BOSTON — Since Charlie McAvoy and his wife Kiley had their first child, son Rhys Michael, 10 days ago, life has been like a dream for the Bruins defensemen.
Not only at home while sharing those once-in-a-lifetime moments of being a first-time father, but also on the ice for his employer.
McAvoy scored for the second time in as many games — tipping a shot home out front, of all things — and goalie Jeremy Swayman made 35 saves for his first shutout this season as Boston earned a birthday victory for interim head coach Joe Sacco by blanking the visiting Minnesota Wild, 3-0, at TD Garden on Tuesday night.
Fellow defenseman Brandon Carlo chirped of McAvoy, “I think he needs to have more babies … that’s working out well for him.”
When appraised of those comments, McAvoy laughed and said, “New Dad strength, as they say.”
“It’s been an amazing week, week and a couple of days,” he admitted. “Life is awesome right now. I’m just through the moon, me and Kiley and the baby. And it’s nice to have some wins on top of it.”
After scoring in last Saturday’s win over the Rangers, McAvoy brought the puck home to Rhys — who just happened to be wearing a hockey onesie when his father returned from work.
“So it was perfect,” McAvoy said with a huge grin.
Tuesday night, the blue liner was in an unfamiliar position prior to tallying his seventh goal of the season: down low. By moving through the slot as David Pastrnak let one fly from inside the point, McAvoy managed to get his blade on the puck and re-direct it past goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, who was playing his last game at TD Garden in this, his final NHL season.
“We had two guys up top in Pasta and Mace (defenseman Mason Lohrei), so I’m low; might as well get to the net,” he said. “Pasta is great at getting his shot through; he’s awesome at changing his angle. So I was like, ‘Let me see if I can get there’, and it ended up being perfect timing.”
The play germinated from what McAvoy called “a Butchy Special”, referring to former Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy.
“We used to play this game called ‘Bogo’, 5-on-5 where everybody plays everything. We call that a bogo shift, where no one has any position,” he said of the sequence that led to his goal. “It’s just playing fluid with creativity wherever the puck takes you. That’s how I ended up in front of the net, a place I’m normally not.
“As long as you have structure with two guys up high, you’re fine.”
Trent Frederic doubled the Boston lead later in the second period, ripping a one-timer from above the left circle high over Fleury’s glove. Swayman made the save of the night a minute later, robbing Minnesota’s Matt Boldy on a one-timer by reaching out with his glove through traffic to snare the puck as he tumbled forward.
The Bruins, who got an empty netter from Morgan Geekie with 45.9 seconds remaining, are viewing the current schedule of games before the 4 Nations Face-Off as a ‘mini-playoff series’, said Carlo. They’re trying to challenge themselves in different ways and engage in more playoff-style hockey in an effort to find the consistency that’s eluded them much of the season.
McAvoy and Swayman, both on Team USA, certainly had to impress the squad’s general manager, Bill Guerin. He was on hand Tuesday night to witness their performance in his ‘regular’ job as the Wild’s GM.
Contact Phil Stacey at PStacey@Salemnews.com and follow along on Twitter @PhilStacey_SN