For Carlo, It Was Certainly A Day to Remember 

SUNRISE, Fla. – Jim Montgomery had no doubts that he was penciling No. 25 into his Game 1 lineup on Monday night.

Despite little sleep and a frantic day of travel, Boston’s bench boss knew that Brandon Carlo would have plenty of energy. As the father of four acknowledged, there is nothing like the energy the birth of a new child can provide.

“It’s amazing in life…he finds out after we win Game 7 that his wife is going into labor and he goes through the whole process, has very little sleep. When you have incredible experiences in life like the birth of a child, it’s amazing the energy that it gives you,” said Montgomery.

“That’s why I knew when he got here, we were gonna put him in the lineup. The birth of my kids…it’s like winning a championship. You have adrenaline like you can’t believe for three days. When that adrenaline stops…you crash.”

The adrenaline was certainly still pumping for Carlo as just hours after he and wife, Mayson, welcomed their second child, a baby boy named Crew, he scored his second goal of the postseason in Boston’s 5-1 win over the Florida Panthers in the second-round opener at Amerant Bank Arena.

“I kind of got my best amount of sleep on the plane ride down here,” said Carlo. “Thankful for the pregame nap. From Game 7 as well, just all that transpired in that game, emotions were high. Moving forward and coming here knowing that we had to regroup and settle ourselves down to play this game tonight. I felt like we did a good job of that.”

Carlo had been in the midst of an epic whirlwind since Saturday night. After Boston’s scintillating overtime triumph over the Maple Leafs, Carlo was informed by B’s head athletic trainer Dustin Stuck that his wife had gone to the hospital and the process was underway.

“We sped it up as fast as we could, we were flipping her around, putting her upside down, whatever we could do to get that baby out of there,” Carlo said with a chuckle.

Some 24 hours later, Crew Corbett Carlo was finally born in the wee hours of Monday morning. After spending some quality time with his now expanded family, Carlo scrambled to jump on a flight around 2 o’clock Monday afternoon and made it to Amerant Bank Arena shortly after the Bruins’ buses.

“So thankful, so proud of my wife as well,” said Carlo. “Hopped on a plane at 2 o’clock. I’m really thankful for the Bruins, the Jacobs [family] as well, for how they handled this situation, [Bruins GM Don Sweeney], everybody. It was incredible, the support that they gave me and enabled me to get down here as fast as possible.

“Definitely wanted to play and I’m very happy I did. A great 24 hours and a lot of fun.”

The fun was taken to another level when Carlo buried his second goal of the playoffs with just 21 seconds remaining in the second period to give the Bruins a 3-1 lead. Trent Frederic started the sequence with a strong forecheck to beat Florida defenseman Gustav Forsling to a loose puck, before freeing it to a trailing Charlie Coyle.

Coyle then spun off the boards and saw Carlo entering the zone with plenty of open space. Carlo took the feed and fired a wrister from the top of the right circle that beat Florida goalie Sergei Bobrovsky to double the B’s advantage.

“I saw the play transpiring,” said Carlo. “Freddy did a fantastic job winning that footrace. CC got the puck and I saw a lot of open ice in the middle, just tried to fill that pocket. He got his eyes up, saw me, caught it and shot it. We’ve worked on that kind of play a lot in practice.

“As a defenseman coming through the neutral zone, through the middle of the zone like that, I was able to see that pocket in the top right and thankful to put it in the right spot. It was a good goal moving forward for the momentum of the game.

“From there, I felt like the team did a good job continuing to push and not sitting back on our heels.”

David Pastrnak quickly grabbed the puck for Carlo to have as a memento of such a memorable occasion. After the game, Jeremy Swayman said he took as much joy from that moment as any in his career.

“I don’t score very often, so a very cool experience for me. There was a play there by God, so very thankful,” said Carlo, who also received the player of the game jacket from Pastrnak postgame. “Pretty special, pretty special. I definitely recognize that any one of my teammates would’ve been here tonight as well if they could’ve been. We’re all so dedicated to each other. I wanted to come here to play for guys like Sway.

“Just that guy in general, he puts the biggest smile on my face out on the ice. I have so much fun playing with him, a lot of love between the two of us. That’s a big compliment coming from him.

“I don’t know why but I always turn back to the bench and look at all the faces of the boys and that always gets me so fired up because I’m not a guy that scores very often. Just the faces of happiness when the guys are supporting me like that means so much and I feel so blessed to be a part of this group.”

The tally was a continuation of a strong postseason for Carlo, who also scored in Game 1 against Toronto and was a defensive force for much of that first-round series.

“For me, I’m just trying to take it day by day,” said Carlo. “I feel like at times in the past when I have gotten a little bit more overzealous with my game it’s because I’ve gotten away from the moment. That was big lesson that I learned last year. I think each moment, each game, each shift, that I can focus on and control…that’s where my mindset is right now and I feel like my game kind of rounds out when I focus on one shift at a time.

“I want to continue to do my best to assert myself physically. I feel like I’m trying to step up there a little bit, not trying to kill guys by any means, but use my body to play well defensively and contribute to this team in the best way that I can.”