Based off of what he did in training camp and then in the preseason, Charlie Coyle’s performance in the Bruins 2-1 season opening win in Dallas on Thursday shouldn’t surprise you. The scoresheet will show you just one assist, but Coyle’s all-around game was much better than a single assist.
On the Bruins first goal of the 2019-20 season, Coyle disrupted Dallas’ transition effort, chipping the puck off the stick of Andrew Cogliano, separating player from puck. Former Star Brett Ritchie collected the loose puck, snapping a wrister past Stars goalie Ben Bishop.
A Bruins lead just 1:09 into their season opening contest.
Later in the period it was Coyle leaving his imprint on another Bruins tally, this time screening Bishop as Danton Heinen sent his power play shot over the shoulder of Bishop.
Two goals, on the Bruins first two shots, both will Coyle’s imprint on them.
“He was good, arguably our best player. The most noticeable player in camp, and the screen to me made that goal,” head coach Bruce Cassidy said. “I mean Danton might beat him anyway, it’s a good shot don’t get me wrong, but Bishop is a real good goaltender and you got to take away his eyes and Charlie did a good job there.”
“You’ve got to still stay there,” Coyle said of getting to the net and screening goalies. “ That’s where the puck goes and you’ve got to do your part. I don’t know if you’ve got to stand on your tippy-toes or what.”
After a slow start in Boston following his trade from Minnesota last February, Coyle turned things around in the playoffs where he was one of the Bruins best forwards.
Again, on Thursday, Coyle was one of the Bruins’ best players.
“Something to build on, I think as a whole and personally too, we had a decent start and then the ice gets a little sloppy and you’re trying to make the right plays, but at that point you have to kind of make hard plays, but safe, play hard,” Coyle said following the win.
“But we forced too many turnovers, that’s what they feed into. So I think that’s why they had a push or two as the game went along, but we had some good goaltending tonight.”
Playing on a line with Ritchie and Jake DeBrusk, the Coyle line controlled possession for most of the night, finishing with a 64.29% corsi for percentage five-on-five.
Speaking of Ritchie, the former Star was impressive in his Bruins debut, but it was with a little help that Ritchie got himself on the ice, and then a little help from Coyle put Ritchie in position to be the Bruins first goal scorer of the 2019-20 season.
After the game Cassidy admitted they expected David Krejci (lower-body) to be in the lineup, which would have made Ritchie the odd man out. But with Krejci unable to play in Dallas, Ritchie got the nod and made a solid first impression in a Bruins uniform.
“I think he was more excited than I was. Obviously his old team, coming into this barn first game of the year. He’s trying to show his teammates that he’s a guy who can help us win, he did that,” said Cassidy.
“We talked about it that if Krejci had played, we thought it would be between Par Lindholm and Ritchie and we talked about that the other day. With Nordy (Joakim Nordstrom) out, and if Krech (Krejci) is not one hundred percent, Lindy (Lindholm) plays center, so we were leaning towards Lindy, so it didn’t matter. Krech wasn’t ready, we thought he would be to be honest with you.”
He’s not going to find his name on the scoresheet each night he’s out there, but as we saw last night, Ritchie is a guy who can play up and down the lineup and bring different kinds of value to the Bruins roster.
After five seasons in Dallas, Ritchie is looking for a fresh start, a new opportunity, or whatever you want to call it. But whatever it is that you do call it, it got off to a good start Thursday night.
“I’m still confident in what I can do, new team, new opportunity, fresh start, whatever you want to call it,” said Ritchie. “I am just trying to take advantage of it.”
Boston Bruins Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»