VANCOUVER — Goal-scoring help is coming. Perhaps by Tuesday, when the Boston Bruins play the Calgary Flames, Oliver Wahlstrom will be in uniform for his new club. Everybody knows that Wahlstrom, claimed off waivers on Saturday, can shoot the puck. Maybe even better than David Pastrnak.
“He’s a great shooter,” said Brad Marchand, who spoke with Wahlstrom before Saturday’s 5-1 win over the Vancouver Canucks. “He has a very, very dangerous shot. He’s almost like a big Pasta the way he can shoot the puck. He’ll be a weapon in that aspect.”
Wahlstrom, however, has washed out with the New York Islanders. He has just two goals. It is not realistic to designate the newest Bruin as an offensive difference-maker.
Pastrnak is.
Entering this year, the No. 1 right wing led the Bruins in goals in six of the seven previous seasons. He is among the NHL’s best at putting pucks in nets.
It hasn’t come as easily for Pastrnak this year. He has just 11, two off Marchand’s team-leading pace.
But Pastrnak exploded for a season-high four points against the Canucks, including three assists. Even in a down year, Pastrnak has the skill to ignite at any time.
“I’m a goal scorer,” Pastrnak said. “So far, I haven’t been this year. I haven’t got the looks. We were struggling a lot on the power play. Now the power play keeps coming last three, four games. It’s going to for sure be better. I always look forward to try to make plays. I don’t mind passes.”
Pastrnak controls the fate of the 2024-25 Bruins, perhaps more than anybody. As the team’s highest-paid player, Pastrnak’s $11.25 million annual compensation underscores his importance. When he makes offense look easy, like he did against the Canucks, Pastrnak can singlehandedly give the Bruins two points — or two more than they had banked after 40 percent of their five-game trip.
“His game is all-around. We all know that,” interim coach Joe Sacco said. “He can score. He can pass, the ability to make plays. Getting him going in the right direction offensively is a huge boost for our team.”
Pastrnak had good legs. So did the rest of the team. After back-to-back slow-moving flops against the Winnipeg Jets and Seattle Kraken, the Bruins played at full sprint on Saturday. They controlled the puck and moved it with purpose.
“We looked fast tonight because we managed the puck well,” Sacco said. “We didn’t put ourselves in spots where we turn the puck over, and now you’re chasing the game back in our end. Everybody benefited from that. Obviously, Pasta led the way tonight.”
Pastrnak got his first assist on Marchand’s power-play goal. He set up the Bruins’ first five-on-five goal of the trip with a rapid pass-out for Morgan Geekie. Before Thatcher Demko could push off the strong-side post, Geekie one-timed the puck home to give the Bruins a 2-0 lead.
Pastrnak added his third helper with another quick feed, this time off the boards, for an in-stride Pavel Zacha. The center made it a 3-0 game after 1:12 of the second period. It was Pastrnak’s 400th career assist.
But Pastrnak is a finisher. He excels at scoring goals not just because of his talent. He is exceptional at reading his surroundings, assessing his options and determining what would be his best route toward scoring.
Case in point: his third-period goal.
During four-on-four play, Charlie McAvoy gained the offensive zone and dropped the puck for Pastrnak. The right wing’s first thought was to put the puck on net. But Pastrnak saw that Demko was out of the crease and aggressively taking away his shot. A shot on goal was a low-percentage choice.
So Pastrnak crossed that off his list. He went to Plan B: a wraparound.
By the time Pastrnak approached the goal line, Demko dropped into the butterfly. That gave Pastrnak even more information that, given his speed, he could execute the wraparound before Demko could recover. Pastrnak was right.
David Pastrnak finds the back of the net for his fourth point of the night! 🔢
📺: @Sportsnet or stream on Sportsnet+ ➡️ https://t.co/4KjbdjVctF pic.twitter.com/3zWu8j2OF8
— NHL (@NHL) December 15, 2024
“I felt like I had some speed,” Pastrnak said. “Usually you need to have a lot of speed to do those wraparounds. It worked out. I obviously looked shot first. But he totally took the strong side of the net away. So I tried the wraparound. It’s nice. I don’t score many of those, honestly.”
The Bruins are 8-4-0 under Sacco. It was their first win for their interim coach against a team currently in playoff position.
Pastrnak helped make it happen.
(Photo of David Pastrnak scoring in the third period: Bob Frid / Imagn Images)
