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Talking Points: Boston Bruins Make the Winning Plays In Third

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Here are the Talking Points from the Boston Bruins 4-2 win over the Winnipeg Jets at the MTS Centre on Friday night.

GOLD STAR: Charlie Coyle needed to step up and be counted on a night when Patrice Bergeron was injured, and he did exactly that with a three assist night in the victory for the Black and Gold. It was Coyle that set the tone in a dominant second period for the Bruins when he stepped up on Winnipeg defenseman Josh Morrisey to create a turnover that resulted in a Trent Frederic net-rush goal giving the Bruins a two-goal lead. Coyle finished with the three assists and a plus-2 rating in 19:18 of ice time, four shot attempts, a blocked shot and 12-of-24 face-off wins in an excellent all-around effort where he served in many of Bergeron’s usual roles. Coyle has four goals, 16 points and a plus-6 rating in the last 17 games for the Boston Bruins overall in a very recent body of work.

BLACK EYE: Tough night for Josh Morrisey, who finished a minus-1 after being stuck on the ice for the Charlie McAvoy empty netter that iced the game late in the third period. Morrisey had a collision with Charlie Coyle along the side boards where he was pretty clearly on the losing end, and that resulted in Boston breaking the puck into open ice for Tomas Nosek and Charlie McAvoy to team up for the insurance goal.

Morrisey thought it was a tripping penalty on Coyle and wound up earning himself a misconduct after taking a temper tantrum on the ice when the call didn’t go Winnipeg’s way on their home ice. Pierre-Luc Dubois got his own 10-minute misconduct as well, so there was plenty of bad behavior coming from the Winnipeg bench.

TURNING POINT: Things didn’t look good for the Boston Bruins when they gave up a 2-0 lead while surrendering two goals in 86 seconds to the Jets in the final period. It was a 2-2 tie game and Winnipeg had all the momentum going for them, but then a big Jets booboo opened the door for Boston to take control of the game. Brendon Dillon threw a puck over the glass in an unforced error and handed the Boston Bruins a power play in the final six minutes of the game. That turned into a Taylor Hall power play goal jamming in front of the net after Boston had gone 0-for-3 on their first three PP possessions of the game. The Jets were cooked after that as evidenced by the way a number of them lost their composure when they knew the game was over.

HONORABLE MENTION: Charlie McAvoy was everywhere for the Black and Gold. The No. 1 defenseman finished with a goal and two points, a plus-1 rating and 25:48 of ice time to along with eight shot attempts, two hits, two takeaways and a blocked shot. It was fitting that McAvoy capped off the game with an empty net goal to ice things after playing such a strong two-way game at both ends of the ice in the final B’s game ahead of the NHL trade deadline. It’s exactly the kind of games that the Bruins need out of McAvoy when they’re clearly not getting enough from some of their other defensemen.

BY THE NUMBERS: 1-for-4 – the Boston Bruins power play only powered up for one goal on Friday night, but it turned out to be an important one with the Taylor Hall game-winner late in the third period after a gift delay of game penalty from Brendon Dillon.

QUOTE TO NOTE: “We don’t like losing.” –Boston Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy on the reasons behind the B’s sporting an 18-4-2 record after losses this season.

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