- Charlie McAvoy scored in his season debut as the Bruins beat the Sharks 6-3
- He logged 24:41 of ice time after serving a six-game suspension
- Read below for what Marco Sturm and McAvoy said afterward
Charlie McAvoy needed one period to get back on the scoresheet.
The Bruins defenseman scored in his season debut Tuesday night, helping Boston beat the Sharks 6-3 at SAP Center. It was his first game back after the six-game suspension he carried into the season for slashing Sabres forward Zach Benson in Game 6 of last spring’s first round.
McAvoy made it 2-1 at 18:43 of the first period. He drove to the crease, JJ Peterka found a loose puck and slid it over, and McAvoy tapped it past Yaroslav Askarov as he crashed the net. Here’s the Bruins’ clip of the goal:
McAvoy was asked about the sequence and pointed to the plan going in.
“I thought that was a big-boy shift, and we were trying to hold on to the puck,” McAvoy said. “Something that we talked about before the game was them being a man-on-man team, to just try and break them down and hold onto the puck. It was a great pass by JJ. I was really happy to be on the other side of that and be able to contribute in my first game back.”
He played a team-high 24:41 and added three shots, four hits and a block, with close to two minutes on both the power play and penalty kill. Coach Marco Sturm was asked about the performance and admitted he was a little nervous at first.
“I was actually a little worried because he was so excited,” Sturm said. “It’s almost like, hopefully he’s not too excited. But the way he played, it was unbelievable. Very calm, in control all the time, making plays, always there at the right spot.”
McAvoy also kept his cool in the second period. Sharks captain Macklin Celebrini knocked him to the ice, and McAvoy let the play go. Seconds later Pavel Zacha scored with three seconds left in the period, and it turned out to be the game-winner. Catch the play here:
Fraser Minten led the way offensively with two goals, and Matthew Poitras and Will Borgen also scored. Jeremy Swayman stopped 35 shots, per the NHL.com recap. Ivar Stenberg scored the first goal of his career for San Jose.
Boston is 5-2-0 and has won three straight, outscoring opponents 17-5 in that stretch. The Bruins visit Anaheim on Friday.
