Boston Bruins: Can David Pastrnak still make 60 goals this season?
After going five games without a goal, David Pastrnak returning to scoring form as the Boston Bruins took the points against Montreal.
There’s something about playing the Montreal Canadiens that seems to bring out the best in David Pastrnak. Between his 4-goal night earlier in the year and this 3-goal showing, the Boston Bruins know they can always rely upon him against the Canadiens.
In netting a hat-trick on Wednesday night, he draws ahead in the league goal-scoring race with Auston Matthews and Alex Ovechkin; sitting on his own with 41 goals.
Not only that, he becomes the first Boston Bruins player to hit the forty-goal mark since Glen Murray hit 44 back in the 2002-03 season.
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With the 40-goal milestone reached, we’re wondering if he can become the first Boston Bruins player since Phil Esposito in the 1974-75 season (61 goals) to become a member of the exclusive 60 goals or more club.
Also in that season, Phil Esposito was the last Boston Bruins player to record four hat-tricks in a season; a feat that David Pastrnak matched on Wednesday with his second hat-trick against the Canadiens this year!
The consistency with which David Pastrnak has delivered the goods this year and the fact he’s averaging a hat-trick every fourteen games suggests to us there’s another one due before the end of the year.
If David Pastrnak starts to pick up his scoring pace once more, there’s absolutely zero reason not to expect him to at least top fifty goals on the year.
You tend to see a few more penalties handed out this time of the year and with 18 of his goals coming on the power-play, the opportunities are most certainly there.
At his current goal scoring pace, he is trending to fall just short of 60 goals with 57 his projected total for the year. We’re not going to complain looking at that number, but you’d be sure Pastrnak would prefer to join Esposito in the sixty club!
Can he hit that total though; it’s still a big ask. If we still had more fixtures with Montreal left, I’d say he can absolutely pad his tally, but we don’t unfortunately. Teams tend to lock their defensive game down a little more as the season climaxes too; it’s certainly going to be a battle.
However, if we know one thing about David Pastrnak, it’s not to under-estimate him. Being taken 25th overall by the Boston Bruins in 2014, it’s fair to say, he’s always been under-valued by the rest of the league.
Next. Anton Blidh will eventually replace Joakim Nordstrom. dark
It seems only now that they’re waking up to the fact the Boston Bruins have the best right winger in the entire NHL and he’s still only just getting started!