Last year, David Pastrnak became the first Bruin to score 60 goals in a season since Phil Esposito. This year, he's off to an even hotter start goal-wise through eight games.
Pastrnak scored twice in Saturday's 4-1 win over the Red Wings and now has eight goals in eight games, two more than he had at this point last year.
Pastrnak scoring goals is nothing new, and averaging a goal per game over a three-week stretch isn't a first-time occurrence either. What makes this hot start especially impressive, though, is the fact that there's been so much turnover around him and the Bruins as a whole are still building their offensive game.
Pastrnak no longer has either David Krejci or Patrice Bergeron as his center. The Bruins' new top line with Pavel Zacha centering Pastrnak and Brad Marchand is still developing chemistry, with Zacha still settling into his new, bigger role as first-line center. Boston's power play is just now starting to stack one good-looking man advantage on top of another after an underwhelming first six games.
Just two of Pastrnak's eight goals have come during 5-on-5 shifts with Zacha and Marchand. Only one has come on the power play. His two goals Saturday didn't fall into either bucket.
The first came on a penalty shot after Pastrnak got slashed on a breakaway, one that had been set up by Zacha. Pastrnak moved in slow, threw a little shoulder shimmy, and roofed the puck over a helpless Ville Husso. It was his second penalty-shot goal already, making him the fastest player in NHL history to score two penalty-shot goals in a season.
It was a big goal, as the Red Wings had been making a push in the third period and had pulled within one. In the wake of Thursday's third-period collapse against Anaheim, it was hard not to wonder if it would be déjà vu on Saturday. Pastrnak made sure that wouldn't happen.
His second goal was an empty-netter that sealed the win – a "billiards shot," as NESN play-by-play man Jack Edwards called it, that banked off the boards at center ice and slid right into the cage. Pastrnak admitted after the game that he was just trying to clear the puck and got lucky, but if you believe in the hockey gods, perhaps that luck was a reward for making the right play, something the Bruins didn't do in the same extra-attacker situation on Thursday.
Against the Ducks, the Bruins had no fewer than seven chances to clear the puck of the zone and all but clinch the victory, but either didn't have enough poise to make the right play or tried going for goal instead of making the simple clear. When the puck came to Pastrnak on Saturday, he was poised, didn't get greedy, and made the simple clear – and scored anyways.
Sure, penalty shots and empty-netters might not be the most sustainable ways to score, but Pastrnak's 5-on-5 and power-play scoring are bound to pick up. According to Natural Stat Trick, Pastrnak is actually getting more 5-on-5 scoring chances per 60 minutes so far this season than he did last year. The biggest difference is that he's playing two fewer 5-on-5 minutes per game, due in large part to the fact that several Bruins games have turned into special teams affairs with fewer 5-on-5 minutes for everyone.
On the power play, the Bruins are still figuring out what their best plays are with Zacha replacing Patrice Bergeron in the bumper and James van Riemsdyk taking over the net-front role. Pastrnak's shots are down (from 23.38 per 60 last year to 19.04 this season), and so is his shooting percentage (from 14.75% to 9.09%). It's a pretty safe bet both will rise as Boston starts to figure things out.
In the meantime, Pastrnak is tied for the team lead in power-play assists with three. He picked up another on Saturday, with his seam pass to Marchand setting up a one-timer and a juicy rebound for Zacha to bury.
After finishing second to Connor McDavid in goals last year, Pastrnak is once again right near the top of the leaderboard this season. His eight tie him with Philadelphia's Travis Konecny and Anaheim's Frank Vatrano for second in the league, trailing only Detroit's Alex DeBrincat (9). Pastrnak's 13 points are tied for third.
With the Oilers off to a brutal 1-5-1 start and McDavid a little off his scoring pace from last season, perhaps the door will be open for Pastrnak to make a run at both the Rocket Richard and Hart Trophies this year if he keeps scoring like this.
His immense value to the Bruins has certainly been clear in the early going. He has scored or assisted on exactly half of their goals so far (he had a point on 37.5% of their goals last season, for reference). With so much offseason turnover and with much of the team still finding its way offensively, Pastrnak has remained the constant, reliable scoring threat Boston has needed.
