TORONTO — It’s easy forget Charlie McAvoy is just a 20-year-old rookie.


 


From the opening game of the regular season, right through each game of the Stanley Cup playoffs, he’s been logging more than 20 minutes per game, responsible for shutting down the opposition’s top scorers, as he works alongside 41-year-old legend Zdeno Chara.


 


And because he’s such a strong skater with great offensive instincts, [...]

ED KLAJMAN Special to the Journal

TORONTO — It’s easy forget Charlie McAvoy is just a 20-year-old rookie.

 

From the opening game of the regular season, right through each game of the Stanley Cup playoffs, he’s been logging more than 20 minutes per game, responsible for shutting down the opposition’s top scorers, as he works alongside 41-year-old legend Zdeno Chara.

 

And because he’s such a strong skater with great offensive instincts, he’s also been relied on to make a sizable contribution in that department.

 

It’s not an easy role to play for a veteran blue-liner, let alone someone who only 13 months ago was playing at Boston University.

 

But the native of Long Island insists he is having fun with the opportunity, confident that he has what it takes to deliver for his team, despite the inevitable mistakes and growing pains he’s experiencing — like a key miscue that led to a key Toronto goal in the Bruins’ Game 5 loss.

 

“I’ve tried to stick with the things that have always allowed me to have success,” said McAvoy, who played just four games at Providence as a bridge between collegiate and pro hockey, before being put on Boston’s playoff roster last April when the Bruins were upset by Ottawa. “It’s using my hockey sense and discretion to make good hockey plays on defense. And using my stick and my feet to end plays on offense. Those kinds of things translate from college to pro, from level to level.”

 

But, he added: “Sometimes I feel like I have to do more than I should. That’s kind of where I get in trouble — thinking where I need to do more and I need to have an immediate impact, go out and do something unbelievable, score a goal or have this most beautiful play. I don’t have to do those. We have enough guys who can do those. I need tempered expectations because I’m 20 years old playing in the Stanley Cup playoffs Game 6. This whole series I feel like I’ve put myself up to this bar. I just need to throw that out and have fun because I know that the guys in this room have my back.”

 

That includes his coach, Bruce Cassidy, who described the Bruins’ 2016 first-round pick — 14th overall — as “a special talent,” someone who is not bothered by “big moments,” and has the gift of a “short memory” that great goalies have.

 

“If there’s a mistake that happens, he puts it behind him and gets back out there and plays hard, plays the right way, and get his game back in a hurry,” said Cassidy. “He doesn’t sulk or doubt himself. I think that’s where a lot of the young guys have a tough time in this league. You get burned where you turn a puck over, or you sort of doubt yourself; he’s not that guy. He gets back and finds his game. That’s a special skill for a 20-year-old.”

 

Cassidy hinted that a challenge for McAvoy making this year’s playoff ride so much different than last year’s debut — when he picked up three assists in six games — is that for the first time in his hockey life he’s having to deal with coming back from a significant injury.

 

In early March, the product of the USA Hockey National Team Development Program suffered a sprained medial collateral ligament in his left knee. After collecting seven goals and 25 assists in Boston’s first 59 games, he missed the next 15 with the injury, before rejoining the team for the last four games of the regular season. He immediately went right back to his regular workload but he was held off the scoresheet, and that was followed by just one assist through the first five games of the series against the Leafs.

 

“I think this playoffs, he’s had some ups and downs. I think it had a lot to do with him missing time before the playoffs. I think he got out of rhythm, out of sync,” said Cassidy, noting that although McAvoy may not even realize it, it’s possible he’s subconsciously worrying about the injury, which might explain a couple of uncharacteristic contact-free tumbles the 6-foot, 208-pounder has taken in his own zone.

 

“He’s fallen a couple of times. I think we all saw it. I don’t know if it’s just dumb luck where you hit ruts in the ice. Or maybe there’s some doubt periodically on your pivots, on your tight turns, and those moments where you just need to be fluid and balanced.”