Midway through the third period, David Pastrnak skated down the left side. A two-on-one developed as he entered the zone: Pastrnak with the puck, Patrice Bergeron going hard to the net, and Blue Jackets defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov lying down to take away the pass.
It became just Pastrnak on Sergei Bobrovsky, and No. 88 won handily, ripping a laser that the Columbus goalie barely reacted to.
Absolute RIP from David Pastrnak #NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/Zlf0KS9G6T
— Marina Molnar (@mkmolnar) May 5, 2019After it went in, Pastrnak skated down the boards and put his right hand to his ear, as if calling on critics who have now been silenced. Add in the game-winning goal later in the period and yes, it's safe to say the critics might be pretty quiet right now.
— Marina Molnar (@mkmolnar) May 5, 2019The pressure's been fully on Pastrnak of late. Despite scoring the first goal in a Game 4 win and assisting on one later, Pastrnak's turnovers led to costly scoring chances for the Blue Jackets, which led to extra pressure.
"Obviously like everyone else he was putting pressure on himself," said Bruce Cassidy. "But he's a good kid, pretty even-keeled kid if you get to know him at all. He's always going to fight through it. Not going to disappear. He took a huge hit the other night, bounced back and scored right after that so he's a competitive guy.
"But like a lot of scorers, they need something good to happen for them to start the ball rolling. It happened the other night and it continued tonight."
--GOAL--Pastrnak is BACK!!!!! #NHLBruins- 4#CBJ-3 pic.twitter.com/9eQbLanxwu
— Boston Bruins on CLNS (@BruinsCLNS) May 5, 2019Even his teammates acknowledged the stress Pastrnak's been under of late.
"It was great," said Torey Krug of Pastrnak's performance. "We've been waiting for that for a while. He put a lot of pressure -- I wouldn't call it pressure -- but he put a lot of onus to get himself out of the funk and we need him to win hockey games and that showed tonight."
Tuukka Rask -- who's been the one bailing out Pastrnak of late -- was happy to see the right-winger score two goals.
"It was awesome," said Rask. "He was buzzing. They've been playing him hard and not giving him any time and space, and it's tough. When you're a player who wants the puck and wants those chances, it's not easy and when everybody is on you all the time on the ice, not giving you any room, but he's the kind of player when he gets that room, he's going to make them pay, and today he did."
Ironically enough, Pastrnak's been showing up on the scoresheet. His two goals on Saturday night gave him four goals and five points in his last four games. Game 5 was his fourth multiple-point game of these playoffs. To many, even with those numbers, the Pastrnak of late has felt like more of a negative on the ice than a positive.
But on Saturday night, there wasn't anyone who could argue he was a detriment.
Along with scoring a key third goal and then the game-winner with 1:28 left on the clock, Pastrnak cycled the puck well in the offensive zone, looked like he belonged on the first power play unit, and skated the puck up ice with ease.
Despite playing his best game of the series, Pastrnak didn't look at it as an alleviation.
"I mean not really," he said when asked if this game was a sense of a relief. "Obviously it's nice to score goals but at the same time I always try to have my way, had a good game as a line, picked each other up when it's the most needed."
If Game 5 really was the turning point Pastrnak needed to jumpstart his game on and off the scoresheet, Krug put his future impact best.
"If we can get that consistency factor out of him, we're a scary team."
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