Charlie McAvoy knows he screwed up. His hit on the Florida Panthers’ Oliver Ekman-Larson on October 30, made in the heat of a 2-2 game that he’d just tied up, was late and high and he understands there had to be consequences.

But the Bruins’ defenseman appealed his four-game suspension because he felt it should have had a game lopped off of it. Commissioner Gary Bettman, who heard the appeal, did not agree and thus McAvoy was set to serve the fourth and final game of the suspension on Thursday.

McAvoy spoke to reporters for the first time since the hit on Ekman-Larson on Thursday morning after the B’s morning skate at Warrior Ice Arena.

“What we were hoping for was just to get it reduced. I understand the need for discipline there and take responsibility for my actions. I know I made a mistake on the play,” said McAvoy. “But really the way that we understood it, and sort of the way it was explained to us by (head of Player Safety) George (Parros) and Player Safety was that a Rule 48 suspension – a head contact – starts at two games and then you have two factors after that, and that’s injury and history. So there was no injury on the play and I have a history, so two plus one is three, it’s not four. But there’s not really anything I can do about it.”

McAvoy, who was represented by the NHLPA and his agent, felt good about the appeal.

“I thought I had a good chance,” said McAvoy. “I appreciated Mr. Bettman and his team taking the time. They seemed very receptive to what we had in our arguments, which I felt really good about. I felt we made some really good points. I think there were times we were really coming across with what we had and made a lot of sense. We brought comparables to the table that were the exact same thing and guys that have history. There were even ones that had injuries on the play that were Rule 48 that had three games and not four. It seemed like anew standard to us that they were trying to get across. At the end of the day, the appeal process, while I’m grateful for them taking the team to listen to me and give me a chance, I think it’s certainly a difficult position for them to be put in. They have to acknowledge that Player Safety made a mistake if they’re ever going to appeal anything. That’s their team. It’s certainly a difficult position. I’m not sure if it’s really…I don’t want to say winnable, but it sort of seemed like that in a way. But I’m certainly appreciative of them being receptive and respectful in me speaking my truth.”

This is McAvoy’s second suspension, having been hit with a one-gamer in the 2019 playoffs for a hit on Columbus’ Josh Anderson. But he believes he’s proven that while he’s a physical player, he doesn’t play dirty. He doesn’t want to take physicality out of his game but he knows he has to be careful. He said he immediately reached out to Ekman-Larson and spoke with him.

“It’s certainly something to think about,” said McAvoy. “I played a lot of games since my first suspension and throw hits every single game. I was saying within my character I’ve established myself as someone who can play a physical style and play it clean. I made a mistake. The game moves fast. I asked for forgiveness and I was forgiven when I spoke to Oliver. I made a mistake, but I think you can put a montage together – this was one of my arguments – of how to deliver clean hits. I feel like I play the game hard but I play it respectful. This definitely felt like sort of a slight to my character but again, it was me that made the hit.”

McAvoy also understands that player safety is at the front of everyone’s mind after the tragic death of Adam Johnson in the British pro league.

“It was a weird week in hockey, right? We all want to play this game and leave the rink as healthy as we showed up to it. And that was sort of highlighted with what happened over (in England) with Adam Johnson,” said McAvoy. “It was just sort of a reflective week on that. The last thing I ever want to do in this game is hurt anybody. I hope that’s unanimous across the board for everybody. It certainly wasn’t my intention and to find out he was OK and didn’t have any worries, I took a sigh of relief on that one.”…

In the B’s 3-2 win against Dallas on Monday, rookie defenseman Mason Lohrei not only scored his first goal but he was also culpable for the Stars’ first goal when the B’s had a 2-0 lead and he tried to make a play at the Dallas blue line. He played sparingly after that.

“I would say that his greatest strength is his poise and his hockey sense and he makes great plays,” said coach Jim Montgomery. “And I would say everyone’s greatest strength sometimes hurt you and I would say the goal we gave up the other night was him trying to make a play because he knows he has the confidence. We don’t want to take that away. But it’s 2-0 on the road. Just put it behind the net, right? That’s not an instance where we need to force things to happen.”…

Milan Lucic and Matt Grzelcyk skated prior to the team’s morning skate. Both are still in LITR, with Lucic out of the lineup since suffering a lower body injury in Los Angeles on October 14 while Grzelcyk suffered in upper body injury against the Panthers on October 30. Lucic will be next eligible to play when the B’s host the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday, November 18, fulfilling the 10-game and 24-day requirement for LTIR….

Brad Marchand took a scary fall into the boards when he lost an edge in the morning skate and went to the dressing room clutching his shoulder. It didn’t look good, but he was back in a matter of minutes and stationed at his usual elbow spot on the power play.