Recap: McAvoy, DeBrusk run wild on Columbus as Bruins win, 7-2

The highlights

We are truly blessed to live in the Patrice Bergeron-Brad Marchand era. 1-0 Bruins.

There’s a lot to like about this goal, but my favorite part was the play Bergeron made prior to the pass. He had to gather a puck that was in his skates, regain his bearings and maintain possession; he did all of that AND delivered a great pass.

The Bruins added to their lead on the PP in the second, a nice bounce-back after the dreadful PP showing on Saturday. 2-0 Bruins.

The patience shown by Jake DeBrusk on this goal was fantastic. The rookie took the puck deep, then waited...waited...waited just long enough to sneak the puck past a laid-out Columbus player.

Perfect feed, and David Backes didn’t miss.

The DeBrusk PP party would continue a few minutes later, as DeBrusk laid one right on Charlie McAvoy’s tape to make it 3-0 Bruins.

McAvoy was ENGAGED® tonight, hitting Pierre-Luc Dubois and then obliging when Dubois challenged him to a fight.

Josh Anderson got Columbus on the board with a tap-in midway through the third. It was Columbus’ first shot of the third period. Not much Tuukka Rask can do there. 3-1 Bruins.

After that Anderson goal, so much happened that the most prolific GIF-makers among us couldn’t keep up.

• Danton Heinen scored off of a great cross-ice pass by David Backes (secondary assist by McAvoy) to make it 4-1 Bruins.
• Torey Krug scored on a knuckler from the blue line to make it 5-1 Bruins.
• Bergeron got his second of the night from Marchand and Pastrnak (extending his point streak to 12 games) to make it 6-1 Bruins.

Finally, Jake DeBrusk capped things off with the Bruins’ seventh goal of the night. 7-1 Bruins.

Seth Jones scored on the PP with 14 seconds left, just to be annoying. Ultimately, the Blue Jackets couldn’t score five more goals in 14 seconds, so BRUINS WIN.

Game notes

• Hoo boy, where to begin? The Bruins steamrolled Columbus for the better part of the game. They outshot them 45-18, out-attempted them 77-42. Prior to the Anderson goal, the Blue Jackets went nearly five minutes without even attempting a shot in the third period. While the Bruins didn’t really put it away until the latter half of the third, this was a dominating win.
• There really aren’t enough superlatives to describe Charlie McAvoy’s performance tonight. He was all over the ice. He threw some hits, had a few great zone exits, had a number of perfect passes and was solid in his own end. Oh yeah, and he had a Gordie Howe Hat Trick. #McAvoy4CalderNorrisAndEverythingElse
• They were slightly overshadowed by McAvoy, but Jake DeBrusk and Danton Heinen also had great nights tonight. They had a goal and two assists each, all (aside from DeBrusk’s goal) coming when the game was still very much in the balance.
• Sergei Bobrovsky was bad tonight. The team around him wasn’t great either, but he looked off from the first few shifts. Bad rebounds, unsure saves, etc. An out-of-character performance for the Russian netminder.
• David Pastrnak continues to put up serious numbers. His assist extended his point streak to 12 games, with 14 points in that span. The 21-year-old is putting up points at an 82-point pace, and is on a 41-goal pace too. Yowza.
• Tuukka Rask wasn’t terribly busy, but was solid again. Rask’s December goals-allowed: 0, 1, 1, 1, 2, 3, 2. NOT BAD.
• It’ll be interesting to see how the Bruins fare tomorrow. Did they expend all their energy tonight, or will the young legs kick in?