BOSTON -- The second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs started Thursday night at TD Garden, but a recurring theme continued for the Boston Bruins.
Like in Tuesday’s deciding seventh game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Black and Gold stars of the show were not listed towards the top of the lineup card. The supporting cast continued to play the most major offensive role. And again, it was a big night for the team’s local cast.
Former Providence College captain Noel Acciari (Johnston, R.I.) got the scoring started with a first-period shorthanded goal, giving him points in back-to-back games and three goals over his 24-game postseason career.
But late-February acquisition Charlie Coyle (Weymouth, Mass.) scored the B’s final two goals of the game — including the game-winner at the 5:15 mark of overtime — to propel his hometown team to a 3-2 win and one-game series lead over the Columbus Blue Jackets.
It was Coyle’s turnover that led to the second of two Columbus goals in a 13-second span in the third period, but the two-year Boston University product was quick to put that past and ultimately become just the second player in Bruins history to tie a postseason game in the final five minutes of regulation and then score in overtime. He joins current alternate captain Patrice Bergeron, who did so in the opening 2013 series against Toronto.
“I had a costly turnover in the third period. You can’t have that during the game,” said Coyle, who is in the midst of his first B’s playoff run after being traded from Minnesota in exchange for Scituate’s Ryan Donato. “I’m glad our line kept playing and kept going out there to redeem ourselves. I’m just happy to get the win, to be honest.”
After putting the turnover aside and delivering the come-from-behind win, Coyle’s performance was what every local kid would dream of. For him, it brought back memories of having that dream while playing at his original Weymouth home.
“I used to play street hockey outside my house. We had a little cul-de-sac, and I used to meet with friends or just go by myself,” Coyle said. “You always thought about that stuff, play scenarios in your head about what it would be like when you’re older. … It’s pretty cool to be living it.”
The late-game heroics also brought back memories for one of Coyle’s longtime friends and teammates, Chris Wagner, who also is a first-year Bruin. Acciari and the Walpole, Mass., native have both been part of a bottom-six forward group that has produced seven of the eight Boston goals over the last two games.
Wagner, an Anaheim Duck for the majority of his NHL career until coming to Boston, remembers when Coyle signed on with the Bruins a couple of months ago and what he and former New Jersey Devil Marcus Johansson — who dished to Coyle on both the third-period and overtime goals — could bring to a lineup that was missing a true center for the third line behind Bergeron and David Krejci.
Entering the season, that spot opened up after Riley Nash was dealt to, ironically enough, Columbus. But it’s safe to say it’s all paying off now.
Coyle has five goals and an assist through eight playoff games, nearly doubling his career total of 15 (seven goals, eight assists) in 44 contests entering the Toronto set.
“I was pretty excited because I thought it made our team a lot better,” Wagner said of the acquisitions of Coyle and Johansson, the latter who logged his first point of the playoffs with Tuesday’s game-winning goal against Toronto. “(Coyle has) been great all playoffs. I kind of expect that from him. He's a big-game player, and always has been since we were 18 years old (playing for the South Shore Kings). I'm so happy for him.”
Not only have Coyle’s heroics shone through over the last two games, but Thursday’s effort was an example of mental toughness and resilience. Those qualities have been important to the B’s success all year long, including lately as they had to win back-to-back elimination games against the Leafs just to advance.
“All year we were a resilient group,” head coach Bruce Cassidy said. “We talk about focusing on the next shift, or if it’s a bad game, the next game. The guys have been very good at that, trying to stay in the moment and move on. Clearly, he wanted to atone, and he did. Marcus made some great plays, but he had to finish them. Secondary scoring, something we need.”
The end-game moment was hard to put into words for Wagner. Even at that point, it was hard for the two South Shore natives to think about those hometown hockey dreams becoming reality.
“Genuinely, that’s pretty cool stuff, especially since I’ve known him since he was 17 and seen him progress and everything,” Wagner said. …
“I think we were probably worried about playing Xbox or poker at the hockey house we had down in, I think, Plainville (growing up). I don't know if we ever imagined it because we got drafted in the same year, but I've been to a lot of teams, and he's on his third now. He got traded before he even played for the Wild. For us to be on the same team is special.”
