Boston Bruins Romp Over Anaheim Ducks With Pasta Power

32-4-4. That is the Boston Bruins record this season. The 32 is also probably how many millions of dollars per season David Pastrnak should be paid. Ok, that’s a bit of a reach, but seriously, pay the man. Pastrnak added another hat trick to his stat line, along with an assist, in a commanding 7-1 win for the Bruins against the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday night.

The win wraps up a perfect 3-0 west coast swing for the Bruins. On Thursday night, they beat the Los Angeles Kings with a 5-2 win, and the San Jose Sharks on Saturday with a 4-2 win. Against the Ducks, they closed out a perfect swing out west.

Pastrnak’s first goal of the night was his 30th of the season, making him the seventh player in Bruins history to have at least six seasons of 30 goals, with Phil Esposito, Rick Middleton, Johnny Bucyk, Peter McNabb, Cam Neely, and Patrice Bergeron being the others. Jim Montgomery said this about Pastrnak:

“Elite, creative – he’s like an artist the different ways he scores. Everyone talks about the one timers, but he scores off his front foot, his back foot, his backhand, fakes. I would have broke my ankle if I was the goalie in the nets on that breakaway one.”

Pastrnak started the scoring 3:49 into the game, getting goal number 30 of the season to give the Bruins a 1-0 lead, with Pavel Zacha and David Krejci assisting.

Almost exactly six minutes after Pastrnak’s goal, Krejci got in on the fun with his 11th goal of the season to double the lead to 2-0. Trevor Zegras answered back for the Ducks to make it a 2-1 game after the opening period.

Pastrnak made it a 3-1 game with a power play goal in the second period, his second goal of the night.

Just 17 seconds later, number 88 continued to make his case for several bank trucks full of money with another goal, scoring on the breakaway to secure the hat trick on the road.

Then, 6:20 into the third period, Brad Marchand lit the lamp for the Bruins, making it a 5-1 game on goal number 13 for number 63. Hampus Lindholm scored in his return to Anaheim to make it 6-1, with Charlie Coyle capping the scoring with his tenth goal of the season.

Something crazy is happening with this recap. I’m recapping a game that Linus Ullmark didn’t start in. That’s not an indictment on Jeremy Swayman; it was just the luck of the draw. Swayman started and had another outstanding night, making 28 saves on 29 shots to continue a strong run for the young netminder.

Veteran goalie John Gibson got the start in goal for the Ducks, and let’s say he didn’t do as well as Swayman. He got shellacked for seven goals, making 35 saves on the 42 shots he faced.

The Bruins get back in action on Thursday night, taking on the Seattle Kraken in front of the TD Garden Crowd as they go for win number five in a row.