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BRUINS
Charlie Coyle’s ‘monster’ performance made life miserable for the Panthers in Game 3
"When he puts his body into guys, there's not anybody in the league that can defend him."
Charlie Coyle played a
SUNRISE, Fla. — An Aleksander Barkov shift is often where opposing scoring chances go to die down in South Florida.
The Florida Panthers’ captain is the complete package as a two-way anchor down the middle. Equipped with a sharp hockey IQ, active stick, and a 6-foot-3, 215-pound frame, the 2021 Selke Award winner is a matchup nightmare for most rival skaters.
Of course, Charlie Coyle isn’t built like most skaters.
The Weymouth product’s game may not be cut from the same cloth as a bruising power forward like Tom Wilson or Josh Anderson.
But Coyle — clocking in at 6-foot-3 and 223 pounds — doesn’t need to impact games by way of bone-crunching checks. Not when he’s sapping the energy and will of opponents on draining O-zone shifts.
Count Barkov as the latest in a long line of foes left sucking wind and shaking their head following a net-front battle with Boston’s homegrown pivot.
Coyle’s tip tally off a Brad Marchand wrister during Friday’s Game 3 victory over the Panthers was a testament to the 31-year-old forward’s hand-eye talents.
But it was Coyle’s tug-of-war in the crease with Barkov in the seconds leading up to that goal that drew most of the praise in Boston’s dressing room.
“He’s just a man. It’s a weird compliment, but it is,” Nick Foligno said of the issues Coyle’s frame presents to opponents. “He’s a beast. He’s so lanky and long, but also strong. When he puts his body into a puck or into another body, you’re not getting it. He really drives our team that way, when he plays like that.”
The Bruins needed a play driver down in the middle on Friday, given the absence of both Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci as the team’s potent 1-2 punch at the pivot position.
Coyle may not have the playmaking poise of a Krejci, nor the two-way mastery that Bergeron wields on every shift. But when every inch of Grade-A ice is shored up come the postseason, having a human battering ram like Coyle tends to come in handy.
“He just seemed like he was a monster,” Jim Montgomery said of Coyle following Boston’s 4-2 victory at FLA Live Arena. “He was a man possessed out there with the way he just took pucks to the net.”
Fighting inside stood as one of Montgomery’s primary mandates after his skaters failed to pepper Alex Lyon with high-danger looks in a lopsided Game 2 loss.
On Friday night, the Bruins generated 10 high-danger scoring chances at 5v5 play. Coyle accounted for six of those quality looks in and around the paint.
“That’s just playoffs,” Foligno said of bringing pucks down low. “Look at [Florida], they’re trying to get to the inside. That’s just that’s where things happen. That’s where you’re gonna have success — whether in your end or on their end.”
Coyle’s ability to wear down teams by way of his patented game of “keep-away” translates down the other end of the frozen sheet.
Whether it be trying to knock the biscuit loose off an O-zone board battle or hem him along the end boards in Boston’s own end, most fruitless shifts against Coyle often end in the same result.
Those taxing seconds spent trying to corral a horse like Coyle siphon whatever spark is stored in one’s legs. Over a seven-game series, Coyle exacts a heavy toll.
“When he puts his body into guys, there’s not anybody in the league that can defend him,” Foligno said of Coyle. “We’re privileged to have him on the team. A guy that’s a big-minute player for us and he really stepped up tonight for us.”
