After being absent for most of the Boston Bruins 1st Round series against the Toronto Maple Leafs, David Pastrnak returned to his usual form in Game 7; scoring the game-winning goal on Saturday evening.
Overall it was a solid series for the winger as Pastrnak ended the 1st round with three goals and two assists, when Boston needed him to close out the series, the winger was a ghost. Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery even publically called out Pastrnak after Game 6.
“Your best players need to be your best players this time of year,” Montgomery said via Boston.com. “I think the effort is tremendous, and they need to come through with some big-time plays and big-time moments. I think (Brad) Marchand has done that in the series. Pasta needs to step up.”
Well step-up Pastrnak did. After a puck was dumped in the attacking zone early on in overtime, the winger pounced on the puck and ended up lifting the game-winning shot into the net. it’s exactly the response that you want from one of your stars.
Looking ahead to the next round, Boston will be facing a tough Florida Panthers squad. After the Bruins’ performance in the opening round, a lot of people will be counting them out, and considering the two sides’ recent history, it is hard to blame them. In the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Panthers physically dominated the Bruins and ended up defeating Boston in seven games. If the B’s don’t want history to repeat itself, they will need the likes of Pastrnak to step up and be a consistent scoring threat.
But for now, Boston can celebrate. They have survived and advanced in large part due to the clutch performance from Pastrnak. Hopefully, he can maintain this level of play in the next round, or else the Bruins could find themselves in some real trouble.
