Hats off to Pastrnak, B’s
Top line sparks victory
While the Bruins continue to seek secondary scoring, the first line keeps trying to prove they have nothing to worry about. David Pastrnak picked up a hat trick with an assist, Patrice Bergeron contributed a goal and two helpers, and Brad Marchand had two assists as the Bruins skated past the Maple Leafs, 5-1, last night at the Garden. The B’s handed Toronto its first road loss of the season.
“I think as a line we had a great bounce back game,” Pastrnak said. “Lately we weren’t getting many opportunities in 5-on-5 so it was great to be back. We were happy with our game today. We talked before the game that we had to be better than what we showed the past couple of games.” It was Pastrnak’s second hat trick this season, and the fourth of his career. It also was the Bruins’ third hat trick in eight games on home ice this season. “He’s stronger on the puck,” Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said. “Before he would try his one-on-one moves and get pushed off the puck. I don’t think he had the strength to stay on the battle. … It’s just physical maturity. He’s a little more willing to hang around the front of the net.” It was the Bruins’ fourth game with at least five goals, and came on the heels of an 8-5 loss to Vancouver on Thursday night. Cassidy said following that contest that five goals should be enough to win. Last night, it was. After struggling through the first period, Pastrnak’s first goal at the end of the opening frame seemed to invigorate the offense. The Maple Leafs dominated the opening frame, forcing Jaroslav Halak to make 20 saves in a period for the eighth time in his career and the second time this season. Toronto generated 29 chances while the Bruins had just 10, and six shots on net. All the shots didn’t matter though, except the one to find the net. Pastrnak beat Leafs defender Morgan Rielly and fired from the goal line, where Bergeron tipped it past Garrett Sparks for the 1-0 lead with 3:48 to go in the first. From there, the Bruins forwards tilted the ice toward their offensive zone. “No matter what the situation was, we stuck to it,” Bergeron said. “We kept going forward. I thought it was a great effort.” Following a tremendous cross-ice pass from Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson to create an opportunity, the Bruins started finding their shooting momentum. Bergeron replicated a similar pass from the other side of the ice, connecting with Pastrnak, whose powerful blast made it 2-0 at the 14:14 mark of the second. Pastrnak struck again with 9:26 left in the second on the power play, taking a pass from Marchand on the opposite goal line to make it 3-0 Bruins. Toronto got on the board with 30 seconds left in the second, on the Leafs’ 30th shot of the game. As a Brandon Carlo roughing penalty expired, John Tavares was open on the right circle and fired it past Halak. John Moore drew a high sticking call with 8:32 left in the game that gave the Bruins the man advantage for four minutes. Pastrnak scored his 15th goal of the season, and third of the game, with 14:40 gone in the third, near the end of the power play. Less than 30 seconds later, Joakim Nordstrom got in on the action in front of the net off a David Krejci caused turnover. Pastrnak’s three goals boosted him to eight goals in his last eight games against the Maple Leafs. “I felt good today, it was the first time in a while I felt good,” Pastrnak said. “I don’t know, physically I felt better. I don’t know what I did differently. Dinner maybe, a good breakfast, said a few swear words and went to bed.”