Boston Bruins: Charlie Coyle absolutely thriving in his home state
By Luke Ryan
Charlie Coyle has been a man on a mission this post-season for the Boston Bruins. His latest game seeing the Massachusetts native tallying three assists as the Bruins took a 2-0 Eastern Conference final series lead.
When the Boston Bruins traded away Ryan Donato for Charlie Coyle, it wasn’t exactly met with widespread approval. The prevailing opinion seemed to be that the deal carried a lot of risk regarding what sort of player the young Donato may become.
Of course, when Donato then proceeded to notch up 16 points in 22 games in Minnesota Wild colours, whilst Charlie Coyle posted just 6 points in 21 games for the Boston Bruins, it would seem that the prevailing opinion was right – the Bruins had given up a really useful player for one that was average at best.
That was, however, before the local boy found some chemistry with his new Boston Bruins line mates and suddenly found form; no doubt spurred on by a very real chance to go at least a few rounds in the playoffs. His old team, despite routinely making the playoffs from a notoriously hard Central Division group, rarely made much noise.
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His turnaround has been nothing short of incredible though; in the most recent game, he offered up an assist on three of the Boston Bruins’ six goals. Given that in the regular season for his new team, he offered just four assists in twenty one games; that is a pretty remarkable shift!
Not only that, he’s the equal leading goalscorer for the Bruins and Charlie Coyle finds himself tied with David Pastrnak and David Krejci for the second highest points total for the team this post-season. Only Brad Marchand out-shines him and he plays on the first line!
You’d have to imagine that home state pride potentially is playing a role in his sudden shift, but equally it seems that third line duties and his willingness to be somewhat physical is are both determining factors too.
Going into Game 3 of the Eastern Conference final series with the Carolina Hurricanes, I don’t think any Boston Bruins fan expected the scoring to be evenly spread across the lines, not least coming in a fairly significant part from Charlie Coyle.
If the Bruins are to see out this current series successfully, Charlie Coyle’s four points across the first two games bode well. It certainly seems to point to the player having his opposition’s number!
Next. Halak signing definitely paying off in playoffs. dark
Should the Boston Bruins make it to the Stanley Cup Final, they’ll no doubt be no player playing harder for them at TD Garden, determined to make his home state proud of him! Heck, even if they fall at this hurdle, they’ll still be no prouder player to be playing in front of his fellow Bay Staters.