Charlie McAvoy made sure to try to leave his mark on the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs as the Buffalo Sabres eliminated him and the Boston Bruins from the first round on Friday night.
As the Bruins unsuccessfully tried to battle back from a 4-1 deficit in Game 6 with their netminder pulled, McAvoy skated back to touch up on a Sabres’ icing with 1:31 remaining in regulation. McAvoy won the race, but Buffalo’s Zach Benson tried to beat McAvoy to the finish line, taking out the defender’s feet from under him and sending him careening into the boards.
McAvoy was enraged by what he likely perceived as a purposeful slewfoot and saw red. After getting up, he two-handed slashed Benson up high and threw a right cross punch that kicked off a scrum.
Benson, unhurt by the slash, laughed at McAvoy from the penalty box as the irate rearguard was led off the ice.
After the dust settled, McAvoy was assessed a game misconduct, ejecting him from the rest of the game, and a five-minute major penalty for slashing. Benson was also issued a two-minute minor penalty for tripping.
In terms of a potential suspension, any supplemental discipline that McAvoy is to face from the NHL’s Department of Player Safety will come into effect at the beginning of the 2026-27 campaign.
Benson had points (1g, 1a) in the Game 6 victory.
With the win, Buffalo advances to the second round for the first time since 2007, when they fell in the Eastern Conference Final to the Ottawa Senators. They’ll take on the winner of the Montreal Canadiens–Tampa Bay Lightning series, which is set for Game 7 on Sunday.
McAvoy finished the series with two assists in six games. David Pastrnak scored Boston’s lone goal in Game 6, the only Bruins player to score more than two goals in the series.
