Brimming with motivation after missing Olympics, Pavel Zacha is playing his best hockey for Bruins

"Last year wasn't as good as I wanted, too, and it kind of was motivation for all of us to get better.”

Pavel Zacha has scored 11 goals since the Bruins returned from the Olympic break. AP Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes

March 28, 2026

4 minutes to read

Pavel Zacha had no shortage of motivation returning from the Olympic break.

Tabbed as a top-six fixture on a Czechia squad looking to make some noise in the Milano-Cortina Games, the Bruins forward instead had to stay in Boston as David Pastrnak and the rest of his fellow countrymen made the trans-Atlantic flight to Italy.

An ill-timed concussion — delivered via a high hit from Flyers forward Nicolas Deslauriers on Jan. 29 — had Zacha on the mend when the time came to head overseas. With his condition not improving, he gave up his roster spot and watched from afar as Czechia fell to Canada in an overtime thriller in the quarterfinals.

Zacha, 28, admitted that he couldn’t even watch most of the international tournament. The pain of missing out on his first Olympics was too great. Instead, he focused on his health — and tried to channel his frustrations into something positive for the Bruins down the stretch.

“Missing the Olympics was something that was not the best mentally for me, but I was thinking about the whole break — how can I come back and be a difference maker?” Zacha said earlier this month.

Zacha has certainly answered the call since then.

Following Saturday’s 6-3 win over the Minnesota Wild, Zacha has emerged as one of the league’s most potent goal-scorers. In the 16 games since the Bruins returned from the break, Zacha has scored 11 goals and 19 total points.

After scoring an overtime winner to secure a clutch road victory against the Sabres on Wednesday, Zacha lit the lamp twice on Saturday against another established contender in Minnesota.

He finished off a 2-on-1 bid with Viktor Arvidsson in the opening frame before giving Boston some much-needed insurance with 3:10 left in regulation — redirecting a Casey Mittelstadt shot from the blue line to give his club a two-goal cushion once again.

MAKE IT A DOUBLE FOR PAV ✌️ pic.twitter.com/FlQ8YHMrIj
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) March 28, 2026

“It’s impressive,” David Pastrnak said postgame of Zacha and Boston’s second line. “They never met each other and they’ve been a great line the whole year. Every time they are on, it makes it so much easier for the rest of the group to follow up, and when they have nights like this? Not many nights we come up short.

“Pav has been on a great goal streak and we’ll need that, and it’s been really fun to watch and I’m super happy for him.”

Boston’s second line has been a well-documented conduit of production for Marco Sturm’s club this season.

Viktor Arvidsson — now with 21 goals and 44 points on the season — has been the motor of a line that has developed into a two-way buzzsaw this winter.

Mittelstadt — who recorded three helpers in Saturday’s win — has found a home on the wing while winning the board battles and doing the dirty work that makes this trio a thorn in the side of many foes.

But it’s been Zacha — slotted back over to center by Sturm during preseason action — who has been the constant on a forward grouping that is outscoring opponents, 37-16, in their 508 minutes of 5-on-5 ice time this season.

THERE GOES THAT LINE AGAIN 👌 pic.twitter.com/Cni4s094wA
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) March 28, 2026

“He’s scoring a lot of goals, but his 200-foot game is unbelievable, and I think he helps our team up and down the ice,” Arvidsson said of Zacha. “[He] wins battles in the D-zone. … The trust from me and Casey is there, and we know he’s gonna do everything he can to win the battle and come out with the puck, so we can kind of read off that. He’s been unbelievable all year.”

Don Sweeney’s trade that brought in Zacha as part of a 1-for-1 swap with New Jersey for veteran Erik Haula already stands as one of the savviest moves struck by Boston’s GM.

The former sixth overall pick in the 2015 NHL Draft, Zacha has gone from an underwhelming asset with the Devils into a valuable Swiss Army Knife in Sturm’s forward group.

Prior to arriving in Boston, Zacha’s career-high in points in a single season was just 36 in 2021-22.

In his first three seasons with Boston, Zacha averaged 18 goals and 54.3 points per campaign.

And this year, he has already reached a new career-high in goals scored with 26.

With nine games left in Boston’s regular-season slate, it feels all but inevitable that the Bruins’ second-line center will also surpass his previous career-high in points (59) — needing just four more to reach that 60-point threshold.

In a season of highs and lows that seemingly reached rock bottom just a few months ago, Zacha is now playing the best hockey for a Bruins club on the cusp of a playoff berth.

It’s a welcome sight for a Bruins team that has continued to reap the rewards since Zacha’s arrival four years ago.

“I think I try to get better every year,” Zacha said of improving each season. “Every summer I try to work on my game, and I’m happy it keeps going up. Last year wasn’t as good as I wanted, too, and it kind of was motivation for all of us to get better.”