Pastrnak Pots Two to Lift Bruins Over Seattle

BostonBruins.com - David Pastrnak is looking forward to a few days of rest and relaxation. For the first time since 2018, he'll have the All-Star Break to himself and is planning to take advantage with a trip to Florida.
"I'll definitely go get some sun, get some Vitamin D, freshen up, heal up the body," said Pastrnak. "Key West, never been, heard it's nice…weather is supposed to be nice out there."
But before he set out on a mid-winter reprieve to the Sunshine State, Pastrnak had some very important business to attend to. And he didn't disappoint.

The winger continued his torrid stretch with two power-play goals, including the winner in the third period, to lift the Bruins to a 3-2 victory in their inaugural meeting with the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday night at TD Garden. Pastrnak also picked up an assist on Taylor Hall's second-period marker, giving him 22 points and 14 goals in his last 15 games and his third three-point contest since Jan. 10.
"Don't really do anything different from the first half of the season," said Pastrnak. "I haven't changed much, to be honest. I think it was a little bit of puck luck earlier and didn't go my way. And today's a great example, both shots got a little bit deflected and went in. So, just getting a bit lucky. Obviously, I've been working hard, so haven't changed much, to be honest."
Pastrnak notched his second of the night with 9:11 remaining to give the Bruins a 3-2 advantage. His one-time snapshot from the left-wing circle off a feed from Patrice Bergeron deflected in off of the glove of Seattle goalie Chris Driedger, salvaging what could've been a lost night for the Black & Gold.
After opening up a 2-0 advantage on goals from Pastrnak and Hall in the second period, Boston squandered the lead by the 7:30 mark of the third after tallies from Joonas Donskoi (:45) and Mason Appleton (7:30). With the Bruins on the verge of blowing their second two-goal, third-period lead in four games, Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy used his timeout following the second Kraken goal to settle down his troops.
"It was about trying to take a deep breath for one thing and not let the game get away from us. It'd gotten to even, we had a 12 ½ minute game in front of us. If we value the points, then we gotta start playing the right way, and that was about it. Try to get their attention," said Cassidy, whose club fell to Colorado in overtime last Wednesday after entering the third with a 3-1 advantage.
"I mean, listen, these guys have been around. They know the importance of it. We just, we didn't value that tonight. We weren't very respectful of the game, a number of instances with the puck, for whatever reason. Could be, you get off the road, first game back, maybe you're looking forward to the break. I don't know.
"I noticed it with some of our veteran guys that typically don't fall into that category. So, at the end of the day, they got it back. Got a big goal, forced the power play, and we held on and got some saves and got the win."

Hall notched a two-point night, including his 10th goal of the season with 3:51 to go in the second period, to up his totals to 15 points in his last 17 games. But the winger acknowledged that the victory, while one the Bruins will certainly take, left plenty to be desired.
"It's a tough way to start the third after being up two," said Hall. "I think everyone can see that we didn't play our best tonight. When nights are going like that, it's important to play simple and get pucks out when the time is right. I didn't do that on one of the goals. There was a lot of mistakes tonight that were self-inflicted a bit. But we won the game and we found a way to get on the power play and make a couple plays. That's really it. It wasn't pretty and it wasn't our best night, but we'll take the two points and go on vacation here."
Cassidy added that the Bruins must develop better situational awareness, particularly when it comes to managing the puck and, in turn, momentum, during a tight game in the third period.
"It's about recognizing where you are in the game," said Cassidy. "No team's going to be perfect for 60 minutes. You're going to have situations where playmakers are going to make plays that don't work out, but that's an area we have to fix with certain guys…time and score, when to manage it, when to keep the momentum, and play winning hockey.
"What I liked about us, we were resilient. We stuck with it. We got down. We bounced back. I liked our special teams tonight. They were the difference in the game. I liked [Linus] Ullmark's game…so, there's certainly some positives there."

Second Line Rolls Along

Even with Erik Haula out of the lineup due to COVID-19 protocol, the Hall-Pastrnak tandem managed to do plenty of damage with Tomas Nosek manning the middle on Tuesday night. Nosek put in some strong work on the forecheck ahead of Hall's goal, freeing the puck up behind the Seattle net before dishing it to Hall in the front of the net where the winger whacked home a second opportunity to put Boston up 2-0.
"They both have the hockey IQ and can make plays. We know that about Haula, and Nosek showed in the first half of the year being here that he can make plays, and he's a great defensive player and good in the faceoff dot," said Pastrnak. "We had some good chances. There's a lot of work to do, but at the same time we had one practice together."
Since being paired together coming out of the COVID-19 shutdown over Christmas, a span of 17 games, the duo of Hall and Pastrnak has combined for 19 goals and 37 points.
"He's a great player and we all know that," Pastrnak said of Hall, who delivered the primary feed on his first power-play goal of the night. "We're finding some chemistry, better and better… starting to know each other way better after a little while. And he's unbelievable at finding me, but he's finding me so much that even I tell him sometimes, 'You should shoot.' But don't get me wrong, he's looking for me and I look for him, to be honest.
"So, this month my goals are going in, next time it's going to be someone else. Overall, I started hitting the net a little bit more than earlier in the season. I was picking corners, I was going wide, so came back a little and started hitting the net and pucks went in."
As well as the two have played over the past month, Hall said that he believes there is still another level that his game can get to.
"It's been better for me. I didn't love, personally, my last five or so games," said Hall. "I feel like I ran into a bit of a wall just with my game and I couldn't really get much going. But you never know when a situation's gonna arise and I have felt better since the COVID break, just coming in, playing my game, being a little more relaxed at the rink and away from the rink. It lets me play my best when the chips are down.
"Last game I'm on for two goals against, tonight I'm on for two goals against, so those are the things I want to get rid of in my game and really be a reliable two-way guy for the rest of the year, earn more playing time that way and continue to be a guy offensively that can produce in the role that I'm in.
"That's why I signed here. I believe I have another level to get to as a two-way player and hopefully after the break I can continue that."

Vaakanainen Exits Early

Bruins defenseman Urho Vaakanainen exited the game in the second period and did not return after suffering an upper-body injury on a heavy hit from behind delivered by Seattle's Yanni Gourde. Gourde hit Vaakanainen square in the numbers into the end boards, forcing the blue liner's face into the glass.
Vaakanainen dropped to the ice and was bloodied under his visor. He needed assistance from Bruins assistant athletic trainer Dustin Stuck on his way back to the dressing room.
The officials on the ice huddled up and called a five-minute major that was ultimately reduced to a minor following video review.
"I didn't like the hit at all," said Cassidy. "I thought for them to not make a call on it was unbelievable to me, considering the standard they set. If you watch the [interference] penalty on Marchy's hit [in the third], a guy when he's touching - I don't understand the standard tonight for that to not be a call immediately. Even maybe a five never mind having to look at it just to get two.
"Hits that nobody likes in a tight area when a guy is in a bad spot and didn't turn into a hit, was kind of sideways the whole time. Didn't like it all, didn't like the call but you move on and you play."
Several minutes after the hit, Bruins center Steven Fogarty - playing just his second game with the big club - challenged Gourde off a faceoff, leading to a large scrum in the Boston defensive zone. Curtis Lazar stepped in and tangled with Gourde, as Derek Forbort dropped the gloves with former Boston back-ender Jeremy Lauzon.
Lazar, Gourde, and Fogarty were all given two-minute minors for roughing.
"The response was good," said Cassidy. "You never know what's gonna escalate, but you want to be physical against their good players and if you have an opportunity to send a message back to the guy in the right manner, you do…you're trying to do the right thing, stay in the moment, don't let the game get away from you, take care of business without completely losing your composure and discipline…I thought we handled it well."