For a team with one loss through their first six games, the Bruins certainly do have their fair share of problems. Secondary scoring, ugly second periods and the health of David Krejci are just a few of those
But that David Pastrnak guy, well, he’s far from being a problem.
In Monday’s Columbus Day—or Thanksgiving Day for you fine folk north of the border—matinee, Pastrnak scored all four Bruins goals en route to a 4-2 victory over the Anaheim Ducks at TD Garden.
“it's always nice, that's what I'm getting paid for,” a smiling Pastrnak said following the contest.
It was all smiles for Pastrnak who became the 19th Bruin in franchise history with four goals in a single game, the first since Patrice Bergeron scored four times against the Carolina Hurricanes in January of 2018.
What was special about Pastrnak’s four-goal performance was the four different ways he scored in the victory.
There was the one-timer power play strike:
Then the two-on-one tap in goal:
The off the faceoff hat trick tally:
And lastly, the getting to the dirty area goal:
“He’s always got it. He’s such a talented player, he’s dangerous on every single play regardless of where he is or where he gets the puck,” said Marchand. “Gotta make sure you do your job on him, because if not, he’ll find himself in scoring position.”
It was a day of style for Pastrnak. From his salmon colored suit, to his daily pancakes and eggs breakfast, to his four-goal performance, Pastrnak gave a family-friendly TD Garden crowd much to be excited about.
“I mean, he’s been real good for us. We’ve needed it, we’re not getting the balance scoring yet,” head coach Bruce Cassidy said following the win. “Got some nice looks from Marchy [Marchand] too, but he’s going to the spots he needs to, to score those goals. Their chemistry is on now, it was off a little bit earlier, didn’t play a lot. We talked about that, we weren’t going to play them a lot. Now they’re fine.”
Pastrnak’s 38 goals last season was one of the many bright spots for the Bruins a season ago, but after an up and down performance in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Pastrnak hopes he can be better than he was last year.
He’s off to a good start.
“For me it's a new year started, new season, just trying to be a better player than last year. And that's my biggest focus, you know, every year coming to the season is just, obviously want to be a little bit better than the year before, and, that's what I'm working on,” added Pastrnak.
Pastrnak’s four goals Monday pushes him to six for the season, one behind James Neal’s league-leading seven.
“It’s pretty special, he’s got that talent and that instinct, but he also wants to be a difference maker and he gets to the, I guess call it dirty areas,” said linemate Patrice Bergeron. “It’s not easy to get to the net all the time and he does, finds a way. So it’s pretty impressive.”
Speaking of impressive, a simple decision thanks to a new rule led to Pastrnak’s third tally of the afternoon.
The goal came after a series of icings by the Ducks.
But, as part of the NHL’s new set of rules, the non-icing team can choose which side of the ice the ensuing faceoff is to take place. The Bruins decided to drop the puck on the opposite side of where the icing occurred. A bounce the Bruins way off the draw landed on the stick of Pastrnak and into the Ducks’ goal.
“It was Butchie’s [call],” said Bergeron. “[We] lost three [faceoffs] in a row there, wasn’t happy with it. We tried to switch things up and got a lucky bounce, we’ll take it.”
The Bruins will take the lucky bounces and the Pastrnak goals as well.
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