BOSTON — The first night of his NHL career — Monday, November 24, 2014 — David Pastrnak shared the ice with long-forgotten Boston Bruins teammates such as Alex Kohkhlachev, Carl Soderberg and Matt Bartkowski.
Who could have possibly known that the 18-year-old winger from the Czech Republic, who played less than eight minutes that night in a 3-2 home loss to the Penguins, would become one of the purest and most natural goal scorers in the 100-plus years of the Bruins organization?
The 400th marker of his career, coming just 49 seconds into the second period of Tuesday night’s home game against Toronto, was pure Pastrnak. Sent in alone on Maple Leafs goalie Dennis Hildeby, he went forehand-backhand and back to his forehand, tucking the puck by the pretzeled netminder’s left skate to give his team a 4-1 lead.
It was his 26th goal scored against the Buds in 34 regular season games — plus another 12 in 21 playoff contests, none better than the Game 7 overtime dagger to beat their downtrodden neighbors to the north in 2024. He scored his 401st on the power play in the third.
Raising his stick aloft in his left hand Tuesday, Pastrnak’s smile beamed wide as teammate Fraser Minten greeted him first with a warm hug. Morgan Geekie, whose center ice re-direction of Charlie McAvoy’s pass sprung No. 88 for the goal, g came next while the rest of the Bruins poured off their bench and on the TD Garden sheet to congratulate the right winger.
The home crowd, ever mindful that they get to root for one of the game’s purest goal scorers, cheered long and lustily.
Pastrnak became the sixth player to score 400 goals as a member of the Black-and-Gold, joining Hall of Famers Johnny Bucyk (545) and Phil Esposito (459), former linemates and future Hall of Famers Patrice Marchand (427) and Brad Marchand (422), and should-be Hall of Famer Rick Middleton (402).
With nine goals in 18 games, Pastrnak will pass Middleton in short order. He could catch his former Perfection Line mates, Marchand and Bergeron, before the season is over should he remain healthy and in keeping with his lamplighting prowess of the last nine seasons, where he’s averaged .055 goals per game.
With Washington’s 900-goal man Alex Ovechkin forever linked with hammering home power play one-timers from the off-wing circle, Pastrnak has made a pretty nice living for himself doing the same. Like Ovi, he’s a right-handed shot who can get rid of the puck the instant it touches his blade, having scored exactly one-fourth (125) of his goals on the man advantage.
But the gregarious 6-foot winger, who has put on 20 pounds of muscle since coming into the league, is not a one-trick pony. Pastrnak has more career helpers (454) than goals and is coming off of back-to-back 63-assist seasons. Knowing he’s a target of every big-bodied and physical defenseman the Bruins go up against, he’s learned that drawing attention to himself before wheeling a pass to an open teammate can often result in great scoring chances for his team.
The 2019-20 Rocket Richard Trophy recipient after leading the league with 48 goals in that COVID-shortened campaign, Pastrnak has put up 106 points or more in each of the last three seasons. While his team has certainly lost some firepower over the last three seasons, his scoring touch has not faltered.
Owner of 65 game-winning goals and a dozen overtime strikes, he can score on dekes, slapshots, wrist shots, backhands, quick drives to the net, picking up rebounds, and of course on the man advantage. (Interestingly, he’s never scored a shorthanded goal in his NHL career).
Originally taken with the 25th overall pick in June 2014 NHL Draft out of Södertälje SK in Sweden’s second division — Peter Chiarelli, the Boston general manager who drafted him, said they were “fortunate to get him at 25” — has now spent more time wearing his iconic No. 88 Boston sweater than any other player on the current roster.
Knowing what we now know, Pastrnak would be one of the top two selections in a re-draft from that class, with only Edmonton superstar Leon Draisaitl having potted more goals (409), assists (565) and points (974) than Pastrnak while playing in 33 more regular season games.
Whether or not the Bruins can sustain their current run of good fortune, where they surprisingly sit second in the Atlantic Division standings behind Montreal, Pastrnak is still very much in the halcyon days of his goal-scoring career. No other NHL player has scored more times than Pastrnak (39) since January 1st of this year. (Second on that list? Geekie, with 36).
While he’s not perfect — his defense has improved, but he’s not a complete three-zone skater by any stretch — he is unquestionably Boston’s best, and most important player, one in the third year of an 8-year deal paying him an average of $11.25 million a season, commensurate with other top goal scorers in the league.
Now he’s got one of the league benchmarks for scoring excellence on his resume before his 30th birthday.
Phil Stacey, the Executive Sports Editor of The Salem News, covers the Boston Bruins for CNHI Sports Boston. Contact him at pstacey@salemnews.com and follow him on X @PhilStacey_SN
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it was awesome we all knew it was coming sooner than later he’s a special palyer, and w’re luckey we get to see that day in and day out