With Bergeron missing for the second consecutive game, Coyle once again took on more responsibility and did not disappoint. The centerman played 19:18, second only to Brad Marchand's 20:41, and registered a season-high three assists.
"Everyone's got to do their part," said Coyle. "You want to take as much responsibility as you can and make sure you're kind of filling the gap. It's a tough gap to fill, no one can replace a guy of his caliber, but we do it together, it's a joint effort. Everyone's gonna do their part and I thought we did that for the most part."
On Boston's second goal, Coyle carried the puck into the Winnipeg end and shook off a hit from Lowry knocking the Jets forward to the ice. And although he lost the puck in the collision, Trent Frederic was there to pick it up and dangle around Winnipeg goalie Connor Hellebuyck to put the B's up, 2-0, at 7:12 of the second.
"He's probably our next highest-minute, highest-responsibility, throughout-the-game centerman," said Cassidy. "He's gonna play the most minutes. I think he understands that and relishes those opportunities and responsibility. I think he's doing a really good job of pulling that line along and playing the way they need to in the offensive zone.
"The goal Freddy scored, we had talked about getting to the interior against Winnipeg…even though he lost the puck, he was heavy in there and Freddy kind of cleaned it up. That kind of got us going for those types of goals…credit to Charlie for getting the ball rolling on that one.
"He did a lot of what Bergy would have done for us tonight. Good for Charlie, he takes a lot of pride in his work. Happy to see him get rewarded."