Charlie McAvoy Suspended 1 Game For Check To The Head

BOSTON (CBS) -- The Boston Bruins will be without Charlie McAvoy when the Eastern Conference finals begin this week.

McAvoy was suspended one game for his hit to the head on Josh Anderson in Monday night's Game 6 in Columbus, the league announced.

McAvoy was issued a two-minute minor for an illegal check to the head during the game.

Game 1 between the Bruins and Hurricanes will take place Thursday night in Boston.

McAvoy, 21, has averaged a team-leading 24:46 of ice time during this postseason, working in a top-pair role alongside captain Zdeno Chara. He has one goal and five assists from the blue line to go with a plus-8 rating in 13 games.

Prior to the McAvoy hit, the league had issued three separate suspensions during this current postseason. Tampa Bay's Nikita Kucherov was suspended for one game for boarding Markus Nutivaara, Toronto's Nazem Kadri was issued a three-to-five-game suspension (that ended up being five games) for a cross-check to the head of Jake DeBrusk, and San Jose's Joe Thornton was suspended for one game for an illegal check to the head of Tomas Nosek.

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• Boston Bruins
• NHL
• Columbus Blue Jackets