BOSTON — In normal times, Charlie McAvoy starts his game days at Warrior Ice Arena with scrambled eggs, potatoes and bacon. After the morning skate, the Boston Bruins defenseman loads up with the meal he considers his primary fuel source for the game: soup, salad, chicken and pasta or salmon and rice. He then goes home for a pregame nap.

When he arrives at TD Garden, McAvoy has a snack. It could be oatmeal, gluten-free pancakes, a bagel or toast with peanut butter. He has a protein bowl or a wrap after the game. Then he returns home and falls asleep.

All of this turned Charlie McAvoy Sr.’s head just about sideways when he participated in his first fathers’ trip with the club.

“All you guys do,” the defenseman’s dad told his son, “is legit eat, sleep and play hockey. Eat, sleep and play hockey.”

McAvoy realized his dad was right.

“You wake up. You come to the rink. Full spread,” McAvoy said. “You go on the ice. You get off the ice. New full spread. Go home. Sleep. Wake up. Spread. Play the game. Spread. It may sound stupid, but part of it is that it’s our job. With our bodies, fueling is part of the way we can gain an edge.”

This routine kept McAvoy humming at 216 pounds. All of this changed with one injury on Nov. 15. 

In the days that followed, McAvoy dropped to as low as 198 pounds. All three components of what McAvoy Sr. identified as his son’s life were compromised.

Fracturing your jaw and losing four teeth will do that to you.

‘Worst thing ever’

The pain from the Montreal Canadiens’ Noah Dobson rocketing a slap shot into McAvoy’s face kicked in immediately. It increased on the way to the Montreal hospital, where McAvoy was taken for a diagnosis. His discomfort was just about unbearable during the team’s return flight to Boston. It fell upon McAvoy’s wife, Kiley, to visit a 24-hour pharmacy for pain medication that her husband could take to sleep that night.

But his pain peaked after the Nov. 17 surgery. Days after doctors repaired McAvoy’s fractured jaw, he developed canker sores in his throat at the intubation site. 

“That was the worst thing ever,” McAvoy said. “Because you can’t get anything — food, liquid, anything — down without it getting down the back of your throat. That was the most painful.”

McAvoy’s doctors gave him a mouthwash that would numb the area for approximately 15 minutes. This would help him take his medicine. But he could still feel the burning around the canker sores. He took no pleasure from the soup he had while the mouthwash was still active. He would dump three scoops of protein powder into a shake and call it a meal. The last thing he wanted was for anything to touch his throat.

You can understand, then, why McAvoy’s appetite disappeared. His jaw hurt. His mouth was a mess. He was limited to soup, smoothies, ice cream and milkshakes. Even if he had the green light to eat real food, he did not have enough teeth with which to chew it.

Meanwhile, the medical staff made the ice and the gym off limits for approximately one week, by McAvoy’s recollection. His weight plummeted. There was no timeline for his return to play.

But doctors were satisfied with the initial rate of McAvoy’s healing. They gave him the green light to ride the bike in the gym. McAvoy resumed skating about two weeks after the procedure.

Off the ice and away from the gym, McAvoy’s job was to find a solution to his intake problem.

Mushy is the way

Doctors told McAvoy they did not want him to shift the healing of his linear fracture. But if he could manage the pain of chewing, it would be fine for him to try soft foods before the initial six-week window of a strict liquid diet.

It was a trial-and-error process. He tried blending chicken and vegetables. McAvoy classified the result as awful.

But other mushy foods worked well: yogurt, scrambled eggs, oatmeal, acai bowls, mashed potatoes. For protein, McAvoy has been eating cod, sea bass and salmon, preferably undercooked. It is a good sign if he can mash the fish easily with the back of his fork.

“They’re so delicate. You don’t really chew them,” McAvoy said. “You almost just kind of smush them in your mouth.”

Through his skating, training and improvised diet, McAvoy regained enough strength to be cleared to play. On Dec. 11, McAvoy played 24:16 in the Bruins’ 6-3 win over the Winnipeg Jets. Less than four weeks had passed since he went down at the Bell Centre.

“We adjusted. We adapted,” McAvoy said. “Getting back in three weeks, I was proud of that.”

McAvoy’s recovery is still ongoing.

‘I have no teeth’

McAvoy turned 28 on Sunday. On Monday, he was planning to go out for a birthday dinner at a steakhouse. He was looking forward to fish. He had no plans of tucking into a ribeye. The left side of his mouth still hurts when he eats.

“It’s just a weird feeling,” McAvoy said. “It’s a chore. So you’re not going to grind through it as much. It’s just weird. My mouth feels weird. I have no teeth. Stuff falls out of my mouth. I’m drooling.”

McAvoy pulled his lower lip aside to show the vacancy created by the teeth he no longer has. Appropriately, you could just about fit a puck through the space. He does not plan on replacing his teeth during the season. The procedure to put in a bridge would be extensive.

So until the offseason, McAvoy will have to find a way to chew his food when he feels ready to return to a normal diet. He has given it thought.

“Think of, like, a sandwich,” said McAvoy. “How do you do it, you know? You need your front row to do that. I guess there’s a lot of things you can cut up and put in the back.”

McAvoy has one goal and four assists in the six games he’s played since returning. He’s averaged a team-high 23:57 of ice time per game. Before the injury, he had no goals and 14 assists in 18 games, averaging 24:20 of playing time per appearance.

Prior to Nov. 15, McAvoy would have one pregame serving of Pentacarb, a performance drink. He is up to three or four per game to compensate for the carbohydrates — one scoop contains 26 grams — he is not getting from pasta. He is still seeking adequate intake.

“Sometimes in games, you just feel like you’re a quart low,” McAvoy said. “Then you’re really trying to overcompensate. I’m eating more during games than I ever have. I normally don’t do that. I just snack before. But now I’m doing more of that. You just find ways. It’s experimental.”

On Tuesday, McAvoy will play against the Canadiens for the first time since the injury. David Pastrnak called it a must-win game because of the team’s recent downward turn.

McAvoy is still working his way back into form. Several days ago, when he last stepped on a scale, he was up to 208 pounds. His appetite is returning.

“I’ll get my way back for sure,” McAvoy said. “We’re at a month. We’ve done really good for four weeks. It won’t be like this forever.”