With the Boston Bruins preparing to trade Loui Eriksson any day now, the B’s need other players to step up. In my last article, I talked about how players like David Pastrnak had to step up to cover the loss in production. Pastrnak certainly stepped up last night for the Black and Gold, putting in the first two goals and earning himself a sentence in the Bruins history book with the B’s 5-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
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Pastrnak earned his place in the B’s history book by drawing a penalty shot late in the first period. Pastrnak had himself a partial breakaway on the Penguins but when he was chopped down by Derrick Pouliot, he was awarded a penalty shot. Pastrnak’s shot on goal was a thing of beauty, beating Marc-Andre Fleury gloveside to give the Bruins the first goal of the night with four minutes left in the period.
With that goal, David Pastrnak became the youngest player in Bruins history to score on a penalty shot. The Bruins are now 3-for-3 on penalty shot attempts this season.
“All I tried to do was put the puck in the net,” Pastrnak said of his first goal after the game. “Then I had a little speed, and I had to stop because I didn’t think I would be able to make the shot from all the speed — so I stopped and shot it five-hole, and it went in.”
Pastrnak finished with two goals, seven shots on net, and a sentence in the history books. That was good enough for him to win First Star of the Game honors. The 19-year old has cleaned up his game and has played increasingly better hockey since coming back from World Juniors. The confidence is there, the skill set is maturing, and he’s becoming exactly what the Bruins need right now.
“He’s been good for a while — I don’t think it’s tonight,” said Bruins head coach Claude Julien of Pastrnak’s game. “I’ve liked his game now for probably the last three, four . Again, he’s come off a major injury and he’s had to catch up with the rest of the guys, and it takes time. At the beginning he really looked like he was having a tough time, but right now he’s certainly shown that he’s getting better and feeling more and more confident.
“To me, tonight, he was the guy for all three periods that I thought skated really well for us.”
The young forward received praise from his teammates as well for his game play last night. Bruins forward Brad Marchand (who has the other two penalty shot goals this season) was impressed with his young Czech-born teammate’s play.
“He’s playing phenomenal right now, and that’s what we need from him,” said Marchand who tallied his personal best 31st goal of the season last night. “He did a great job stepping up tonight, and when he plays like that, it’s exciting, with his speed and skill and the opportunities he created. So it’s great to have him playing like that.”
If Pastrnak can continue this type of play, than the Bruins won’t have to worry so much when they trade Eriksson later this week.