After call-out by Jim Montgomery, David Pastrnak needs to take over in Game 7
"Your best players need to be your best players this time of year."
The 2023-24 Bruins are not equipped to trade punches with a team like the Toronto Maple Leafs.
When Boston is executing its game plan, it follows a similar script as its Game 4 win against Toronto at Scotiabank Arena — a triumph that feels like weeks ago, given the recent results from Jim Montgomery’s team.
When Boston pushed Toronto to the brink of elimination on April 27, it relied on elite goaltending (24 saves from Jeremy Swayman) and a rigid defensive structure in front of him (27 blocks) to sap away at the Leafs’ high-skilled offense.
The Bruins are at their best when they’re stymying opposing offenses. But down the other end of the ice, a patchwork Boston forward corps inundated with low-cost signings and rookies still has the means of doling out damage.
At least, such is the case when David Pastrnak is operating as Boston’s on-ice cheat code in the offensive zone.
But after potting a goal off the rush in the second period of that Game 4 win, Pastrnak’s impact has waned significantly against Toronto.
It should come as little surprise that Pastrnak’s largely listless play has coincided with another sustained slide from the Bruins – who have seen another 3-1 series edge dissolve into a Game 7 showdown on Causeway Street.
“Your best players need to be your best players this time of year,” Montgomery noted after Boston’s 2-1 loss to Toronto in Game 6 on Thursday. “I think the effort is tremendous, and they need to come through with some big-time plays and big-time moments. I think (Brad) Marchand has done that in the series. Pasta needs to step up.”
Pastrnak is no stranger to turning the Maple Leafs into mulch, especially once the calendar flips to April.
Entering this first-round bout against Boston’s Original Six foe, Pastrnak tallied a whopping 36 points (19 goals, 17 assists) in 28 regular-season meetings with Toronto, along with 19 points (seven goals, 12 assists) over 14 playoff matchups.
The 27-year-old winger is coming off arguably the most impressive regular season of his career (47 goals, 63 assists), especially when factoring in the loss of talent around him.
But that production has not translated over to this series against the Maple Leafs, especially since Boston put Toronto on the ropes after Game 4.
After posting zeroes on the scoresheet with four shots on goal in Boston’s sleepy overtime loss in Game 5, Pastrnak was held to another four shots over 19:53 of ice time with little to show for it in Game 6. In total, Pastrnak has two tallies and four points over six games in this series.
As expected, the Leafs have made a concerted effort to take Boston’s star talent out of the equation as this series has gone on — blocking five of his shot attempts on Thursday while not wasting any opportunity to topple him with a heavy hit.
“Obviously, I think everyone’s frustrated over there,” Tyler Bertuzzi told reporters, per TSN, on Thursday. “We’ve been very good defensively in kind of smothering them and we got to bring that to Game 7.”
Toronto crafting a game plan to limit Pastrnak’s offensive firepower is far from surprising. Still, Pastrnak is one of the few talents in the NHL with the skills to still carve up opposing defenses even when blanketed in the offensive zone.
But be it costly penalties (a four-minute infraction for high-sticking Bertuzzi on Thursday) or lackluster battles along the boards, Pastrnak has labored when it comes to putting his team on the right path toward a series-clinching result.
“He needs to be the dominant player that we’re used to,” Montgomery said of Pastrnak. “He’s doing it in flurries, he’s not doing it as consistently as he did in the regular season. His linemates need to help, too. We’re not as good of an offensive team right now.”
Pastrnak kept things simple when asked Thursday of how he plans to break out of his mid-series slump.
“Maybe I don’t get enough shots,” Pastrnak said. “Maybe I should have a little bit more of a shooting mentality.”
A steady salvo of pucks sailing in against Joseph Woll should bode well for the Bruins’ quiet offense in Game 7 — especially if they’re launched off the stick of Pastrnak. Even if a blistering one-timer from Pastrnak doesn’t sail into twine, a higher shot volume at least opens the door for more rebounds and other Grade-A chances at Woll’s doorstep.
“We gotta find a way, we gotta push through, we gotta dig in, we gotta win more battles that lead to more odd man rushes or leads to more opportunities at the net front,” Montgomery said of Boston’s offensive woes. “There were rebounds laying there, we didn’t get to them. We gotta get to them.”
Pastrnak is far from the only culprit responsible for Boston’s offensive outage in this series, especially in the top-six unit.
But few players in the league — and certainly no one else in a black-and-gold sweater — can make something out of nothing in the offensive zone quite Pastrnak.
And with their season on the line, the Bruins desperately need their best player to rekindle his offensive firepower once again.
“I mean this is why we play hockey. That’s the beauty of the sport, Game 7,” Pastrnak said. “We work the whole season, so we have the advantage of being home. We’re gonna get home and get ready for Game 7.”
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