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As for wiggling their way into the playoff picture, the Blue Jackets were hockey .500 (19-19-7) upon Bowness taking the reins. They hit the Olympic break at 29-20-7, a .580 points percentage that had them placed ninth in the East, and only 4 points behind the Bruins for the second wild-card spot.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe main focus,\u201d noted veteran Columbus forward Boone Jenner said, \u201cwas taking care of our net. We\u2019re playing more with the puck rather than chasing and we\u2019re trying to build off that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGetting to the game we want to play,\u201d added top defenseman Zach Werenski<\/a>.<\/p>\n Bowness has remained reserved in his enthusiasm. He\u2019s learned to be optimistic yet stoic over time \u2014 an acquired survival skill in the NHL coaching biz. <\/p>\n He took this job on an interim basis, after dabbling in TV for the season-plus since last directing the Winnipeg bench in 2023-24. Other than his one season in Boston, when he led the Bruins to the Stanley Cup semifinals, his best run as head coach was with Dallas in 2019-20. He moved into the top job there early that season, replacing the dismissed Jim Montgomery<\/a>, and led the Stars to the Cup Final, ultimately enduring a 4-2 series loss to Tampa, coached by his old Lightning boss, Jon Cooper.<\/p>\n \u201cYou adapt with the generations,\u201d Bowness told me that spring, well aware of where he stood on the coach\u2019s age scale. \u201cWhen I first got into this [as a player-coach at AHL Sherbrooke], I was 28 years old in 1983. I was younger than some of the players I coached.\u201d<\/p>\n Now, ex-Bruin Charlie Coyle<\/a>, 33, is the oldest of Bowness\u2019s game-to-game charges. Adam Fantilli, 21, is the youngest. Bowness turned 71 only a couple of weeks after taking his latest gig. But for a few weeks, he is a half-century older than Fantilli.<\/p>\n True of many Maritimers, particularly those of his generation, Bowness grew up an ardent Black and Gold fan.<\/p>\n \u201cI loved the Bruins,\u201d reminded Bowness during the Cup run with Dallas. \u201cStill do.\u201d<\/p>\n It was a shock here \u2014 though abrupt coaching changes were standard decor then on Causeway Street \u2014 when Bowness was sent packing by the Bruins. Bowness applied a gentler approach with the working help than his predecessors and Harry Sinden, then GM, figured a sterner Brian Sutter was a better fit for the time. The Bruins didn\u2019t reach a Cup semi again until their championship-winning spring of 2011. <\/p>\n Bowness took the Bruins job in the wake of Terry O\u2019Reilly and Mike Milbury, both of whom led the Bruins to a Cup Final. O\u2019Reilly in the spring of 1988 coached the Bruins past the Canadiens in the playoffs for the first time in 45 years. They were tough acts to follow.<\/p>\n \u201cThey bring in an unknown like me,\u201d noted Bowness. \u201cAnd I was determined from the outset, \u2019Well, I am going to coach my way \u2014 not like Mike and Terry.\u2019 Yeah, they were great coaches, very successful, but I knew I wanted to coach my way and be me. So \u2026 it probably cost me my job there. But that\u2019s OK, because it also kept me alive.\u201d<\/p>\n Alive and now thriving in Cannon Land, where Bowness has stopped his Blue Jackets from chasing games and has them climbing in the standings.<\/p>\n TWO FOR THE ROAD<\/p>\n Penguins\u2019 new Hayes makes strong first impression<\/p>\n A quick scan of the final game sheet Thursday night in Buffalo, where Pittsburgh trimmed the Sabres, 5-2, detailed that \u201cHayes\u201d scored twice for the Penguins and also equaled teammate Sidney Crosby\u2019s team-high six shots on net.<\/p>\n A pretty good night for veteran center Kevin Hayes, right? Wrong.<\/p>\n The Hayes of the hour, and the night\u2019s No. 1 star, instead proved to be Avery Hayes, who potted that pair in his NHL debut. <\/p>\n Signed as an undrafted free agent and playing his third AHL season, Hayes learned around noon Thursday that he was being called up as a roster safeguard in case an ailing Noel Acciari<\/a> couldn\u2019t suit up. Hayes jumped in a car and made the 280-mile drive northwest to Buffalo from Wilkes-Barre, Pa., receiving word along the route that, yep, he was in the lineup.<\/p>\n Barely enough time, once inside KeyBank Center, to work up some first-night jitters. <\/p>\n \u201cSo,\u201d said Hayes, \u201cI didn\u2019t have much time to think about the game.\u201d<\/p>\n Hayes scored his first goal, the 1-1 equalizer, at 9:18 of the first period, motoring by Sabres defenseman Jacob Bryson and snapping a wrister by ex-Yale stopper Alex Lyon. No. 2 came 1:13 prior to the first intermission, the Day 1 right wing capping off a dogged shift with a short-range snap wrister under the crossbar, finishing a silky feed from Anthony Mantha. Both goals showed prime finishing touch.<\/p>\n The 21-year-old Hayes, twice passed over in the draft, grew up in Michigan and tracked through the state\u2019s elite amateur programs. He then played five OHL seasons (Hamilton, Peterborough) before the Penguins finally gave him a shot in the pros. He is small (5 feet 10 inches, 175 pounds) but feisty and can scoot. <\/p>\n No telling if he\u2019ll be with the varsity on the other side of the Olympic break, but potting that pair has to have management thinking. He became only the third Penguin to make a multigoal debut, joining Jake Guentzel<\/a> (November 2016) and Rob Brown (October 1987).<\/p>\n In a sport so thoroughly and obsessively scouted, with talent seekers identifying pro prospects as early as middle school, rarely do the gifted go undrafted. But it happens. Two prime examples: Joe Mullen and Adam Oates. <\/p>\n Passed over in the draft, Mullen and Oates both opted for college \u2014 Mullen to Boston College and Oates to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute \u2014 and signed pro deals once finishing their campus tours. Mullen ascended to the Blues lineup in 1981-82 after three seasons in the minors. Oates, more a playmaker, required only 34 games of AHL prep before joining the Red Wings in 1985-86.<\/p>\n Mullen finished his NHL days with 502 goals and 1,063 points \u2014 and his name on the Cup three times. Oates piled up 1,420 career points (No. 20 on the NHL list), and 1,079 of those were assists (No. 9). <\/p>\n On the outside looking in at the game as 18-year-olds, they each today have their likenesses on plaques at the Hockey Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n ETC.<\/p>\n BU medals in Olympians for Milan Cortina<\/p>\n The right end of Commonwealth Avenue has no fewer than a dozen stick carriers with Boston University ties chasing pucks in the Olympic Games that officially got underway with Friday\u2019s opening ceremony in Italy.<\/p>\n On the women\u2019s side, BU is represented by Marie-Philip Poulin (Canada), twins Lilli and Luisa Welcke (Germany), Nadia Mattivi and Kayla Tutino (Italy), and Andrea Brandli (Switzerland).<\/p>\n On the men\u2019s side<\/a>, the Terriers have Jack Eichel, Clayton Keller, Charlie McAvoy, Jake Oettinger, and Brady Tkachuk (United States), and Macklin Celebrini (Canada).<\/p>\n The American men\u2019s team<\/a> has another five Terriers, including head coach Mike Sullivan, in the coach\/management mix. John Hynes and David Quinn are there as assistant coaches, Chris Drury as assistant general manager (aiding Boston College\u2019s Bill Guerin, from that other end of Comm. Ave.) and Chris Kelleher directing player personnel. <\/p>\n The fabled 1980 Olympic men\u2019s team that knocked off the storied and heavily favored Russians on the way to the gold, was anchored by BU\u2019s Fab Four of captain\/center Mike Eruzione, goalie Jim Craig, forward Dave Silk, and defenseman Jack O\u2019Callahan. <\/p>\n Eruzione potted the game-winner (4-3) vs the CCCP with 10:00 to go in the third, sent in with a dish from the late Mark Pavelich. Two days later, the ragtag Yanks, under the direction of Herb Brooks, dismissed the Finns, 4-2, for the first US gold medal since 1960.<\/p>\n For Eruzione, age 25, it was the final game of his playing career. The other three all turned pro after the Games and made it to the NHL, which was still somewhat of a novelty for American players. Craig played in 30 NHL games (23 with the Bruins), Silk in 249, and O\u2019Callahan in 389, his final twirl coming with the 1988-89 Devils.<\/p>\n O\u2019Callahan was on the New Jersey playoff roster in 1988 when the Devils and Bruins met in the Stanley Cup semifinals. The series included the famous encounter between irate Devils coach Jim Schoenfeld and referee Don Koharski, with Schoenfeld bellowing, \u201cYou\u2019re crazy \u2026 you fell, you fat pig. Have another donut! Have another donut!\u201d <\/p>\n After winning Game 7 of that series, the Bruins were swept out of the Final, 4-0, by the Oilers. <\/p>\n Charlie Coyle, who recently potted his second career hat trick amid the Blue Jackets\u2019 blitz, is not the lone ex-Bruin forward in the Columbus lineup. <\/p>\n Danton Heinen, who departed Boston as a free agent less than 24 months ago, on Dec. 29 was flipped from Pittsburgh to Columbus in a deal for Russian right winger Egor Chinakhov (No. 21 pick in the 2020 draft). <\/p>\n Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas also yielded two draft picks (Round 2, 2026 and Round 3, \u201827) to get Chinakhov, who has proven to be a productive add (8-4\u201312 in 18 games) in coach Dan Muse\u2019s lineup.<\/p>\n In his days as Maple Leafs GM, Dubas chose a different Russian forward, Rodion Amirov, six slots ahead of Chinakhov in that \u201820 draft. A highly-promising left winger, Amirov less than two years later was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor that ultimately proved fatal in August 2023. <\/p>\n No telling how much of a part the tragedy played in Dubas\u2019s overall failure to replenish roster talent via the draft. But in April 2023, Toronto parted ways with Dubas, barely 90 days prior to Rodion dying in Munich, where he had gone for late-stage treatment.<\/p>\n At least a handful of clubs were eager to add Artemi Panarin, in hopes of sweetening their Cup chances this spring, but the Russian star invoked his right to steer the deal, and only agreed to leave the Rangers for the Kings<\/a>. Los Angeles general manager Ken Holland made it all the more enticing to Panarin with a two-year contract extension that will pay (or overpay?) the \u201cBread Man\u201d an average of $11 million per annum. The Rangers retained half ($5.82 million) of his salary cap hit and GM Chris Drury is likely to shed another veteran or two to further clear the books for some aggressive unrestricted free agent purchases in July (sure to hype an already-hyped market). The key Kings asset headed to Broadway: Liam Greentree, a high-output winger at OHL Windsor who was chosen No. 26 in the 2024 draft, the pick after the Bruins opted for raw, towering center Dean Letourneau<\/a>. Greentree was among the final cuts at Kings camp in September \u2026 Adam Oates began this season No. 8 in NHL career assists, only to be surpassed by Sidney Crosby. Sid the Kid shipped off to Italy with Team Canada for the Olympics with a line of 27-32\u201359 and will return with an outside shot of recording his first 100-point season since 2018-19. Now 38 and with one more year left on his Penguins deal, it will be odd to see Crosby in the Games without Patrice Bergeron \u2026 Rick Bowness already holds the NHL record for most games behind the bench \u2014 combining head coach and assistant duty \u2014 and if he were to pull off perhaps the most remarkable turnaround in league history and lead the Blue Jackets to the Stanley Cup, at 71 he would be the oldest bench boss in league history to do so. Scotty Bowman holds the mark. Bowman was roughly 100 days shy of his 69th birthday when he led the Red Wings to the Cup in 2002. He was in his mid-60s when directing Detroit wins in 1997 and \u201898. The only other coach to do it in his 60s: Dick Irvin, age 60 and 271 days, when his Canadiens knocked off Lynn Patrick\u2019s Bruins in the 1953 Cup Final. Patrick, born some 10 weeks prior to the Titanic\u2019s tragic sinking in 1912<\/a>, was age 41 \u2026 Other than David Pastrnak, the only high-profile NHLer to troop his country\u2019s colors in the Olympic Parade of Nations on Friday was the Oilers\u2019 Leon Draisaitl (Germany). A smattering of others included Tomas Tatar (Slovakia), who wrapped up a 13-year NHL tour last season with a one-season stay in New Jersey. He has played this season in Switzerland (Zug) \u2026 If you find yourself in Black-and-Gold withdrawal during the Games, perhaps a trip to AHL Providence will settle the nerves. The WannaB\u2019s will play host to Bridgeport (Feb. 15), Belleville (Feb. 20), and Hartford (Feb. 22) while the medals are being sorted out in Italy. Fair warning: start time Feb. 22 in Providence is set for 3:05 p.m. The gold-medal game in Italy is set to go off at 8:10 a.m. That should not present a conflict, unless you have your eye on some heavy partying in the wake of the American men\u2019s first gold in 46 years.<\/p>\n This week we dig into Super Bowl LX preparations and if Drake Maye\u2019s shoulder will be the main storyline of Patriots vs. Seahawks this Sunday.<\/p>\n![\"Undrafted](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/R2MARH6YFNDKP2UKUN6SS43NQI.jpg\")
Undrafted Avery Hayes made a big NHL debut for the Penguins on Thursday night.Jeffrey T. Barnes\/Associated Press<\/p>\n![\"Luisa](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/LYVBH7YOGTBH7LLU7KG7JPG3OQ.JPG\")
Luisa Welcke (16) and twin sister Lilli are on break from the BU women’s team to play for Germany at the Olympics.Danielle Parhizkaran\/Globe Staff<\/p>\n![\"Weymouth](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/7TNF7KV4V2T5NNSPLUAYMM2SBA.jpg\")
Weymouth native Charlie Coyle has 15 goals and 24 assists in 56 games for the Blue Jackets this season.Julio Cortez\/Associated Press<\/p>\n