Pasta dishes up feast
Winger leads way as B’s take Game 1
TAMPA — Right winger David Pastrnak has been the Bruins’ premier scorer and a playmaker in the postseason.
Pastrnak shifted to rainmaker mode with four quality assists in yesterday’s 6-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 1 of the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinals at Amalie Arena. The series resumes here tomorrow night.
The Pastrnak-led B’s top line combined for 11 points, with center Patrice Bergeron netting two goals and an assist while left winger Brad Marchand adding a goal and three assists.
Pastrnak was the catalyst, enjoying his best game since his sixpoint outing (with a hat trick) in the B’s 7-3 win in Game 2 against Toronto. In eight playoff games, Pastrnak leads the Bruins with five goals and 12 assists.
“I think he is just playing what is in front of him and when it is time to shoot he’ll shoot,” said Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy. “He is exploring all his options and I think he’s stronger on the puck now because he has it longer. Now he has the confidence to hang on and absorb these hits or partial hits and make plays.”
Going into the game, the B’s first line was the primary concern of the Tampa coach Jon Cooper. He tried to counter with his trio of Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat and Brayden Point, but Cooper’s plan fell apart in the final two periods.
“You need your best players to be your best players, and clearly that happened for us tonight,” said Cassidy. “It was good for us and our guys finished, but we know over seven games you are not going to have the edge you want.”
Pastrnak’s signature play of the game occurred at even strength 42 seconds into the second period to give the B’s a 2-0 lead. Marchand made a stop at the blue line and fed the puck to Pastrnak at the bottom of the left circle. He forced Tampa goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy to secure the near post before dishing to Bergeron in the slot. The centerman fired the puck inside the far post for his second goal of the playoffs.
“Pasta has always had that vision and I think he’s got a great shot and he uses that well a lot,” said Bergeron. “When he is in a position to make a play more than shooting, he can make those plays. He’s really smart and has that great vision, so I’m not really surprised to see that.”
Pastrnak mans the right point on the B’s first power-play unit, and Rick Nash redirected his one-timer between Vasilevskiy’s pads to give the B’s the game’s first lead with 2:49 left in the first period.
Tampa’s Dan Girardi scored at 2:31 of the second to make it a 2-1 game, but Nash got his second of the night — with Pastrnak picking up another assist — at 12:33 to push the B’s lead back to two.
The Bruins got across-the-board contributions that complemented their first line’s efforts. Goalie Tuukka Rask made 34 saves, including all 11 he faced in the third period.
The Bolts’ second goal, scored by defenseman Mikhail Sergachev on the power play at 13:22 of the second, occurred while Rask was dealing with a broken left skate blade.
Defenseman Charlie McAvoy had two assists, the second of which was a shot from the right point that was redirected by Marchand to give the visitors a 4-2 lead 3:32 into the third period. Marchand set up Bergeron for his second of the game at 10:11. Cooper gambled by pulling his netminder with more than six minutes left, but Jake DeBrusk scored into the empty net to cap the victory.