B's Fast Start to the Season Continues as Pastrnak Scored a Career-High 4 Goals In 4-2 Win vs. Ducks

Columbus Day afternoon home games are a New England tradition for the Bruins (5-1-0) and thanks to star right wing David Pastrnak, they made sure that the 2019 version was extra memorable for fans at TD Garden and across the world. Pasta notched his fifth career NHL hat trick which is nice and all but he topped that with his first career four-goal performance en route to a 4-2 victory against Anaheim (4-2-0). Like his linemates (Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand), Pastrnak didn't exactly have the greatest Stanley Cup Finals in June but the shortened summer break seems to have helped them all turn the page rather quickly.

The Ducks entered as one of the early surprises in the NHL as they had won the first three games of the season but they predictably started slow in this the finale of their first road trip (4 games) of the campaign. The B's made the most of their body clock advantage (this would feel like a 10 am start for the West Coast Ducks) as they jumped out to 2-0 lead midway through the second period which ballooned to 4-1 early in the third. Pastrnak scored twice on the power play and twice even strength as the trio of Bergeron, Krug and Marchand were credited with all the assists on his goals. Talk about top heavy: 11 of Boston's last 14 goals this season have been scored by their top line. David Krejci leaving twice today with an undisclosed injury (groin?) and eventually not returning doesn't bode well for the sputtering second line to get untracked anytime soon.

When you score four goals in a single contest, I would assume that they are all sexy in their own right but for my money, the first one was the best. Krug shuttled the puck to Bergeron in the slot who fed Pasta for a one-timer that he straight up obliterated (witness how fast it bounced back off the net) at 4:18 of the first for his third goal of the season. Boston led 1-0 after the first period and made it 2-0 at 11:38 when Brad and David worked a 2-on-1 shortly after a successful Bruins penalty kill (4-for-4 on the day). Anaheim goaltender John Gibson (19 saves; 3-2-0) wasn't able to slide across in time as Pasta one-timed a quick snap shot. The Ducks woke up in a big way in the second though as they outshot the home team 16-6 and were finally rewarded at 17:52 as Rickard Rakell's shot was touched by Jaroslav Halak (30 saves; 2-1-0) but he couldn't keep it out of the net. Rakell's second goal of the game was assisted by Adam Henrique (playing in his 600th career NHL game) and Cam Fowler. Up until then, Halak was playing incredible as he made multiple five-star saves that defied logic and left the Ducks in disbelief.

Boston's penalty kill unit had to start the third period nursing a one-goal lead (2-1) but soon it became 3-1 after Bergeron won an offensive zone faceoff that caromed off an Anaheim defenseman's skate directly to Pastrnak. Gibson was no match for Pastrnak's incredible release from that type of close range. That goal was unassisted for Pastrnak at 2:20 but the fourth and final one came from Marchand and Krug at 4:34. On the power play, Marchand slid the puck to the far post where Pasta was stationed to redirect it in. Halak suffered an unfortunate gaffe (that was something out of a soccer game) as Nick Ritchie (Brett's brother) stole the puck from him next to the net and passed it to Henrique for an easy one-timer from a short distance away at 16:08. Henrique's second goal of the season and second point of the day cut it to 4-2 but that's as close as it would get for Anaheim. Who could blame them at that point for wanting to get on their team charter back to Cali (Biggie voice)?

These first two home games against overmatched teams-New Jersey stinks and Anaheim will come back to Earth right about now-were merely an appetizer as the Bruins have their first marquee home tilt of the season when Tampa Bay (2-2-1) comes here on Thursday (7, NESN). The Lightning will almost certainly be one of the top contenders in the Atlantic Division, the Eastern Conference and NHL in general and their meetings with the Black and Gold tend to almost always be physical, emotional and entertaining affairs. Boston is off tomorrow and returns to practice on Wednesday. According to head coach Bruce Cassidy, that's when they'll have a better feel for Krejci's status. If he can't go vs. Tampa, Par Lindholm (a healthy scratch for the last 4 games) would slide in since he's naturally a center.

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The Bruins Better Hope That They Don't Meet the Ducks In the Stanley Cup Final This Summer

They sadly dropped the Mighty part from their team name ages ago but whenever the Ducks (25-17-9) have met the Bruins (29-11-8) in recent years, they still resemble that youth hockey juggernaut from the Disney movies of our youth. Anaheim kicked off the second half of the regular season with a 3-1 win at TD Garden this evening that laid to rest Boston's remarkable 18-game point streak (14-0-4) which was tied for the second longest in franchise history. The Ducks swept the two-game season series with Boston, outscoring them 7-2 so I'd say that neither result was what you would call a fluke. In fact, the B's are winless in their last eight games against the Ducks (0-7-1) with their last victory coming on October 21, 2013 (3-2 in Boston).

In many ways, the Ducks are a throwback to a bygone era in the NHL: they play what everybody and their mother terms a "heavy game" meaning that they have many bigger players that like to be physical. Besides them the Kings (27-18-5) and Blues (31-18-3) are two other notable clubs to favor that style that used to be so ingrained into Boston's DNA. There is a reason that no team in NHL history has ever earned a point when they have allowed the first goal in eight straight games. That was the mountain that the Bruins built for themselves right off the bat as they allowed a pair of goals in a lifeless first period for the home team. Oddly enough, the B's had a power play 27 seconds into the contest (slashing on Ryan Kesler) but couldn't generate any shots on goal from it (their PP was 0-for-4 in the game). Anaheim's first goal was downright ugly as Anton Khudobin (24 saves) dropped a routine backhand flip into his glove which allowed the puck to bounce in the net off of Zdeno Chara's skate at 9:04. Jakob Silfverberg was credited with his 12th goal of the season (which had to be the easiest of his life), from Cam Fowler and Rickard Rakell. Adam Henrique (6-game point streak)-who has been a great pickup for the Ducks-made it 2-0 with a power play tally at 13:59, an absolute snipe (his 14th goal of the season) that was assisted by Rakell and Fowler once again.

After they were outshot 15-5 in the first period, Boston flipped a switch and outshot Anaheim 13-4 in the second but they simply couldn't find the back of the net as they missed some of their top-end talent. The same was true for much of the third period as John Gibson (25 saves) didn't allow any goals but left late in the frame (for the 2nd straight contest) with an injury. Backup goaltender Ryan Miller allowed a goal to birthday boy Ryan Spooner with 40.7 seconds left in regulation when Khudobin was off for an extra skater but Henrique sealed it with an empty-netter from deep in his own end. Spooner's goal was his eighth of the season, assisted by Torey Krug and David Pastrnak (6-game point streak). The point streak had to end at some point for the Black and Gold but they had nobody else to blame for such an uninspired start that ultimately cost them two points.

Brad Marchand was serving the second game of his five-game suspension, Charlie McAvoy remains out after his heart procedure (the good news was that he skated this afternoon for the first time since last week's surgery) and Noel Acciari (lower-body injury) is also sidelined. Boston lost two more guys during the game as Anders Bjork (upper-body injury) left early in the first after a slight cross-check by Anaheim defenseman Francois Beauchemin to what I guess was a vulnerable spot in his back. Late in the third period, Ducks left wing Nick Ritchie caught David Backes up high with a shoulder right to the face that dazed Backes. It was a dirty hit that should be looked at closely by the NHL's Department of Player Safety. That set off a chain of events that included Zdeno Chara crushing Henrique with a borderline check in the neutral zone followed by Ryan Getzlaf slashing Chara in the legs. Both captains barked at each other as they went to their respective penalty boxes. For what it's worth, you rarely ever see Chara that fired up about anything. He was clearly upset with the officials for the no-call on Ritchie.

Coming directly off of the All-Star break, the Bruins are well-rested since only Marchand was a part of the festivities in Tampa Bay this past weekend. They'll need that extra reserve of energy as two more quality teams visit the Garden later this week: St. Louis is here on Thursday (7, NESN) before Toronto (28-18-5) stops by on Saturday night (7, NESN). The Maple Leafs game is especially important since they are really the only team that can realistically catch the B's in terms of second place in the Atlantic Division: Toronto is five points back with two more games played. Plus the Leafs swept the home-and-home with the Bruins way back in November. Tuukka Rask will make the start in both games which is always a good thing, Khudobin was noticeably rusty against Anaheim particularly in the early going.

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Nevermind Playing Hockey Games, The Worn-Out Bruins Desperately Need a Rest Like Right Now

In any professional sport, every team will face a rough stretch with tons of games (and travel) condensed into a short amount of time. That's why it is pointless fodder (although always a favorite crutch for my fellow lazy media members) to whine about such circumstances since at some point, everyone will have to deal with it. With all that said, the Bruins (16-13-3) have to be happy that they finally get two days between games for the first time in nearly a month (Nov. 20-21). After getting three out of four unlikely points with a 2-1 overtime win in Montreal (19-6-4) on Monday and a 4-3 loss to Pittsburgh (20-7-3) last night, they returned to TD Garden and lost 4-3 to the Ducks (16-10-5) this evening.

The season-long trends for the B's of losing in Game 2 of back-to-backs (1-5-0) and Game 3 of three-games-in-four-nights (3-5-0) continued along with the even more troubling poor play when anyone not named Tuukka Rask (15-5-3) occupies their net. Backup goaltender Anton Khudobin (1-5-0) clearly isn't the same guy he was in his first go-around with the Bruins back in 2013 but it doesn't help that his few starts are usually marked by team-wide shitty outings.

A new wrench was thrown into Boston's usual script for home losses as they actually jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period only to see Anaheim quickly erase that. Boston dropped to 11-2-0 this season when they lead by 2+ goals. The Ducks went up 3-2 early in the second period and the Bruins tied it up but once again, Anaheim had the last laugh. The game got off to such a crazy start that it was a shame to see it end in such an anti-climatic fashion (with 0 goals in the final 34:58). It was a battle of backup goaltenders with Khudobin (23 saves) facing your boy Jonathan Bernier (6-2-1) who finished with 31 saves.

Bruins captain Zdeno Chara blasted home a shot from the point at 12:07 of the first period. David Backes and Brad Marchand assisted on Chara's second goal of the season (his 1st goal in 22 games and 1st point in 8 games). Only 13 seconds later, Austin Czarnik doubled Boston's advantage with a one-timer from Ryan Spooner and Riley Nash. The rookie has slowly started to find his legs in the NHL with two goals and two assists in the last six games. It turned into video game hockey as Andrew Cogliano cut it to 2-1 just 24 seconds after Czarnik's strike. The three goals in 37 seconds was the most in a Bruins game since Boston and St. Louis combined for three in 34 seconds on Dec. 19, 1987. In truth, it was an own goal as Cogliano passed it to Jakob Silfverberg but the latter whiffed while David Krejci accidentally put it in his own goal. Woof.

Earlier in the frame, Khudobin had stopped a partial breakaway on Silfverberg but then Kevin Bieksa tied it up at two by jumping out of the penalty box and taking a stretch pass by Ryan Getzlaf (his 23rd assist, 2nd most in the NHL) before he beat Khudobin. Former Northeastern Husky Josh Manson went to the net and was rewarded with a juicy rebound right on his stick with Khudobin way out of position. His 1st goal of the season came 55 seconds into the second period with Silfverberg and Rickard Rakell picking up the assists. Krejci scored one for his team which was nice (his 6th of the season), depositing a power-play goal from Backes and Torey Krug at 2:06.

Rakell put in a rebound at 5:02 of the second period which turned out to be the game-winner. Sami Vatanen and Cam Fowler assisted on Rakell's 12th goal of the season (he was also named the 1st star of the game). The B's will have no practice tomorrow and then probably a light workout on Saturday before they host the Kings (15-12-2). Los Angeles is in Pittsburgh tomorrow night so unlike many of their recent contests, Boston will be waiting for someone to visit them rather than the other way around. Tonight's loss dropped them to under .500 at the Garden (7-8-0) in 2016-17. The Kings are hanging onto the second Wild Card spot in the Western Conference but without star goaltender Jonathan Quick (what up ZooMass?) out until March with a groin injury, it's doubtful that they'll be able to hang on to it. The B's will have to take advantage of playing a West Coast team on Sunday afternoon (1, NESN), granted the Kings' bodies should be used to the Eastern Time zone by then.

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