Brandon Carlo of the Boston Bruins netted one of the team’s five consecutive goals on Monday in its 5-1 rout of the Florida Panthers in Game 1 of the second-round NHL playoff series, but that wasn’t the best thing that’s happened to him this week.
Carlo recorded an assist on Boston’s thrilling overtime goal in Saturday’s Game 7 of the first-round series against the Toronto Maple Leafs, which sent the Maple Leafs home, the TD Garden into a frenzy, and the Bruins into the second round with a 2-1 win. But that wasn’t the best thing either.
So what was it?
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It came at 3 a.m. on Monday, under the fluorescent light of a hospital room, when he and his wife, Mayson, welcomed their first son, Crew Corbett Carlo, into the world.
“So thankful,” Carlo said in Monday’s postgame press conference. “So proud of my wife as well.”
He had learned after Boston’s emotional Game 7 win on Saturday night that Mayson was headed to the hospital to prepare to deliver their son. The couple spent all of Sunday waiting, and in the early morning hours on Monday, the doctors decided it was time.
The sweet father-son bonding period lasted less than 12 hours, however, because Carlo had a game to get to in South Florida. He hopped on a private jet, got a much-needed nap, and landed at about 5:30 p.m. ET. He was later than his teammates arriving to the rink, but he was in the lineup for the 8 p.m. game, and Bruins fans were glad he was.
Crew’s dad has arrived. pic.twitter.com/yEHNMreUX5
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) May 6, 2024
DAD STRENGTH 💪 pic.twitter.com/HAaeYYB9z5
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) May 7, 2024
Way to get it done, Dad 👏 pic.twitter.com/tbuROxlhPF
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) May 7, 2024
Carlo appeared on ESPN’s “SportsCenter with Scott Van Pelt” following Game 1.
“Been wild for sure,” Carlo said of his previous 48 hours or so, “but so blessed. This group in general, from Game 7 through here, I’m just so fortunate to play with these guys. But overall, so proud of my wife. She did amazing.”
When asked in his press conference whether he would try to keep the puck to give to Crew years from now while telling him the circumstances of his birth, Carlo indicated that he would.
“I don’t score very often,” the defenseman said with a chuckle, “so that was a play there by God for sure.”
Carlo is a man who lives by faith in God. He writes “Live by faith not by sight” in both his Instagram and X bios, a quotation of the Bible verse 2 Corinthians 5:7. It’s something that has guided the 27-year-old throughout his life, ever since his mother, Angie, introduced him to the verse growing up in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Carlo has gotten the phrase tattooed on his right forearm as a reminder that, even when he doesn’t understand how, God is always working for good. Never was that more apparent for Carlo than during the COVID pandemic.
“It’s been interesting to have the time to take a step back and recognize things with faith,” he said in a media conference call in April 2020. “To a point, I think God may be telling us to slow down a little bit in life. My tattoo has come into real life at this time. … I’ve got it tattooed on my body for a reason. It’s something I truly believe, something that I’ve been trying to focus on living by each and every day.”
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With faith, Carlo has leaned on the God behind his tattoo in the bad and the good — through injuries, a Stanley Cup Finals loss (2019), his wedding, and the birth of his daughter, Wren, in September 2021. Now, in the middle of a playoff run and a new baby boy, Carlo will seek to continue to walk by faith and trust God with it all.
Game 2 of Boston’s series with the Panthers is set for Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. ET from Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Florida.
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