It is official opening night for the National Hockey League, and the Boston Bruins faced off with the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C.
The teams went scoreless through the first period, and who else would get the Bruins on the scoreboard, as well as opening up the scoring for the Black and Gold?
None other than David Pastrnak.
David Pastrnak - Goal Scoring Machine
Pastrnak scored the first goal of opening night at 12:07 in the second period. Pastrnak had a few different streaks going before he scored the goal. He would pick up two more points during the third period of the game.
It just made sense that Pastrnak opened the scoring on opening night, as he was the team's leading goalscorer last season, tallying 43 goals and 63 assists for 106 points. It was the third consecutive season with scoring 100 or more points, as well as his fourth consecutive 40-plus goal season.
Entering the night, Pastrnak was tied with David Krejci for the third most points(14) in season-opening games. Only two Bruins had more points, Ray Bourque(30) and Johnny Bucyk (17). This goal put David Pastrnak in third for most points at 15 during season-opening games.
There were even more stats that Pastrnak tied and joined after his first period goal, as well as the primary assist he got in the third period to set up Elias Lindholm with his goal to put the Bruins up 2-1.
He tied Ray Bourque with nine goals during season-opening games, just behind Cam Neely, who has 12 season-opening game goals. With the assist in the third period, Pastrnak has earned points in the last five season-opening games dating back to the 2021-22 season, tying with Bobby Orr for the team's fourth longest streak.
It is good to see Pastrnak starting up right where he left off, as there was an issue with tendinitis during training camp, which had fans worried that he would miss some time. He only missed the start of training camp, and was able to join the team on September 22.
Pastrnak ended the night tied with Johnny Bucyk at 17 season-opening points, as after his goal, he tallied two assists in the other 2 goals scored by the Black and Gold.
This is just the start for Pastrnak, and it will be interesting to see how much he will contribute to the scoring once again this season.