As he fielded questions at his locker following Boston’s 4-2 victory over the Ducks, David Pastrnak was quick to give credit elsewhere for his four-goal outburst at TD Garden.
First up — his linemates, of course.
After all, the trio of Pastrnak, Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand have now tallied 11 of Boston’s last 14 goals, with No. 88 benefitting on Monday from a couple of slick feeds off the stick of the usual suspects to his left.
Next up — a good breakfast. It was the usual for the 23-year-old winger this morning.
“Classic eggs and pancakes,’ he said.
And of course, his pregame wardrobe had to play some part in his offensive barrage against Anaheim, right?
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"As soon as I put this suit on today," Pastrnak said of when he felt that he was locked in on Monday. "Felt good after breakfast. Afternoon games are fun. I like that — just wake up and go play. No time for thinking. No time to overthink stuff."
"Look good, feel good," I suppose. Whatever it was, it certainly worked for Pastrnak — as the forward became just the 19th player in Bruins' franchise history to light the lamp four times in a single contest.
The Czech forward has already been an established sniper at the NHL level for years now, eclipsing the 30-goal mark at just 20 years old during the 2016-17 season.
But Pastrnak has started to develop a knack for piling on goals by the boatload over the last year-plus of game action. Starting with a three-goal performance against the Hurricanes on March 13, 2018 — the winger has now tallied a hat trick (or more) six times over the last 18 months alone.
So what gives? Can we chalk this current 82-goal pace in 2019-20 up to a full breakfast and some swanky new threads?
Not exactly.
When you possess a howitzer of a one-timer (and a lethal wrister, to boot), you tend to thrive as a volume shooter, and Pastrnak certainly fits the bill — already landing 21 shots on goal through six games this season.
But peppering the net can only go so far when it comes to establishing yourself as a consistent goal-scoring threat, especially if most of those pucks are lofted in from low-danger areas. Learning to read O-zone chances during the split-second window in which they're afforded to you doesn't come easy to even the most skilled playmakers in pro hockey, but it's an area that Pastrnak has made strides in with each new campaign he's been able to log with Boston.
To the surprise of very few, learning to become more selective with his shot and identifying Grade-A areas of the ice have played a major role in Pastrnak's evolution into one of the premier scorers in the NHL — with his shooting percentage soaring from 13.0% during that 34-goal year in 2016-17 to 16.2% in 2018-19.
Now his current shooting mark of 28.6%. is certainly skewed by a small sample size — and it's unfair to expect even the best players in this league to cash in on one of the four or fewer shots that they land on net.
But if he puts together a shot chart similar to the one he showcased on Monday, Pastrnak could very well operate at 15-17% clip on a regular basis going forward.
In total, Pastrnak's five shots on goal against the Ducks came from an average of just 22.8 feet outside of Anaheim's net. Another shot attempt, which was blocked by defenseman Korbinian Holzer, came from within 15 feet of John Gibson in goal. Pastrnak played to his strengths even on his longest attempt of the night, with his tried-and-true, one-timer from 34 feet out opening the scoring for Boston at 4:18 in the first.
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Pastrnak's patience when it comes to waiting in his office at the left circle, offensive awareness to join rushes and willingness to scrap down low (as seen on his tip-in goal at 4:34 in the third) allows him to make the most of whatever scoring chance Boston is able to develop in short order. That ability to cash in on a consistent basis — whether it be that 10 quality looks fall your way or just one per game — is hard to come by in the NHL.
"He's always got it. He's such a talented player," Marchand said of Pastrnak. "He's dangerous on every single play, regardless of where he is or where he gets the puck. You've got to make sure that you do your job on him, because if not, he'll find himself in a scoring position."
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Alex Ovechkin, who very well could surpass Wayne Gretzky's all-time goals record of 894 in the coming years, stands as one of the best in that regard, according to Pastrnak. Even on nights in which the Capitals captain's "A-game" is off, his lethal shot and hockey sense in O-zone allows him to be a regular threat whenever he hops over the boards. Already up to 138 goals in his fifth full season in the pros, Pastrnak hopes that his presence on the ice will cast a similar threat to the opposition whenever he's called out for a shift.
"Some games, he gets one chance a game and it's in the net," Pastrnak said of Ovechkin. That, I think, is the biggest thing. Sometimes, I get four chances and it's there's one in the net. Sometimes, I bite off more than I can chew. Consistency is probably what it is with him. He can have a bad game, but he ended up with one chance and gets a goal."
"I wouldn't call it, to rival him or whatever the word is," Pastrnak added when asked about competing with Ovechkin when it comes to goal-scoring prowess. "But I definitely want to get to that point as a player. I think I can. It'll just take time and I think I can do it. I'm not going to rival a guy like Ovie, he's a special player and he's been on top for a long time in this league and he's one of a kind."
It has to be very encouraging for the Bruins (and discouraging for the rest of the Atlantic) to hear Pastrnak admit that there's still plenty of work to be done when it comes to rounding out his offensive game. You'd think a player that's averaged 35.8 goals in his last three seasons would be happy with his level of play, but there doesn't seem to be much complacency with Pastrnak.
The Bruins haven't had a player score 50 or more goals in a single season since Cam Neely last accomplished the feat during the 1993-94 campaign. It's a milestone that Pastrnak has mentioned multiple times when it comes to individual goals for his career — and given both his start this year and his production in 2018-19 (38 goals in just 66 games), the odds are firmly in his favor of becoming the next B's winger in line to hit the mark.
But even then, the elite goal scorer will likely be far from satisfied.
"Like I said, I want to get to that point where I have a shot to score 50 goals, but it's not my No. 1 focus," Pastrnak said. "Hockey is a team sport and I'm focusing on being the best player for this team."
Stats and graphs via Natural Stat Trick.