Talking Points: Boston Bruins D-Men Put On A Show In Win

BOSTON – Here are the Talking Points from the Boston Bruins 4-0 win over the San Jose Sharks at TD Garden on Sunday night at TD Garden.

GOLD STAR: Charlie McAvoy hasn’t always been his explosive self this season while coming back from summer shoulder surgery, but the Boston Bruins defenseman was putting on a show against the Sharks. McAvoy dangled through the Sharks defense to score Boston’s second goal on a breathtaking move that ended with him completely faking out the Sharks goalie at the net.

CHARLIE MCAVOY BE FOR REAL RIGHT NOW! 🤯

📺: @Sportsnet ➡️ https://t.co/uEVY6yXLpz #NHLonSN pic.twitter.com/BkeWBjeS2N

— NHL (@NHL) January 23, 2023

McAvoy finished with a goal and two points along with a plus-2 rating along with three shot attempts and two hits while playing the physical and skill game on the B’s back end. Was it at least partially to put on a show for BU alums in Sharks bench boss David Quinn and Sharks general manager Mike Grier? We’ll never know, but we do know that McAvoy looks like he’s playing his best hockey at this point in the season.

BLACK EYE: The Sharks obviously aren’t as good as the Boston Bruins, but you have to wonder about what they were doing on the penalty kill against the Black and Gold. David Pastrnak was continuously getting clean, open looks with the puck from the left faceoff circle where he always does his damage. It happened throughout the night and most noticeably in a second period sequence where several times he narrowly missed scoring or setting up a goal. That led to Pastrnak finally firing one home from that spot in the third period after the Sharks had a whole intermission to talk about. That’s pretty poor all around.

TURNING POINT: The statement made by Brandon Carlo early in the game when he dropped the gloves with Timo Meier let the Sharks know that the B’s weren’t about to take the Sharks lightly. It’s exactly the kind of messaging that a team like the B’s should be throwing out there against teams hoping to catch the Boston Bruins napping on home ice, which they absolutely are not anymore if they ever were at all around the holiday season in December.

Timo Meier and Brandon Carlo drop the gloves just 27 seconds into the game. pic.twitter.com/gHKbBK9wKc

— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) January 23, 2023

HONORABLE MENTION: If you talk about Charlie McAvoy and his goal, you absolutely have to do the same about Hampus Lindholm opening up the game with a slick stick move and score to get things going. Lindholm finished with a goal and two points along with a plus-2 rating in a game-high 23:35 of ice time and had a shot on net, two hits, two takeaways and two blocked shots in an excellent all-around game.

BY THE NUMBERS: 1 – the first NHL point for young Finnish center Joona Koppanen on Nick Foligno’s second period goal that pushed the B’s to a three-goal lead.

QUOTE TO NOTE: “I thought they were a little flat-footed and I had some speed, so I was just going to try and wiggle through there and it all worked out.” –Charlie McAvoy on his highlight reel second period goal that really took the starch out of the Sharks.