SUNRISE, Fla. — Charlie McAvoy was in no mood to discuss Sandis Vilmanis’ elbow that drilled the left side of his head in Wednesday’s first period. It was no surprise. The Boston Bruins defenseman has been on the bad end of some terrible luck, whether it be a numbing shot that led to a season-ending infection or a slap shot to the mouth that broke his jaw and knocked out four of his teeth.
Though McAvoy declined to comment after the Bruins’ 5-4 shootout loss to the Florida Panthers, coach Marco Sturm did not hold back when it came to what he saw.
“I don’t know what to say. It was a brutal hit,” Sturm said. “Everyone saw it. Obviously, have the opportunity to look at the replay, too. To come out with a four-on-four after that, I just didn’t understand.”
McAvoy is not just the Bruins’ No. 1 defenseman. He will be one of Team USA’s shutdown defenders in the Olympics, too. McAvoy was one of the six players first named to the Stars and Stripes. The early selection signaled how much the Americans are counting on him.
So you can see why the Bruins were worried when McAvoy could not get up at first after the hit. He is scheduled to leave for Italy on Thursday. A hit to the head could have put that in danger.
Vilmanis was tagged with a two-minute minor for an illegal check to the head. Jonathan Aspirot, McAvoy’s partner, went after Vilmanis after the hit and was called for roughing.
It was the Bruins, in the end, who had to kill a two-minute penalty after the incident. Referee TJ Luxmore called an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on the bench. Sturm made it sound like he had given Luxmore an earful for not penalizing Vilmanis more stiffly.
“I’m here to protect my guys. Especially Charlie,” Sturm said. “And if you target his head, it was clear to see. That just pisses me off.”
McAvoy stayed down after the collision. David Pastrnak and head athletic trainer Dustin Stuck helped the defenseman skate off the ice. McAvoy, who left at 10:33 of the first, did not return for the rest of the period.
The Bruins were angry. A.J. Greer learned that the hard way. The ex-Bruin had the misfortune of exchanging jabs with Tanner Jeannot in the final minute of the first. When it escalated to a gloves-off fight, Jeannot belted Greer with multiple punches to score the win.
“I’d be lying if I said we weren’t pissed off,” Casey Mittelstadt said. “I’m not going to make a judgment call on what happened. I haven’t seen it enough. Obviously, Geno steps up with a big fight there and kind of gets us going. With Charlie, you never want to see that. He’s Charlie McAvoy. He’s our best D-man and a huge part of this team. We were worried, for sure.”
Given McAvoy’s previous injuries and the speed at which Vilmanis’ elbow connected, his teammates were delighted when he got the green light to return for the start of the second period.
“He’s a warrior,” Pastrnak said. “Obviously, he’s been through a lot. So we were really happy we came back.”
The Bruins were up 2-1 after a pair of Mikey Eyssimont goals when McAvoy came back. The Panthers didn’t seem to mind that the Bruins’ top defenseman returned. They pumped three pucks past Joonas Korpisalo in the second to grab a 4-2 lead. It was typical Florida: mean, physical, overwhelming. Sergei Bobrovsky, meanwhile, stopped all 12 Bruins shots in the second.
Given all that, the Bruins were satisfied with their third-period answer. McAvoy pumped a slap pass toward the net that Mark Kastelic deflected past Bobrovsky. Later in the third, Mittelstadt, replacing Fraser Minten on the No. 1 power-play unit, put home the rebound of a Morgan Geekie shot.
“We just couldn’t win a faceoff. And we felt like Minten was getting tired,” Sturm said, explaining why Mittelstadt replaced the rookie. “He played a lot of minutes. We put a lot on this kid. Even the one (power play) before, we almost did it. We waited one more. It was just the right time.”
The Bruins recorded two shootout losses in their two-game Florida swing. Considering the opposition, it was an appropriate sum. Sturm considers the Tampa Bay Lightning the best team in the Eastern Conference. The Lightning took advantage of the Bruins’ undisciplined play to get the extra point.
Then, Wednesday, the two-time Stanley Cup champions showed their desperation. The Panthers are not among the top eight in the East. They need every 2-point result they can get.
“They do that time after time,” Eyssimont said of the Panthers’ shift-after-shift bludgeoning. “So to be able to do that on an experienced team like them, it’s not easy once they get a lead — this team specifically. So, good job by us.”
