Pastrnak Breaks Out, Power Play Wakes Up in 6-1 Rout of Utah
Okay, Bruins fans, you can all exhale now. The power play is alive! After four games of frustration, the man advantage finally clicked on Thursday night, and our captain led the charge. David Pastrnak scored twice on the power play and added two assists as Boston crushed the Utah Mammoth 6-1 at TD Garden. The Bruins improved to 3-2-0.
How big of a turnaround was it? Boston came into the night 0-for-10 on the power play this season and went 3-for-4. Utah, meanwhile, came in with the best power play in the league and went 0-for-7. Talk about flipping the script.
A fast start
The Bruins came out flying. A strong forecheck led to the opening goal at 10:06 of the first, when Casey Mittelstadt fired a wrist shot from the left face-off dot that beat Sebastian Cossa short side.
Then came the moment we'd been waiting for. At 14:22, on the power play, Pastrnak let a quick wrist shot go from the top of the right circle and it beat a screened Cossa through the five-hole. It was his first goal of the season, and his first goal as captain of the Boston Bruins. You could feel the whole building relax.
Just 89 seconds later, Mason Lohrei grabbed the puck at the offensive blue line, raced down the right side, cut toward the net and snapped a quick shot to the stick side. That made it 3-0 and chased Cossa from the game. Karel Vejmelka came on in relief.
Pasta's not done
In the second period, the power play kept humming. At 4:40, Morgan Geekie floated a gorgeous cross-ice saucer pass, and Pastrnak hammered a one-timer high on the glove side past Vejmelka. Classic Pasta. Geekie got one of his own on the man advantage at 7:57, and then Matthew Poitras made it 6-0 at 14:08 with a wrist shot off a Pastrnak feed.
And here's the thing about Poitras' goal: he'd taken a puck to the face in the first period and needed stitches during intermission. He came back and scored his first goal of the season anyway. That's about as Bruins as it gets. Tough as nails.
Jack McBain scored for Utah in the third period to break up the shutout, but by then the result was long decided.
History for the captain
Pastrnak's two goals tied Brad Marchand for fourth on the franchise's all-time goals list with 422. Let that sink in for a second. And with the four-point night, his 19th of his career, he moved past Adam Oates for eighth-most four-point games in Bruins history. Wearing the C for the first time, that's a pretty special week.
More to love
Jeremy Swayman made 36 saves, which was huge on a night Utah got plenty of power-play chances. Geekie finished with a goal and two assists, all on the power play. And rookie defenseman Frederic Brunet picked up his first NHL point, an assist on Pastrnak's first goal, in just his third career game. Congrats, Freddie.
Our takeaways
The power play is back. Three goals on four chances is exactly what this team needed. The penalty kill was outstanding. Shutting down the league's top power play seven times is no small thing. Captain Pasta delivered. When your best player answers the bell like this, everyone follows.
Philadelphia is up next on Saturday afternoon. Let's keep it going, B's fans. 🐻