“I was down in Providence this morning, there for practice,” Callahan said Tuesday. “We had early practice at nine. Kind of got some sort of idea during practice there, so I got off early.
The turnaround was so short that the Franklin native was about to board a bus with the rest of his Providence Bruins teammates to Syracuse before he was spared the plodding journey through upstate New York.
Michael Callahan didn’t have much time to process his looming NHL debut; the 25-year-old defenseman only found out on Tuesday morning.
“Then kind of found out after that, because we were supposed to go on a road trip to Syracuse, got pulled off the bus, and was told I was going up.”
The next few hours were a whirlwind for the hard-nosed defenseman, who packed up his gear and drove to Boston while trying to secure tickets for his parents, Terence and Kelly, and a few of his siblings.
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With the Callahan clan and a few of his close friends in the building at TD Garden, Callahan did his part to help Boston post one of its most encouraging wins of the 2024-25 campaign.
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“I thought Cally did a good job in his first NHL game tonight,” Bruins interim coach Joe Sacco said after Boston defeated the Lightning, 6-2. “Not an easy team to play against. I thought he handled himself fine.”
Callahan, who honed his craft as an effective, stay-at-home blueliner while spending four seasons under the tutelage of Nate Leaman at Providence College, was as advertised on Tuesday.
The former Friars captain logged 14:11 of ice time in the victory, skating on a D pairing alongside Andrew Peeke. He contributed with 1:19 on Boston’s penalty-kill unit and finished with a plus-1 rating after being on the ice for Trent Frederic’s game-opening goal just 4:24 into the contest.
“Just being strong defensively,” Callahan said of his mindset entering his debut. “Be hard on pucks and make plays when they’re there.”
Beyond the quick turnaround on Tuesday, Callahan didn’t have the easiest assignment for his first NHL game, as Boston was shorthanded on defense without both Charlie McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm.
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Add in a matchup against a Lightning team averaging a league-best 3.64 goals per game, and Callahan had his work cut out for him at hockey’s highest level.
Beyond the emotions and excitement that come with taking to the ice in an NHL game for the first time, even Hall of Famer Ray Bourque acknowledged that a debut brings about unexpected hurdles.
“It’s a tough league,” Bourque said Wednesday at the Boston Bruins Foundation’s gala. “But there’s nothing like just being thrown in there and kind of getting the feel for it and to kind of see it for yourself.
“Knowing, ‘I’m okay here, I could do this.’ Or it’s, ‘Okay, I might have to work on a few things’. … It’s nerve-wracking, but so exciting to finally live your dream.”
For Callahan, it didn’t take very long to get adjusted — not only to a higher level of competition, but a new locker room as well.
“The guys in here, it’s a great room to walk right in and feel comfortable,” Callahan said. “They made me feel comfortable right away. So going out there, I felt good, confident. I just wanted to go out and play my game and help the team. And like I said, it’s nice to get a win.”
Tuesday’s win featured several players on Boston’s shorthanded D corps step up, with Parker Wotherspoon scoring his first NHL goal and Peeke lighting the lamp for the first time in a Bruins sweater.
It was a night of firsts for the Bruins, headlined by Callahan’s debut. Much like Wotherspoon, Callahan took home a puck to commemorate the occasion — a gift courtesy of new teammate Trent Frederic.
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But for the local product, earning the opportunity to don the spoked-B for the first time stood as the greatest gift on the night.
“Just wearing the jersey, being from here, it means a lot to me and to my family, too,” Callahan said. “So hopefully there’s a lot more to come. And like I said, getting the win is probably what I’ll remember the most.”
Conor Ryan can be reached at conor.ryan@globe.com.