Charlie McAvoy did not waste much time making his return matter.
Back in the Bruins’ lineup Tuesday night after serving a six-game suspension to open the 2026-27 season, McAvoy jumped right into the action and helped power Boston to a 6-3 win over the Sharks. He logged a team-high 24:41, scored once in the first period, and added three shots on goal, four hits, one blocked shot, plus nearly two minutes on both the power play and penalty kill.
For Marco Sturm, the performance was exactly the kind of response Boston needed from one of its most important players.
“Incredible,” Sturm said after the Bruins’ third straight victory. “I was actually a little worried because he was so excited.
It’s almost like, hopefully he’s not too excited. But the way he played, it was unbelievable.
“Very calm, in control all the time, making plays, always there at the right spot. We’re just very lucky to have him, and the way he played today was pretty impressive.”
Boston’s surge has come fast. The Bruins have now outscored opponents 17-5 during this three-game winning streak, and they’ve done it with production spread across the lineup. Thirteen Bruins had at least one point against San Jose, while Fraser Minten led the way with two goals.
McAvoy still found a way to leave his stamp on the night at the biggest moments.
Late in the first period, he drove hard to the net as a loose puck bounced around the crease near Yaroslav Askarov. JJ Peterka gathered it and sent it down low, and McAvoy finished the play by tapping it home for his first goal of the season.
“I thought that was a big-boy shift, and we were trying to hold on to the puck,” McAvoy said of the sequence leading to the goal. “[It’s] something that we talked about before the game … them being a man-on-man team, to just try and break them down and hold onto the puck.
“So it was a good shift, and then that was just a great pass by JJ. So yeah, I was really happy to be on the other side of that and be able to contribute [in my] first game back.”
His influence showed up again later, even without another point attached to it. After getting tangled with Sharks standout Macklin Celebrini, McAvoy stayed composed when Celebrini knocked him to the ice. Instead of answering back and risking a stoppage, he let the play continue.
That patience paid off. David Pastrnak picked off a puck in the neutral zone and sent Morgan Geekie and Pavel Zacha away on an odd-man rush. With three seconds left in the second period, Geekie found Zacha, and Zacha fired in the goal that stood as Boston’s winner.
The Bruins’ offense has been humming under Sturm’s reshuffled lineup, with younger players like Minten giving the club a jolt early in the season. Still, McAvoy’s return carries a different kind of weight for Boston. He affects nearly every part of the game, and the Bruins felt that immediately.
“To start the year 5-2 is great. I was so proud of the guys, and they had some really great games while I was out,” McAvoy said. “You’re already itching, but you’re seeing the group have fun and playing the right way, and it makes it even easier for me to come back and try to join the fray, because you know the guys aren’t struggling.
“They’re feeling good about how they’re playing. So it was good to see that continue tonight.”
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