Boston Bruins: Ranking David Pastrnak’s career hat-tricks
The Boston Bruins’ top line have started this new campaign with a bang, not least David Pastrnak.
Having had a less than stellar Stanley Cup Final last season, Boston Bruins fans were less than impressed with David Pastrnak heading into this new season.
However, he’s been shaking off any doubters; first with a hat-trick in the final pre-season outing against the Chicago Blackhawks and now grabbing all four goals in the Boston Bruins’ fifth win of the year, a 4-2 victory over the Anaheim Ducks.
His hat-trick against the Ducks marks the sixth time (fifth in the regular season) in his short NHL career that he has managed to net three or in this case more goals in a game.
We’re just 6 games into the new Boston Bruins season and after yesterday’s game, David Pastrnak is flying high on 6 goals and 4 assists. That has him in the company of guys like Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid, Patrik Laine and Leon Draisaitl right at the top of the scoring leaderboard.
In pure goal-scoring terms, only James Neal has done better thus far; since moving across to the Edmonton Oilers this summer, he has 7 goals in just 5 games; suddenly the trade that sent former Boston Bruin, Milan Lucic to the Flames looks very impressive!
Anyhow, back to David Pastrnak; he’s once again proving amazing value for money with the Boston Bruins having him under contract for a measly $6.66 million per season for three more years after this one.
Considering the cost of the guys he currently holds company with on the scoring charts, you’d safely say it’s an absolute bargain contract.
His prowess scoring hat-tricks over the past year or so has been impressive; we rank them based on the goals themselves, the importance of the game and what else he offered on the day:
March 27, 2019 versus New York Rangers
It’s hard to rate this lowest of all David Pastrnak’s hat-tricks, especially as he came away not only with 3 goals but also 2 assists for a five-point night.
However, given the lack of real importance this game held, what with the New York Rangers clearly committed to trialling their youth en-route to a Draft Lottery pick.
Add in that the Stanley Cup Playoffs bracket for the Atlantic Division had been all but set in stone since January, it’s fair to say the game had somewhat of a forgone conclusion.
This was his third hat-trick of the season though and thus deserves some definite plaudits.
The first goal was a snipe from the the face-off dot on the left after some very controlled setup on the power-play. One of those ‘bread and butter’ type goals you expect to be scored nine times out of ten, though this was against Henrik Lundqvist, so there’s never any guarantees.
His second goal came on the back of some strong work from Jake Debrusk, who ensured he gained the zone before sliding the puck across suitably late to leave Pastrnak with a gaping net. He made no mistake in burying the puck home to give the Boston Bruins a 2-1 lead.
A power-play led to the third goal, a strong shot from the point that ended up just squeaking by the Rangers goalie, who initially looked to have stopped it with his body. Unfortunately for Lundqvist, it took the deflection off and past him, ending up in the net.
With David Pastrnak also assisting on two more goals as the Bruins routed the Rangers 6-3, it’s safe to say it was a memorable night and at marked the first time a Boston Bruins player had tallied three or more hat-tricks in a season since Cam Neely did so in the 1987-88 season.
November 10, 2018 versus Toronto Maple Leafs
Any hat-trick against the Maple Leafs deserves a decent mention. Not least one that where we dominated them 5-1.
David Pastrnak not only came away from this one with the two power-play markers, one of which was the game-winning goal, but his assist also ensured a four-point night.
Pastrnak’s first of the night came on the back of an aggressive zone entry and creating pressure even when the puck skipped on him. He then remained in the zone with Patrice Bergeron making the puck retrieval and sliding a perfect pass that he went bar-down on to beat Garret Sparks in the Leafs’ net.
The goal was a real momentum-killer for a Maple Leafs team that had actually looked impressive in the first period and seemed a chance despite entering the break 1-0 down. A goal just six minutes into the second period put paid to the idea of a possible comeback.
His second was simply a case of gaining position on his defenseman on the power play; copping a bit of aggression from the Leafs’ penalty-killers at Sparks’ far post to ensure he was in the perfect spot to slot Bergeron’s pass across the crease home to make it 3-0.
Pastrnak took the puck into the offensive zone down the left wing on his third marker, making the a pass before receiving it back as he drifted just past the face-off dot and blasting it home for a second power-play goal of the night and the one that sent hats raining down onto the TD Garden ice surface.
November 13, 2018 versus Detroit Red Wings
This comes in as a higher-ranked hat-trick, not because of the opposition; in fact, using that as the rule, you’d rank the Toronto hat-trick above this. However, what makes this one stand out that little more is the fact is was David Pastrnak’s second hat-trick in 4 days!
Goal number one in this one was a beauty with Pastrnak taking control of the puck in his own zone, beating Dylan Larkin and freezing the rest of their defense before putting the puck in the top-right corner on Jonathan’s Bernier’s glove-side.
Number two is the exact power-play setup we’ve seen time and again with David Pastrnak; the puck is played around the zone before finding it’s way to the Czech winger playing his off-side, who is able to blast it home, top-right.
This one was an extra special power-play goal for Pastrnak though, marking his 100th career NHL goal.
Capping this hat-trick was a breakaway chance with David Pastrnak and Brad Marchand creating a two-on-one opportunity. Playing a perfectly-timed one-two pass, they managed to shift the goalie off-balance enough for goal number three for Pastrnak to slide by Bernier’s left-hand pad.
The Boston Bruins eventually took the game 8-2, so safe to say it wasn’t the best night for the Red Wings, but Pastrnak wasn’t complaining! Career goals 99, 100 and 101; a hat-trick on a night and first star for the game. All in a day’s work!
March 13, 2018 at Carolina Hurricanes
Sometimes it’s the scoreline that makes it memorable; in this case, that was exactly why we rank Pastrnak’s hat-trick in Carolina as his third best. On the road, the Boston Bruins came from behind to take away a 6-4 victory.
This would likely rank higher if it weren’t for the fact one of the goals that David Pastrnak grabbed was an empty-netter, though he did of course also grab the game-winning goal on the power-play.
Heading into the last ten minutes of this game, the Boston Bruins were 4-1 down and seemed likely to be leaving Raleigh with nothing to show for their efforts. A goal from Matt Grzleyck gave them some belief with just 9 minutes left and that;’s when Pastrnak got to work.
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First keeping the puck on-side at the blue line before managing to trickle it to his buddy Marchand, who sent it straight back to him to rifle up top glove-side on the Carolina goalie. 4-3, game on!
Danton Heinen evened the scored just seconds later and from here it was time for the Czech winger to round out an eventful night; the combined time for the Bruins to tally the three comeback goals by the way; 1 minute 17 seconds.
Justin Faulk‘s clumsy clearance over the glass was all the Boston Bruins needed with 3 minutes left, smelling blood in the water with Pastrnak netting the game-winning goal from his favorite power-play spot; the left wing face-off dot.
He rounded out his hat-trick on the empty net, managing to punt the puck home from the red line despite pressure from a Carolina defenseman.
October 14, 2019 versus Anaheim Ducks
The latest in David Pastrnak’s line of hat-trick heroics rates as his second-best, primarily due to the fact that all four of the markers in the 4-2 win were scored by our favourite Czech winger.
We even saw fit to see Pastrnak as our MVP for the game, such was the manner in which he took the bull by the horns and ensured that we took the win.
It took a whole 7 seconds of power-play time before he was lined up in his usual spot, near the left-hand face-off dot. Of course from here, it’s almost always guaranteed to be hitting the bag of the net. No different on this occasion; 1-0 Bruins!
Can't stop, won't stop.
— NHL (@NHL) October 14, 2019
That's an @Enterprise hatty (plus one) for David Pastrnak (@pastrnak96)! pic.twitter.com/Vaf3vdRGua
Goal number two was more strong work from Brad Marchand than from Pastrnak himself; Marchand followed the Ducks defenseman into his zone, forcing a turnover which he was able to dish across to her teammate who calmly slotted home into a gaping net.
The goal that sent hats to the ice surface was actually a slightly lucky one; the puck rebounding off a Ducks player after a face-off win. However, it still took David Pastrnak being there on the doorstep to pick it and fire it past John Gibson in the Anaheim net.
He rounded out the game with a second power-play marker; Marchand again was the provider, from Pastrnak’s usual left-hand location. On this occasion, number 88 had pushed hard towards the net and it was an easy tap home after a perfectly weighted pass.
April 14, 2018 versus Toronto Maple Leafs
This one tops the list as the only of David Pastrnak’s hat-tricks to have been scored during the play-offs. Not only that, it was against the Toronto Maple Leafs; always a satisfying feeling!
Finally, factor in that the hat-trick only made up half of his point production for the night; he also grabbed three assists. Not a bad way to wrap up Game 2 of the first round!
Bruins winger David Pastrnak was all smiles after netting a hat trick to go along with three assists in Game 2 vs. the Maple Leafs on Saturday. 🍝🍝🍝 FULL Presser: https://t.co/l65qsddkle pic.twitter.com/lG6I1XGHRp
— NESN (@NESN) April 15, 2018
His opening goal was a thing of beauty, picking up the puck with his back to net, spinning around to beat the back-checking Leafs, all the while controlling a bouncing puck perfectly before slotting it past Frederik Andersen.
By the time the Boston Bruins’ fourth goal went in, Andersen had already been chased from the Leafs’ net; a first period goalie change no less.
It wasn’t until the third period before Pastrnak got another puck in the net, though he had played a role in plenty of the scoring. Marchand had a great breakaway chance that was stopped, but the rebound fell neatly behind the net to Pastrnak who was able to get out in front and rifle it to McElhinney’s right, stretching the scoreline to 6-2.
Pastrnak’s third and the Bruins’ seventh saw him control the puck behind himself as he skating near the crease, bring it forward between his legs, before putting it home and seeing the ice showered with hats!
Easily the most satisfying of his career hat-tricks!!
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