Talking Points: Coyle Leads Way For Boston Bruins In Rebound Win

Here are the Talking Points from the Boston Bruins 4-1 win over the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden that ends an alarming two-game slide for the B’s in New York.

GOLD STAR: Charlie Coyle is a difference-maker when he plays assertive hockey and really drives his line, and he did exactly that on Sunday afternoon against the Blueshirts. It was Coyle that scored the game’s first goal when he took a puck in stride, beat K’Andre Miller to the outside with speed and then snapped a shot inside the far post for the game’s first goal. Coyle added the empty netter in the final minutes to give him his first two-goal game of the season, but in between he was the puck possession horse creating offense and generating a team-high five shots on net to go along with three hits and a 6-for-9 performance on the draw. Coyle was arguably Boston’s best player in the Sunday win and they have needed a performance like that out of him for a little bit.

What a goal from Charlie Coyle.

1-0 Bruins. pic.twitter.com/gj0eE7ZdHw

— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) February 28, 2021

BLACK EYE: After getting the Boston Bruins’ attention with a number of punishing hits on David Pastrnak in Friday night’s game, the Bruins were all over Ryan Lindgren in the Sunday afternoon rematch. Both Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand drilled the hard-nosed New York defenseman with hits on the first shift of the game, and the rest of the Bruins followed by finishing checks on Lindgren whenever they could. Even Jake DeBrusk slammed Lindgren with a hit in front of the benches, and that’s when you know there’s been a concerted effort by the B’s to send a message. Perhaps as a result, Lindgren was pretty quiet with a minus-1 and two shot attempts in 19:12 of ice time. Lindgren almost tussled with Nick Ritchie when the B’s power forward crashed into Rangers goalie Alex Georgiev in the first period, but instead both players were sent to the box with roughing calls.

Patrice Bergeron with a big hit on Ryan Lindgren. pic.twitter.com/fWLXyNA7yH

— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) February 28, 2021

TURNING POINT: You could tell in the first very shift of the game that the Boston Bruins meant business as Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand both took the body against the Rangers, and played with a pointed physical edge to their game. That set the tone for an extremely physical first period for the Bruins where they scored a pair of goals, knocked Alex Georgiev out of the game temporarily when Nick Ritchie crashed into him at the net and walloped Ryan Lindgren multiple times after he played a surly game against the Bruins on Friday night. Marchand tried to do the same thing with Rangers D-man Adam Fox on Friday night as well, but it didn’t have the same impact that it clearly did in Sunday afternoon’s tone-setting opening shift.

And now Brad Marchand with a big hit on Ryan Lindgren. pic.twitter.com/PHsQIPIagQ

— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) February 28, 2021

HONORABLE MENTION: This certainly could have been Charlie McAvoy, David Pastrnak or Patrice Bergeron after strong games, but instead it was an excellent bounce-back game for rookie Trent Frederic. The punishing B’s forward scored the second goal of the first period when he headed straight to the net and deflected a Connor Clifton shot, giving Frederic two goals in the last four games while his offense is beginning to catch up. Frederic also brought some attitude and physicality with three hits along with his three shots on net, but also got a front row seat to watch Nick Ritchie tussle with his enemy Brendan Lemieux in the closing seconds of the game. It was all a good, effective way to park a rough turnover in Thursday night’s loss to the New York Islanders that probably didn’t sit well with the youngster for a couple of days.

BY THE NUMBERS: 48 – the number for Brendan Lemieux. It was the only way that Bruins rookie Trent Frederic would refer to the Rangers forward postgame when he refused to mention him by his name. I can feel the hate growing between these two players.

QUOTE TO NOTE: “I think this was all getting back to our game. We lost some games badly, but I didn’t think we were lousy for 60 minutes. Today from the first shift to the last shift we were going to play the same no matter who was going overt the boards.” –Bruce Cassidy, on the change in everything for the Bruins in Sunday’s win over the Rangers.