Boston Bruins
“He does it his way, right? I can’t really compare him — maybe [Alex] Ovechkin a little bit.”
You couldn’t have penned a more fitting script for David Pastrnak’s 400th career goal.
The venue? TD Garden, in front of a raucous crowd of nearly 20,000 fans.
The manner? A sweet set of dangles as the unchallenged forward tucked the puck past the goal line.
The opponent? The Maple Leafs — a team that Pastrnak has doled out plenty of misery against over the years (35 goals, 68 points in 54 career games, including postseason play).
And the result? A stream of black-and-gold sweaters embracing Pastrnak out on the ice — and the Bruins eventually leaving the frozen sheet with a 5-3 win over the Leafs.
“It was very special,” Pastrnak said of his teammates embracing him on the ice after he lit the lamp just 49 seconds into the second period. “I did not expect it. I didn’t even know it’s allowed, honestly, for 400 goals. I was worried that we were gonna get a penalty.
“I think that’s exactly when it hit me, when the guys came [out]. Obviously I’m very humble guy. And coming from where I’m came from — if you told me that when I joined this league [I’d score 400], I wouldn’t believe you.”
In Boston’s seventh win in a row — their longest win streak since their record-setting campaign in 2022-23 — Pastrnak led the charge for a Bruins team that has continued to defy expectations after trudging through a six-game losing skid in October.
Boston’s top scorer tallied both goals 400 and 401 on Tuesday against his team’s Original Six foe, capping off Boston’s scoring surge with a power-play tally at 9:48 in the third period of play.
Pastrnak is now sixth in franchise history with his 401 goals, sitting just one beyond Rick Middleton (402) for fifth place. The skilled winger could surpass his former teammates in both Brad Marchand (422) and Patrice Bergeron (427) and move into third place by the end of this season.
“He’s only 29,” Marco Sturm said of Pastrnak’s goal-scoring prowess. He has a lot of years left, a lot of goals left. It’s pretty impressive. … 400 goals. I told [assistant coach Chris Kelly], that’s more [goals] than I and you had together … including practice.”
For Pastrnak, the most important part of achieving said scoring milestone was helping his team stack another win on top of their recent resurgence, while also getting the opportunity to score on home ice.
Pastrnak has already secured plenty of individual scoring milestones across his 12 seasons in Boston, but accomplishments like his 60th goal scored during the 2022-23 season also came out on the road against the Flyers on April 9, 2023.
On Tuesday, Pastrnak was able to celebrate in front of a full house on Causeway Street — and alongside a Bruins roster that is buying into Sturm’s preachings.
Plenty has gone right for the Bruins during his seven-game win streak, be it the team’s once-porous defensive structure tightening up, Boston’s dormant power play showing signs of life (3-for-6 on Tuesday, 25.0 percent on the season), and secondary scoring breaking through (10 Bruins posted at least a point in the win).
But, Sturm also believes a Bruins leadership core still feeling the sting of last season’s misery has also held plenty of sway over the reversal of this team’s fortunes over the last few weeks — with Pastrnak leading the charge.
“He does it his way, right? I can’t really compare him — maybe [Alex] Ovechkin a little bit,” Sturm said of Pastrnak’s leadership approach. “I played with Ovi — it was similar, I think, with Pasta. Definitely not like a [Zdeno] Chara or maybe even a [Patrice] Bergeron. Again, that’s the way he is. And the way he’s fun to be around, the guys feel it.”
Sturm’s comments were echoed by his linemate, Morgan Geekie.
Pastrnak’s value to the Bruins might be maximized when their franchise forward is lighting the lamp, early and often.
But, on a Bruins team looking to pen a promising new chapter this season, it should come as little surprise that Pastrnak received that mobbing on the ice after his milestone marker hit twine.
“I think just with the weight that he has, the weight that he carries every day, the superstar that he is — you would never know that just talking to him,” Geekie said of Pastrnak. “Everybody’s an equal to him in here, and we all look up to him, and we all learn every day from how he carries himself off the ice.
“Just with the platform he has — it’d be pretty easy to go above and beyond your means, and kind of know that you’re better than everybody else. But you would never expect that talking to Dave. He’s the one of the best guys that I’ve ever met.”
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