The consummate local-boy-makes-good, Charlie Coyle was a fan favorite in his six-plus years in Bruins. In his return to the Garden as a Columbus Blue Jacket, the Weymouth native let it be known that the feeling was mutual.

Coyle was playing in his first game at the Garden since being traded to the Colorado Avalanche at the trade deadline last March.

“It’s a special thing,” said Coyle after the Jackets’ morning skate on Thursday. “I was looking forward to this game, just playing in the Garden again. I missed it. Now I’ll be on the other side. But I’ve got to switch gears, too, because it’s a really big game for us. (The Bruins) right ahead of us in the standings. You can maybe even bring a couple of different emotions, but as long as you’re ready and be prepared and focused on what the task is, you’ll be ready to play.”

Playing for the B’s was a dream fulfilled.

“I was pretty fortunate to play and play for so many great teams and learn from a lot of different players and coaches and everything that comes with it here. That stuff comes to mind pretty quickly. I’m just lucky and fortunate to have been here for so long and play in front of my family and friends, play for an Original Six team, a team I grew up watching,” said Coyle.

“It’s a very special thing. And the more you get away from it and time passes, you think more about it, you feel very, very fortunate. Because not a lot of people get to do that for as long as I got to. I feel very, very lucky. Nothing but grateful and fortunate to have played here. Grateful they traded for me, bring me in and keep me there as long as they did. It’s just an awesome thing. I know I’ll look back on it as time goes throughout my life and think about all the good times and memories that I’ll bring with me. Just a very, very special thing.”

Now he has a new hockey home, one that’s been growing on him – and him on it. Colorado traded Coyle to Columbus in the offseason and, after a slow start, the Jackets went into Thursday’s game on the heels of the B’s for the second wild card spot.

Coyle is having a good season with 15-27-42 totals in 56 games going into Thursday.

“It’s been growing and growing more and more, which is what you want throughout a season,” he said of his fit in Columbus. “A lot of times things don’t click right away, but it’s just a very, very easy group to come in and just be myself and play the way I can play and add to the group of what they already had. They made some huge strides this last year, just missing the playoffs by two points. It’s been a great thing to get in that locker room, learn from their leaders, how they do things and just try to do my part and add to it with the experience I have and having played as long as I have now. I just do my part in that and try to do produce as much as I can and play the right way, lead by example, which is what I think they brought me in for.”….

B’s coach Marco Sturm elected not to even have Jeremy Swayman on the bench, opting to go with Joonas Korpisalo as the starter and Michael DiPietro as the backup. Sturm expects him to play on Saturday in Philadelphia.

“Just give him another good practice. (Wednesday) was not really a practice. He just went out and was happy to be at the rink. Today will be a good practice and (Friday) will be a good practice. And it’s an afternoon game (on Saturday, 3 pm), so there’s a lot more to it and we just want to make sure we do the right thing.”….

One of the most touching moments in the aftermath of USA’s gold medal win was when the players went to the stands to bring the late Johnny Gaudreau’s children onto the ice for the team picture. Gaudreau and his brother Matthew, who both played at Boston College, were killed by an alleged drunk driver in 2024. “Johnny Hockey,” as he came to be know at the Heights, would have been a member of the American team.

Zach Werenski played with Gaudreau internationally and with him as a member of the Blue Jackets.

“We see his jersey hanging every day here in Columbus, last year at the 4 Nations, the world championships and the Olympics. And these are all events, he would be at,” said the Columbus defenseman. “To see it hang there, obviously we had a lot of pride playing for him, we wanted to make him proud and to see his family there supporting us there – his kids, his wife, his parents – to bring the kids on the ice and have his jersey there, that’s what it’s all about. It was one of my favorite moments of the whole thing. He touched a lot of people.”

Werenski was a key part of the winning goal, knocking Nate MacKinnon off the puck and passing it to Jack Hughes for the golden goal. Werenski pointed out that there were many huge plays leading up that and that it was a team effort. But he understood that that play will live for generations.

“There’s going to be hundreds of thousands, if not millions of kids who want to be Jack Hughes. I guess somebody has to be the one that passes to him. And that’s me,” he said with a smile….

Charlie McAvoy on his trip to the White House: “I’ve said that if I ever get the chance to do something cool enough to get to the White House, just the history of that building in our country, then I’m certainly going to go. You never know if you’re ever going to get back there, just all the history and the names and faces up on the wall, it was really just a very surreal moment.”