David Pastrnak leads way for Bruins in 4-1 win over Senators
By Ty Anderson, 985TheSportsHub.com
On the back of top-line winger David Pastrnak’s two goals and four points, the Boston Bruins put an end to their three-game losing streak and ended their four-game road trip on a high note by way of a 4-1 final over the Ottawa Senators.
Boston’s beloved No. 88 opened the game’s scoring at the 11:17 mark of the first period when he was a late addition to the Danton Heinen and David Krejci pairing. Hooked up on a feed from Heinen, Pastrnak drove to the middle and simply sniped a goal through the Senators’ Craig Anderson for his ninth goal of the season.
The beneficiary of what felt like a billion questionable calls — including two against Zdeno Chara and an odd tripping penalty to Noel Acciari for what felt like a straightforward body check — the Senators finally capitalized when a Thomas Chabot point through got through traffic (and appeared to clip Patrice Bergeron) on the way through Tuukka Rask.
But given a five-on-three advantage before the period’s end, David Krejci capitalized on a bizarre move of sorts from Anderson, and re-established the Boston lead before the start of the second intermission. Pastrnak, of course, had the primary assist.
The 22-year-old provided more of the same just 21 seconds into the third period, as he fed Bergeron for Boston’s third goal of the night. But the electric wing saved his best for last on what was a downright incredible team-up with Brad Marchand.
Marchand making jockstraps RIP pic.twitter.com/hKNMEsIzbg
— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) October 24, 2018
My word.
The Bruins also got solid goaltending from the 31-year-old Rask, too, as he finished with stops on all but one of 39 shots thrown his way, including a staggering 15 saves that came with the Bruins on the penalty kill.
In front of Rask, third-year pro Brandon Carlo played his best game of the season (something you could have said about Carlo on Saturday prior to the overtime showing), with two goal line saves and a team-leading 28:28 of time on ice in the victory.
The victory did not come without yet another personnel loss for the B’s, though, as rookie defender Urho Vaakanainen took an elbow to the face from Mark Borowiecki in the first period and was ruled out of play with a concussion after just 5:46 of action.
The Bruins are already down defensemen Charlie McAvoy (undisclosed) and Kevan Miller (hand), meaning the Bruins will likely have to reach deeper into the Providence pool by Thursday’s head-to-head with the Philadelphia Flyers. 2015 second-round Jeremy Lauzon is currently the top scoring P-Bruins defender, with one goal and four points in six games, while Cody Goloubef is the most experienced, with 129 games of NHL experience from 2011 through 2017.
Wednesday will be an off day for the Black and Gold.
Ty Anderson is a writer and columnist for 985TheSportsHub.com. He has also been a voting member of the Boston Chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association since 2013. Any opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of 98.5 The Sports Hub, Beasley Media Group, or any subsidiaries. Yell at him on Twitter @_TyAnderson.
