Pastrnak nets Nos. 40, 41 as Bruins defeat Senators
David Pastrnak had already scored twice, and with the Ottawa Senators’ net empty, a third was within reach.
The Bruins forward passed up the chance at a hat trick — and the league lead in goals — and fed the puck to teammate David Krejci, whose family was at the game for a celebration honoring his 1,000th career NHL game.
“That was my only goal,” said Pastrnak, who scored twice to lead Boston to a 3-1 victory over Ottawa on Monday. “I was looking for him all game.”
Linus Ullmark stopped 30 shots in the Bruins’ fourth straight victory. Jake Debrusk also scored for Boston.
Pastrnak broke a secondperiod tie to pass the 40goal mark for the third time in his career, and added another goal in the third for No. 41. Edmonton’s Connor Mcdavid leads the league with 42 goals.
With the Bruins in the Ottawa zone and no goalie in net in the final minute, Pastrnak was looking for Krecji.
“It just says a lot about the character that (Pastrnak) has as a human being, and understanding it was a big night for Krech,” said Debrusk, who returned Saturday after missing 17 games with a broken leg. “He’s in position to get a hat trick and he still dishes it to Krech. It’s pretty cool.”
Claude Giroux scored and Kevin Mandolese stopped 29 shots for the Senators, who were playing back-toback games; they beat St. Louis on Sunday. Ottawa had won its previous two games against Boston this season.
It remained that way until the Bruins had two good scoring chances late in the second.
The first came when Pavel Zacha went crashing into Mandolese and lost control of the puck. A review showed that it never crossed the goal line. On the ensuing faceoff, Charlie Mcavoy found Pastrnak to the goalie’s left and Pastrnak sent the puck high into the corner of the net.
Midway through the third, Pastrnak drifted down the ice while his teammates fought to gain control in their own zone. Finally, Mcavoy chipped the puck free from one knee and it made it to Pastrnak, who had a 20-foot lead on the nearest defender.
“He beat three guys with one pass,” said Pastrnak, who skated in on Mandolese, switched to his backhand at the last minute and then slid it through the goalie’s pads.
FLYERS 4, FLAMES 3 >> Wade Allison scored the gamewinner and fellow rookie Samuel Ersson made 32 saves to maintain his perfect record as Philadelphia beat Calgary to snap a fourgame losing streak.
Ersson, 23, is the eighth goaltender in NHL history to start his career 6-0-0.
“It’s fun, it’s special, but I’m just trying to make my spot here on the team,” said the 23-year-old Ersson, who was a fifth-round pick of the Flyers in 2018. “Every game is huge for me here. I really have to focus on taking it game by game.”
ISLANDERS 4, PENGUINS 2 >>
Bo Horvat and Anders Lee scored less than two minutes apart in the third period as New York rallied to beat Pittsburgh. Islanders star
Mathew Barzal missed the game and is out indefinitely with a lower-body injury.
JETS 6, RANGERS 3 >> Mark Scheifele scored twice and Connor Hellebuyck made 50 saves as Winnipeg topped New York.
The Rangers lost in regulation for the first time since Jan. 19.