NEWARK — The box score might say otherwise, but David Pastrnak was rather forthright about his performance following Boston’s 5-1 win over the Devils Thursday night.
“To be honest, I felt way worse than (my) last game," he noted.
If that was a rough night from Pastrnak, then the rest of the Eastern Conference might need to take notice.
In just his second game back after missing 16 straight contests due to thumb surgery, Pastrnak didn’t look like he missed much of a step — tallying his first goal since Feb. 6 while setting up Patrice Bergeron for a goal off of a crisp, cross-slot feed.
The Marchand-Bergeron-Pastrnak line is back.
Pastrnak with a nice cross-slot feed to Bergeron, who buries his 29th goal of the season. pic.twitter.com/sjiP0G8C6f
— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) March 21, 2019
It was unreasonable to think a dynamic winger with a patented shot like Pastrnak wasn’t going to need much time to get back up to speed after sitting out for close to six weeks — while also getting used to a splint under his glove.
And sure, the rust has been there at times for the forward, who was tagged for a team-high three giveaways on Tuesday against the Islanders.
“I used to think of plays before I get the puck, and I just need to make sure I get the puck first,” Pastrnak said. “Don’t lose it. It’s a little bit off, because that’s how I’m used to playing. I just have to adjust to that a little bit.”
But all things considered, a two-point night in just his second game back with the Bruins bodes well for both Pastrnak and the rest of Boston’s forward corps with playoff hockey around three weeks away.
“I think getting that first point out of the way, making a great play like that to Bergy and getting that first goal,”
Brad Marchand
said of what Pastrnak needs to do to get back on track, “it just allows you to build some confidence and you don’t have to push as hard to feel like you need to do something. He was making strong plays on the wall and smart plays in the offensive zone and shooting at the right times. He looked like himself tonight.”
Integrating a healthy and effective Pastrnak back into the lineup was going to be a given if the Bruins really want to make things interesting this spring — and so far, the reunited top line of Bergeron, Pastrnak and Marchand have been as advertised, if not better.
At this point,
Bruce Cassidy
and his staff can’t go wrong keeping that line intact ahead of the postseason — with that group now up to 25 5v5 goals generated over 410:21 of 5v5 TOI together.
Barring any additional injuries up front (which could be thwarted based on
Sean Kuraly’s
status after taking a puck to the hand on Thursday), Boston could have its full complement of forwards in place by early next week — as
Marcus Johansson
is expected to skate with the team down in Florida ahead of matchups with the Panthers and Lightning.
Want to keep that crew intact? Then Johansson can slot back in with
David Krejci
and
Jake DeBrusk
— with that top-six assortment holding an absurd plus-15 shot differential through just 36:57 of 5v5 TOI together.
Want to keep Charlie Coyle up with Krejci?
A revamped third line with
Sean Kuraly, Danton Heinen
and
Chris Wagner
have generated three goals in their last two games, while a fourth line of
Noel Acciari
,
David Backes
and
Joakim Nordstrom
have also scored twice in two games — including a 10-1 edge in scoring chances generated during Thursday’s win in New Jersey.
?GOAL!?
David Backes scores for the first time in 23 games!
Backes — Acciari (19:38) #NHLBruins 5#NJDevils 1 pic.twitter.com/JPGuicL0sY
— Boston Bruins on CLNS (@BruinsCLNS) March 22, 2019
“To get that (goal) after some of the work we put in as a line, to reward my linemates for a lot of the work that they do, I’m not going to decline that with 22 seconds left — even though it's a little bit of icing on the cake for the game," Backes said. "It’s a good feeling and hopefully we paid our dues now with the bad luck and we get a streak of some good bounces going our way and be a big contributing factor with this team.