B’s winger David Pastrnak is struggling and has scored in just one of his last 12 games
With just under two minutes left in the Bruins’ shootout win over the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday, the stars were aligning for David Pastrnak to be the hero.
While Pastrnak found his way to a sweet spot at the left side of the Buffalo net, Kevan Miller carried the puck down low on the right side before delivering a beautiful backdoor pass for Pastrnak to pump in his patented one-timer.
But before the 2,000-plus Garden fans could erupt in joy, something strange happened. Or to be more precise, nothing happened. Pastrnak simply flubbed it.
That has been the case more often than not the last few weeks for Pastrnak as his bouncy, high-energy game has for some reason receded from view. In 11 of his past 12 games, Pastrnak, who shared the Rocket Richard Trophy with Alex Ovechkin with 49 goals last season, has failed to find the back of the net. He snapped a five-game goal-less streak with two tallies in the B’s wild 7-5 win over the Penguins on April 3, but that did not break the dam for him. He’s since gone a half-dozen games without a tally.
He seems particularly betwixt and between on the one-timer. It’s not a weapon he had in his tool kit when he arrived in Boston, but through a lot of work he’s made it his bread and butter. But he’s been going awfully hungry lately. If he’s not whiffing, it seems the puck is in his skates or his weight is on the wrong foot when the puck arrives.
The one-timer hasn’t been the only thing wrong with Pastrnak the last couple of weeks. Puck management and not moving his feet have been issues as well. But coach Bruce Cassidy saw what he hopes was the light at the end of the tunnel in the 3-2 shootout win.
“I thought he actually played harder ( Tuesday) night. Was
around the puck more, made some plays to the front of the net. But you’re right, he’s misfired on a few,” said Cassidy. “Only he can answer (why it’s happening), really, but from my perspective, I guess maybe it’s because he hasn’t scored in a while, he sees some net, he’s rushing it and his timing’s off, trying to get it off faster than the puck speed allows him to. He’s had some good looks, some good shots that the goalie’s made saves on, so sometimes you start pressing. Sometimes it’s a bit of puck luck, it doesn’t sit flat for you. Other times, you’re just off. It could be any of those things. But as long as he keeps going to the net and shooting and that line generates offense, I think he’ll
come out of it and be fine. But yes, it is one of his hallmark attributes and we’d like to see him start hitting them clean and get rewarded for it. But I do believe he’ll come out of it.”
In the midst of Pastrnak’s slump, Cassidy moved him down to David Krejci‘s line. It didn’t flip any switches. Now, especially with the addition of Taylor Hall and his placement with Krejci and Craig Smith, Cassidy has re-committed to the Brad Marchand–Patrice Bergeron-Pastrnak unit, something most observers likely thought would have happened at some point even without Hall, given its long history of success.
And as he alluded to, Cassidy got the sense that Pastrnak is on the right track.
“I thought ( Tuesday) night he was,” said Cassidy. “I thought offensively our whole group generated well. Again, it’s finishing. I thought (Charlie) Coyle and Jake (DeBrusk) both had some good looks for that line. Smitty scores, Krejci scores, so that line got their looks. Bergy had a few and, again, Pasta had a few. For me, it’s a matter of time if they keep generating.”
With only 16 games left and the fifth-place Rangers getting hot, there’s not a whole lot of time for Pastrnak to get going.
Rask to return
Tuukka Rask, who has played only one period of hockey since suffering an apparent back injury March 7, is expected to make his return on Thursday to start a twogame set against the Islanders. Cassidy said a lot of factors will go into how Rask’s time in net is apportioned the rest of the way — his health, getting his game up to speed, the need to win games down the stretch.
With Jaroslav Halak still on the COVID protocols list, Jeremy Swayman remained in Boston with Rask while Daniel Vladar practiced with the Providence Bruins on Wednesday.
Impressed with the poise and performance of Swayman since he was called up from Providence, Cassidy said he could foresee the rookie finding a bigger role down the stretch.
“I don’t have a crystal ball,” said Cassidy. “I don’t know what’s going to happen in three weeks, I don’t know how Jaro’s going to recover once he’s off the COVID list. How’s Tuukka’s time off going to treat him? Is it going to treat him well and he finds his game quickly or is he going to take a while? So there’s a lot of questions that go into it. But we haven’t ruled (Swayman) out as being the guy who could see some extra starts that we didn’t anticipate. That’s just performance-related.”