David Pastrnak Leading The Way For Boston Bruins

The Boston Bruins are in the middle of a Jekyll-and-Hyde patch right now. Thankfully, the B’s have David Pastrnak to keep the Black and Gold train on the rails right now.

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The Boston Bruins are playing some very frustrating hockey. They can play against the best teams in the league and hammer them one night, and then fall completely flat against some of the worst teams just a few days later. Their consistency is way off and it could be much worse if it wasn’t for their best offensive surprise of the season.

That player is Bruins forward David Pastrnak. The 20-year old Czech winger has been on a tear these last few weeks, and his caliber of play has been nothing but exemplary. His offensive efforts have made a rough situation in Boston look pretty good.

Pastrnak put in both goals for Boston in their most recent 4-2 home loss against the Colorado Avalanche. While the goaltending of Anton Khudobin was the biggest issue that night, the Bruins just seemed flat and listless for most of the game.  It took Pastrnak and his scoring to drag the veteran Bruins back on the ice.

“It was a really smart play,” said Pastrnak of his first goal against the Avalanche. “I told [Schaller] it was a great play by him. He’s a good player, smart, and he made a really good play there.”

Pastrnak was able to put in his second goal just 80 seconds later. The Bruins Bergeron line was key to that score.  Pastrnak’s shot sailed past Avalanche goalie Calvin Pickard and got the Bruins back into the fight. Sadly, ex-Bruin Carl Soderberg shut the door on the B’s with Colorado’s fourth goal of the night.

“He’s been great all year long,” said Marchand. “You see the way he plays. He’s able to make something out of nothing and able to turn around a game in a single play. It’s great to see that he’s doing so well.

“He’s such a great kid and he’s really developed into such a great player over the years. I’m very excited about where he’s going to continue to grow and he’s going to be a big player for us.”

Pastrnak has put in five goals in the last three games and currently has a five game point streak, putting up seven points in that amount of time. At the moment Pastrnak has 18 goals on the season. That’s good enough to be tied for the league lead with Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby. It’s not every day a 20-year old kid gets compared to one of the best players in the game.

“He’s playing with a lot of confidence, he’s skating, and not only that, he’s taking pucks to the net,” said Claude Julien about Pastrnak. “We just have to look at his first goal, he takes it to the net – and I know he didn’t score on the initial try – he stopped, he stayed there and he jumped on his rebound.

Next: Bruins Get Snowed In At Home By Avalanche

“If more guys start doing that, we’re going to get more guys scoring some goals as well. You’ve got to be hungry, you’ve got to want to score, and I think right now he’s one of those guys that really wants to score and every night he’s giving us some goals.”