Charlie Coyle scores first NHL hat trick
Bruins win 5-2 over Islanders
The Boston Bruins improved to 11-1-1 Thursday night with a 5-2 win over the New York Islanders.
The B’s Charlie Coyle had a historic night in the win. He scored his first career hat trick, 400th career point, 150th career goal, and 250th career assist. He also ended the night with a career-high four points.
Trent Frederic opened up the scoring for the Bruins with his third goal of the season at the 14:05 mark of the first. The Islanders quickly responded with a goal from Brock Nelson at 17:23.
The game went into the second period tied 1-1.
Coyle put the B’s up, 2-1, with his first goal of the night on the power play at the 6:06 mark with assists from Pavel Zacha and David Pastrnak.
Simon Holmstrom tied the game, 2-2, with a wrist shot at the 2:50 mark of the third. Pastrnak put the Bruins back up, 3-2, with a power play goal at 3:33.
Coyle extended the lead to 4-2 with a wrist shot at 9:26. He padded the lead to 5-2 with an empty-netter at 18:39 to achieve his hat trick.
Before scoring his third goal, Coyle passed the puck to Pastrnak, but Pastrnak gave up the open shot to pass the puck back to Coyle so he could get the hat trick.
“I was just trying to point at him to just shoot it. He did make me skate ahead a little bit, but I’m glad I was able to catch it and give it back to him,” Pastrnak told the media.
Coyle related the feeling to scoring your first NHL goal.
“It feels good. The end result of a lot of good plays and passes…sometimes it just goes that way. In a sense, it kind of feels like getting your first goal out of the way…those are milestones you kind of think about,” Coyle told reporters postgame.
James van Riemsdyk praised Coyle after the game.
“He’s a super valuable player…super versatile player for us…plays every situation. You can’t speak enough about what he does in all facets of the game. It’s nice to see him get rewarded,” van Riemsdyk told reporters.
Linus Ullmark ended the game with 27 saves and improved to 5-1-1 in the goal.
The Bruins left the game tied with the Golden Knights for the most points in the NHL with 23. They look to improve to 12-1-1 when they face the Canadiens in Montréal on Saturday, Nov. 11.
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