvoy’s absence is the elevated position it allowed Mason Lohrei to tackle within the massive leagues. On Saturday, current and future collided as Lohrei performed lots of defensive minutes alongside McAvoy. The alternate captain gave Lohrei a gentle associate, and McAvoy was capable of make up for any miscue Lohrei made on Saturday. Lohrei totaled over quarter-hour of ice time, whereas McAvoy logged 26:44, main all Bruins defensemen.
McAvoy’s return was spoiled by the Canadiens, who beat Boston 3-2 in additional time on Saturday. Nonetheless, his instant affect after 4 video games off was a particular optimistic for the Bruins.
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