Coyle keeps filling big shoes for Bruins

It didn’t just end with Coyle’s 15th score of the season, however, after “just throwing” the backhander.

He also put together 18:53 of strong two-way play at the center position with five shots on net, seven shot attempts overall, one takeaway and a whopping 26 faceoffs taken with 12 wins as Coyle was the guy on the draw when Boston needed a faceoff win. In many ways, it was the exact same kind of role that Patrice Bergeron played over the last few years as Coyle was centering a line between Brad Marchand and Pastrnak in a sort of new look Perfection Line.

“I felt ‘Pasta’ was on, felt Marchand was on, and I wanted the most reliable center to be playing with them, and that’s Charlie Coyle,” said Jim Montgomery last week when he first put Coyle together with Marchand and Pastrnak in Arizona.

After many doubted that Coyle could ever be a top-6 center in year’s past because he simply wasn’t impactful enough offensively, the 31-year-old is doing it while taking his overall game to its highest level.

Just don’t ask Coyle if he thinks that he’s having his best NHL season.

The two-way center simply wants to play the game the right way, help his team in all situations and quietly put together consistently good performances while not dwelling on how well things may or may not be going for him.

“I’m just trying to play the right way. Honestly, I’m not worried about my goal total,” said Coyle, who had career highs of 21 goals and 56 points in a 2015-17 two-way stretch for the Minnesota Wild. “Do I want to contribute more? Yeah, of course I do. But I want to be playing the right way and do that. That’s all I’m trying to do, really. I’m not focused on my point total and all that.”

But make no mistake that this is a breakout year for him.

He’s third on the B’s with his 15 goals and 32 points and has become a key offensive cog behind Pastrnak and Marchand that’s on pace for career highs of 27 goals and 61 points. Those are the exact same kind of numbers that Bergeron had been producing over the last few seasons while playing a center for all situations just as Coyle is for Boston these days.

How important is Coyle to Boston’s offense as a contributor beyond Boston’s top two guys?

The offensive slowdown in mid-December for the Bruins where they lost five out of six games took place at the exact same time that Coyle went through a six-game pointless streak.

The Bruins and Coyle busted out of the funk in the first game after the Christmas break with the center punching in a couple of goals against the Buffalo Sabres, and both team and player haven’t looked back since.

So Coyle and the Bruins both have to hope he can avoid any more of those offensive blackouts through the rest of the regular season and playoffs.

“I don’t know,” said Coyle, when asked if he’s amidst his best NHL season. “I’m not even thinking about if I’m playing my best or not. The season is only half-way done. If I go and crap the bed in the second half then this first half doesn’t mean anything, right?

“I just want to keep playing good hockey, playing the right way and progress, and learn from my mistakes and keep growing and contributing. Playing the right way in all situations, I want to be a guy that gets called upon in all situations, be productive there and making a difference. That’s what I want to keep doing for the team.”

Here’s betting Coyle will manage to finish off this season strongly as it looks and feels like he’s having his career season with the Boston Bruins at the exact time when the team needed somebody to step up in the wake of Bergeron and David Krejci retiring. Coyle has stepped up this season for a Bruins team that needed to in the worst way, and he did it again Monday afternoon with another Bergeron-esque performance in a matinee win against the Devils.