Boston Bruins: Three takeaways from the win over the Blues

The Boston Bruins defeated the St. Louis Blues 3-0 on Saturday night at TD Garden. This was Boston’s seventh win in 10 tries this season.

The game was physical from the opening faceoff. It seemed like both teams had some unfinished business from last season’s series. Zdeno Chara got things going early with a big hit on Oskar Sundqvist, and everybody appeared to follow suit.

In the end, the Bruins emerged with hard-fought victory over the defending champions. The win won’t erase any memories for last year, but it nonetheless is a great step for this year’s Bruins team.

David Pastrnak is up there with Ovechkin and Stamkos on the power play

Every hockey fan knows where Alex Ovechkin and Steven Stamkos play on the power play. They post up high and to the right of the net, ready to blast one-timers by the goalie. And no matter what the penalty killers do, they always seem to score.

Now, toss David Pastrnak into that elite group with Ovechkin and Stamkos.

Pastrnak scored his 11th (!) goal of the season on a first-period power play against St. Louis. From where did he score? You guessed it, high and to the right of Jordan Binnington.

What’s most impressive for Pastrnak is that Binnington got over and was square to the shot. He anticipated the pass, and he looked in position to make the save. Pastrnak, however, still beat him five hole.

The goal shows that no matter what the defenders or the goalie do, Pastrnak will always be a threat to score on the power play. As an opposing player, your only hope is that he misses his mark.

Pastrnak’s presence means that opposing teams have to really worry about putting Boston on the power play. If they do, Pastrnak will make them pay.

We keep on saying that Pastrnak can’t keep this pace up, but game after game he proves us wrong. He’s simply unstoppable right now.