BRIGHTON, Mass. – Charlie McAvoy is understandably bummed he won’t be playing in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Final after being suspended one game for his illegal check to the head of Josh Anderson in the series-clinching Game 6 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets.
But the 22-year-old D-man is bound and determined to use the down time as a positive in the middle of a Stanley Cup run that’s approaching a month-plus grind of intense, every-other-day hockey.
“I’m disappointed that I won’t be playing in Game 1. I’d love to be out there. But I have complete faith in this team to go out and play our game in Game 1,” said McAvoy, while serving the first suspension of his NHL career. “I respect the process and I respect their decision. It was tough. I was just trying to make a hockey play and it was unfortunate that it happened that way.
“I have to serve it. I’m looking forward to using this extra time to put myself in the best position to go for Game 2. It’s an opportunity for me to rest some bumps and bruises, and mentally reset to get ready. Once Game 2 comes around, I’m going to do whatever it takes to be ready to go.”
It will obviously be a big loss for the Black and Gold considering that McAvoy is the leading workhorse on Boston's back end while averaging 24:46 of ice time, and posting a goal, six points and a plus-8 in 13 playoff games thus far.
The Bruins look like they’ll be going with Steve Kampfer added to their D-corps, and surprisingly Connor Clifton was taking some turns with Zdeno Chara on the top defense pairing during Wednesday’s practice at Warrior Ice Arena. Here are the projected Bruins line combos and D-pairings for Game 1 vs. the Carolina Hurricanes based on the off-day practice:
Boston Bruins
Marchand-Bergeron-Pastrnak
DeBrusk-Krejci-Backes
Johansson-Coyle-Heinen
Nordstrom-Kuraly-Wagner
Chara-Clifton
Krug-Carlo
Grzelcyk-Kampfer
Rask
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