Beefed-up Pasta more productive
BRUINS NOTEBOOK
If David Pastrnak broke out last season, he might be making another leap in his fifth year.
The first-line right winger sparked the Bruins in their home opener yesterday early in the game, charging the net leading to Patrice Bergeron’s first goal.
With two goals and two assists, Pastrnak was a direct contributor to his center’s fourth career hat trick. With a now heavier, more involved game, taking the puck to the net is something he’s still fitting into.
“I don’t know (where it came from) to be honest,” Pastrnak said. “I had a pretty good breakfast with two pancakes and some eggs. So I felt a little heavier driving to the net a couple of times.”
His evolution into an elite-level scorer is something coach Bruce Cassidy hopes continues, along with being an example to the other wingers.
“He’s very responsible,” said Cassidy. “He had a great back check in Buffalo to break up a scoring chance, things like that he’s doing more of. Getting scored on matters to him more. As you get into the league as a young guy, especially as a winger, you’re looking to score a lot, that’s the mentality. We saw it with Jake (DeBrusk) and Danton (Heinen) last year, and now we need to bring it to (Ryan) Donato’s game and (Anders) Bjork’s game. They watch a guy like Pasta, because that’s who they’d like to be.”
Pastrnak’s growth in all facets hasn’t gone overlooked by his linemates. He’s earned time at the point on the power play at times because he handles the puck well, and in other areas, his ability to retain possession and not turn it over has resulted in some of the top line’s success.
“That’s what you get when you play with a guy like Bergy,” said linemate Brad Marchand. “He’s hard on his linemates and expects guys to be accountable, play hard minutes against top lines. You can’t slack off, and we’re starting to see that in his game with the backchecking and defensive side of things. His positioning in the neutral zone and offensive zone. He’s a special player.”
Cassidy talked about moving Pastrnak to the second line to avoid the team becoming topheavy. With the chemistry the first line brings, though, Pastrnak might be keeping his role.
“We know we can always do that. We haven’t yet,” said Cassidy. “And we may never. We’ll see down the road. A game like this, you can see both sides of the argument. They’re too good to break up, yet we relied on them too much tonight.”
Get on the ice, please
The second period featured a mishap by the B’s on an Ottawa goal. Pastrnak didn’t get on the ice with his line when Ryan Dzingel scored for Ottawa with the Bruins having four skaters.
“I went over to Anders to talk about his shift, which I probably should have let that go to one of the assistant coaches,” said Cassidy. “I didn’t realize he (Pastrnak) wasn’t out there. I can’t see the far corner, I thought they switched their line up and the winger went to the wall. Everyone on the bench started yelling ‘Pasta’ when the puck dropped.”
Kuraly contributes
Sean Kuraly struggled in the opening two games on the third and fourth lines, but made a key play yesterday that led to Chris Wagner’s goal.
After Pastrnak kept the puck in the zone, Kuraly fought through two Senators to send a pass to defenseman Charlie McAvoy on the blue line that resulted in Wagner’s tipped goal.
“It was a great pass,” said McAvoy. “You got a two-on-one there and the wingers both kind of closed on him and he gave it out to me and next thing I knew I had a good chunk of room there to get to the middle and get a good shot off.”