McAvoy, Rookies Shine in Win Over Columbus

BOSTON- One thing that Charlie McAvoy's tour through college hockey did not afford him was the chance to refine his fighting technique.
Dropping the gloves is not allowed in the NCAA ranks, meaning the former Boston University standout never had the need to work on that part of his game. But when the 2016 first-round pick arrived for his first day of professional duty in Providence last spring, he took some time to receive a crash course.

McAvoy tussled with heavyweight Tyler Randell - the ex-Bruins winger - following practice, knowing it was inevitable that he would one day have to enter the ring.
"My first day in Providence I worked with Tyler Randell for about 15 minutes after practice and he just kind of taught me how to protect myself," said McAvoy. "It's a good guy to learn from."

That tutorial, albeit an abbreviated one, paid dividends for the 19-year-old on Monday night. McAvoy, who had scored earlier in the game, scrapped with fellow former first-rounder Pierre-Luc DuBois in the third period, getting the takedown in his first career fight.
The Long Beach, N.Y., native went on to notch an assist later in the third to secure his first Gordie Howe Hat Trick which helped pace Boston's 7-2 trouncing of the Columbus Blue Jackets at TD Garden. It was the Bruins' first such feat since Zdeno Chara did it against the Rangers in 2013.
"It definitely wasn't even on the list," McAvoy said of the Gordie Howe. "I know that I try to play the game with a lot of passion, and that's something [DuBois] was doing too. Stuff like that is going to happen. There's been times along the line this year where something might have happened, but tonight it just did. It happened really quick, and I felt like I was able to protect myself pretty well."

The blue liner also landed four hits and was a plus-2 in 19 minutes, 41 seconds of ice time - one of his lower outputs of the season - while headlining a stellar showing from Boston's young talent.
In addition to McAvoy's memorable night, the Bruins' other rookies also delivered, combining for three goals and six assists. Danton Heinen and Jake DeBrusk each contributed a goal and two assists, while Anders Bjork - who returned to the lineup after one game as a healthy scratch because of David Krejci's surprise absence - grabbed a helper of his own.
"They had a great game tonight - Jake and Heins, and Chuckie with the big fight and Gordie Howe Hat Trick," said Brad Marchand, who was one of seven different goal scorers for the B's and extended his career-best points streak to nine games.
"It's great to see those guys getting involved in the way they have been, and that's what makes a team so good nowadays, when you have guys like that who can step up and win games the way they have been for us."

It was the young guns that got Boston's power play going, too. After a disappointing 1-for-7 showing against the New York Rangers on Saturday night, the Bruins surged back with two power-play goals on four opportunities. On both tallies, four of the five players on the ice were rookies.
The first marker came at 8:23 of the second after strong work by Bjork and Heinen in the neutral zone to win a battle got the puck to DeBrusk, who sped down the left wing and toward the net. DeBrusk held the puck as Zach Werenski lay out in front of him and found David Backes streaking to the crease where the veteran slapped home a one-timer for a 2-0 Boston lead.
On the second power-play tally - just 3:30 later - Heinen (9 points over his last seven games) moved the puck to DeBrusk down low before DeBrusk fired a cross-crease pass to McAvoy, who ripped one by Sergei Bobrovsky to open up a 3-0 advantage.
"That's the positive on that part of it…they made plays, so good for them," said Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy, whose team snapped a brief two-game skid and is now 10-3-1 over its last 14 games. "Like I said, they have talent, it's just a matter of harnessing it and using it at the right time and tonight it kind of fell into place for them."

The production from throughout the lineup - which also included goals from Patrice Bergeron and Torey Krug - was critical considering the loss of Krejci (day-to-day) just before game time to an upper-body injury that also prevented him from traveling to Buffalo for Tuesday night's contest with the Sabres. Boston needed its young players to step up, but not even Cassidy was expecting all of them to click at the same time.
"Normally you're hoping two of them will - I shouldn't say two of them - but in general, you want a couple to hopefully be better than average…or the other two or three just be average, get some experience, understand what it takes. Tonight…it felt like all of them were really good," said Cassidy, who also received strong minutes from young defensemen Matt Grzelcyk (plus-1 in 16:17) and Brandon Carlo (plus-3 in 18:48).
It was all a look into what could be a very bright future for the Bruins. Not that they're getting too far ahead of themselves.
"When you have guys like that who work so hard and have such good skill - we have skill all over the lineup - plays like that are going to happen, some of those pretty goals that we were able to get tonight," said McAvoy. "We love it. We love that kind of a game. We played really good, a lot of things to take away, but now we've got to put it behind us and get ready for another tough game tomorrow."