By: Tim Dumas | Follow me on Twitter @TimDumas
Right shot center. Strong on faceoffs. Dependable in his own end. Strong penalty killer. If there is anyone close to what Boston Bruins forward Patrice Bergeron brings to the ice, it’s Charlie Coyle.
Another example of Coyle mirroring Bergeron was his tip of a Brad Marchand shot Friday night that handed the Boston Bruins a 2-0 lead in Florida against the Panthers. Typically, Bergeron is the one deflecting in goals and raising his stick in celebration. But with the Bruins captain sidelined to begin the playoffs, Coyle is the closest the B’s have to a Bergeron clone.
Coyle took the opening faceoff Friday and later netted his first goal of the playoffs to help the Bruins to a 2-1 series lead, with game four Sunday at 3:30 p.m. in Florida. Bergeron may be ready for Wednesday’s game five in Boston.
Coyle has been nothing but dependable since coming over in a trade from Minnesota in exchange for Ryan Donato in February of 2019. The former Boston University player has appeared in 82 regular-season games over the past two seasons; he has played at least 80 games on five other occasions.
Like Bergeron, Coyle will not land among the league leaders in scoring, but he does have 31 points in 58 career playoff games, including an overtime winner against Columbus in 2019.
However, it is at the faceoff dot where Coyle is right up there with Bergeron. Coyle won a career-best 52.5% of his regular draws, the only Bruin besides Bergeron to win more than 50%. Bergeron (61.1%) was second in the NHL (behind Chicago’s Jonathan Toews’ 63.1%) and the only player to win over 1,000 faceoffs this season.
Bergeron has long been a dependable player, especially in the playoffs. Despite suffering from a spate of injuries, he played in all 22 of Boston’s post-season games during the team’s run to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2013.
After leaving game five of the Finals against the Chicago Blackhawks due to a broken rib, Bergeron spent the night in a Chicago hospital but returned to Boston for the next game, where he suffered a punctured lung and separated shoulder. He still played 17 minutes and took 24 shifts that night in a season-ending loss before returning to the hospital. Despite the multitude of injuries, Bergeron tied for the team lead in playoff scoring with nine goals.
His absence this post-season – Bergeron has yet to appear in a game since the regular-season finale in his hometown of Montreal – due to undisclosed injuries and an illness that affected much of the team has been alarming. But Coyle’s steady, if not unspectacular, play has helped fill the void.
Coyle has served a key role in Boston’s league-best penalty kill unit, spending more shorthanded time on the ice than any of the team’s forwards during the regular season and winning nearly 50% of his faceoffs. That effectiveness has continued into the playoffs, even with Bergeron out of the lineup: Florida has yet to score on the power play.
When Bergeron returns to the lineup, expect the Bruins to improve their play in all game phases. But until then, expect players like Coyle – who, like Bergeron, plays hard and rarely complains – to help cover for his loss.
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