Boston Bruins forward Charlie Coyle's performance against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday exemplifies how important he is to the success of the team
BRIGHTON, Mass. – Tied 2-2 through 60 minutes of play, the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs entered overtime on Thursday with an opportunity to earn an extra point in the Atlantic Division standings. In 3-on-3, sudden death overtime, teams will put out their best combinations early, because it takes just one shot to win the game.
The Bruins rolled out Charlie Coyle, Brad Marchand and Hampus Lindholm; each plays important minutes and are among who you would expect to see in this situation. For Toronto, with all their firepower up front, there’s an endless combination of overtime starters to roll out.
However, instead of sending out their superstar in Auston Matthews or their captain John Tavares, Toronto went with David Kampf for the opening face-off. No knock on Kampf, who is traditionally good at the dot with more than six NHL seasons under his belt, but why not one of the former two that each possesses the ability to end the game all by himself, Matthews especially?
It could have something to do with Matthews being 0-for-11 at the face-off dot, while Coyle was 15-for-18 (83.3%) entering overtime.
“I didn’t even notice,” Coyle said on Friday. “They’re trying to win a face-off there, it’s most important. … You want to be able to get the puck first and take care of it, and then you kind of wind them down and grind them down. And then you get to change first, they’re stuck out there, so it’s a big part right there, that face-off. So it doesn’t matter who I’m facing, you’re just trying to do your job.”
Coyle won the opening draw against Kampf, and two of his other three face-offs after that to finish 18-for-22 (81.8%). Neither team broke through in overtime, but Boston put five shots on goal, dominating most of the possession, while Toronto had zero.
The Bruins as a whole bullied Toronto on the face-off dot, winning 37 of 56 draws (66.1%), and the importance of that was not lost on Coyle.
“It’s a big part of the game,” he said. “You win that many face-offs, and you start with the puck that much more, and you get more opportunities to score, so that’s something I wanna keep working on and get better.”
In addition to face-offs, Coyle is proving this year more than ever how versatile he can be for a Bruins team looking for people to step up down the middle after Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci’s retirements.
Coyle plays on both the power play and penalty kill, and he often defends the opponent’s toughest line, most recently going up against Matthews’ line against Toronto, as well as Alex DeBrincat and Dylan Larkin in Detroit.
Bruins coach Jim Montgomery recognizes the advantage he has in being able to deploy Coyle in all situations.
“Charlie Coyle plays a lot of hard minutes for us, and last night was a great example,” Montgomery said on Friday. “And they’re minutes that, us as coaches, we value and appreciate.”
Coyle himself relishes that role, as he prepares for a rematch with DeBrincat and Larkin’s Red Wings on Saturday.
“I take a lot of pride in it,” Coyle said. “You want to be a guy who’s relied upon in those tough situations, and so if that’s what the team needs, and that’s what they want from me, then yeah, I’m gonna make it happen and do the best I can with that.”
Before this season, the hope for Boston was that Coyle would raise his offensive game and establish himself as a capable top six center. Instead, with the emergence of Matt Poitras and seeing how Coyle fits into the lineup, it’s clear he should be considered more of a “middle six” center, but that has not made him any less valuable to Boston.