Regardless of if/when the NHL returns this summer, the stat book on the 2019-20 regular season has officially been closed — denying “Rocket” Richard Trophy winner David Pastrnak of his campaign toward 50 goals, among other individual pursuits.
Still, even during an abbreviated 70-game campaign, the Bruins managed to land quite a few punches against the opposition — ranking seventh in the league with 227 goals.
Sure, plenty of those tallies came off the stick of Pastrnak (48), but just about every skater on Bruce Cassidy’s roster chipped in with a number of highlights throughout another promising season for the B’s.
As we await the potential return of NHL hockey — and with the regular season now in the rearview — let’s take a look back at the top 20 goals from Boston’s 2019-20 campaign. We’re judging these entries not only based on difficulty and playmaking needed to set up such a tally — but also off of the added context or weight behind a number of those goals.
After rolling through our picks for 20-11, let’s close this thing out with Goals 10-1:
10. Pastrnak ends things in Edmonton - Feb. 19, 2020
What’s better, the feed from David Krejci or the finish from David Pastrnak?
Both deserve plenty of credit for this game-winning tally, with Pastrnak rewarding Krejci’s heads-up play by tucking the puck through
Mike Smith’s
five-hole
on a backhand shot just 1:14 into overtime.
With the tally, Pastrnak tied
Auston Matthews
for the league lead with 43 goals on the year. It’s a shame that we never reached complete finality on what was going to be a riveting “Rocket” Richard race between No. 88 (48 goals),
Alex Ovechkin
(48) and Matthews (47). Still, Pastrnak likely won't have any qualms about sharing the accolade with Ovechkin this season.
9. Batter up - Feb. 27, 2020
Krejci dropping the gloves with
Joe Pavelski
might have been the highlight from this 4-3 victory over the Stars, but this tally from
Charlie Coyle
also managed to bring the Garden crowd to its feet.
I don’t know about you, but the Red Sox scouting department might want to send a few personnel down to Weymouth, because this was some impressive hand-eye coordination from the B’s center on this sequence.
8. Marchand + Pastrnak carve up Detroit - Feb. 15, 2020
Need some proof that hockey is a chaotic, unpredictable mess most of the time? The 2019-20 Red Wings — truly one of the worst clubs assembled in quite some time — managed to post a 2-1-0 record against the Bruins. Yep, a Detroit club with a record of 17-49-5. Yeesh.
Despite having their number over their first two matchups, the Red Wings had few answers for the Bruins’ top wingers during this sequence — with Marchand dangling past
Andreas Athanasiou
before setting up Pastrnak for a one-time blast.
7.
DeBrusk sticks with the play - March 3, 2020
Jake DeBrusk sure picked a great time to snap a 10-game goalless skid — tallying this eventual game-winning goal in what was a key 2-1 victory over the Lightning at Amalie Arena.
DeBrusk made his move as a puck skittered out of Boston’s zone and into center ice, recovering the biscuit after beating
Zach Bogosian
in a foot race. Even though DeBrusk was tripped up by a diving Bogosian just before reaching the puck, he managed to recover in a hurry — corralling the puck and skating in alone on
Andrei Vasilevskiy.
6. Krejci ends it in OT - Nov. 29, 2019
Much like the Marchand + Pastrnak tally against Detroit, some times you just have to shrug your shoulders and laugh.
Granted, the Rangers weren’t doing that after this OT tally from Krejci, but there wasn’t much that the Blueshirts could do after Pastrnak undressed
Pavel Buchnevich
upon entering the O-zone.
Rather than attempt a shot against
Henrik Lundqvist
, Pastrnak instead took advantage of the open ice available during the 3v3 sequence, drawing Buchnevich and another Rangers skater away from the slot as they pursued the puck carrier.
5.
Between The Legs - Oct. 22, 2019
Let’s be frank, just about any of these goals in the top 5 could very well earn the top spot — because they’re all downright filthy.
Along with the optics of Pastrnak actually reeling off this
filthy, spin-around move down in the crease against
Michael Hutchinson
— this was also a milestone tally for the B’s winger.
With that goal, Pastrnak reached 300 career points — making him just the fourth player in Bruins history to reach the scoring milestone in under 350 games, joining
Barry Pederson, Bobby Orr
and
Ray Bourque.
4. “Frank The Tank”- Nov. 23, 2019
After Krejci tied things up with a pair of goals in the final two minutes of regulation, it was this impressive end-to-end rush from Torey Krug in overtime that capped off a wild 5-4 victory over the Wild at TD Garden.
Pretty impressive stuff from Krug — and pretty awful defense from the Wild — on this sequence, with the B’s defenseman blowing past
Zach Parise
in the neutral zone.
Before the remaining two Wild skaters could recover, Krug had already parted the sea and was at
Alex Stalock’s
doorstep, sneaking the puck through the five-hole to close out the OT contest.
An extra stick tap for Krug for doing his best impression of
just seconds after lighting the lamp.
3. Grzelcyk bests Subban - Nov. 19, 2019
For as much as
Matt Grzelcyk
, Devils goalie
MacKenzie Blackwood
certainly wasn’t laughing after this bullet sailed by him back in November.
While this blistering wrister off the stick of Grzelcyk warrants a top spot on this list based on the release and power alone, the B’s defenseman opened the sequence by leaving
P.K. Subban
in the dust at the blue line.
2. Marchand breaks the Habs - Feb. 12, 2020
In one corner, we have … Brad Marchand.
In the other, we have …
Jeff Petry, Brett Kulak
and
Jonathan Drouin.
Wanna guess which side lands the knockout punch?
Despite getting three Montreal skaters draped around him as he broke into the Habs' zone, Marchand deked and dangled his way out of danger — protecting the puck while drawing all of the opposition toward him, allowing Pastrnak to skate into Grade-A ice against
Carey Price.
Just before Marchand was about to be completely knocked off the puck, he somehow managed to send a feed across the slot to his linemate, who promptly buried the offering before Price had any chance of resetting himself. Pastrnak eventually finished with a hat trick in this one — the fourth time he accomplished such a feat this season.
Pure poetry in motion from these puck handlers here.
1. “Are You Not Entertained?” - Dec. 1, 2019
What’s not to love about a goal like this?
Against Carey Price? Check.
At a restless TD Garden? Check.
Third period? Check.
this much
Price never had a chance, as Pastrnak’s shot clanged off the iron and into twine. As the TD Garden crowd rose to its feet, the B’s winger —
— spread his arms out and acknowledged the flood of raucous cheers cascading down upon him.
What a sight this was.