Pastrnak's Hat Trick Caps Lindholm's Bruins Debut

BOSTON - David Pastrnak will generate most of the Friday morning headlines.
The winger potted his 12th career hat trick, including the winning tally with 4:10 remaining, to pace the Bruins to a massive 3-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday night at TD Garden, a triumph that moved Boston past the Bolts and into third place in the Atlantic Division standings.
But there was another narrative that will be garnering its own attention: the play of the B's brand-new blue liner.
Hampus Lindholm was a force on the back end, posting a plus-2 rating, four shots on goal, four hits, and an assist in 23:26 of ice time - 4:26 of which came on the power play and 1:54 of which came shorthanded. If the first impressions were any indication, Lindholm and Boston are going to get along just fine.

"I felt good. I love that feeling, little butterflies and a little nervous getting out there. That's why you play the game," said Lindholm, who was acquired from Anaheim last Saturday. "And the fans here are unbelievable. I gotta say thank you to them for supporting me the whole game. It was so loud out there. It makes it more fun to play. It was good to get the first game under the belt and get a win, that was huge for us."
And the 6-foot-4, 216-pounder was huge for the Bruins, as he teamed up with Charlie McAvoy on Boston's first pairing to create a shutdown duo that was a force to be reckoned with against the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Lightning.
"He's one of those guys that anyone can play with," Lindholm said of his new partner. "He's such a good defenseman. Everyone knows that, everyone sees that. I hope we can develop something here and I can make him a better player and he's obviously gonna make me a better player, so I'm excited about that.
"We've got some good really good D in our squad. Everyone was making plays tonight and you need all six playing like that if you're gonna win games, so I'm super excited to be here."

While Lindholm, now in his ninth NHL season, has long been a top-four defenseman known for his blend of defensive prowess and offensive instincts, Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy acknowledged that he was even a bit more impressed than he expected at the blue liner's ability to transition the puck.
"I think he was, actually, maybe a better puck mover in small areas than I anticipated," said Cassidy. "Thinking more about the size and mobility, ability to close plays, get his shot through on the offensive blue line - but he made a lot of small-area plays on the breakout that is going to benefit this hockey club. The skate moves where he puts someone on his hip, strong enough to separate and hold onto a puck and bring another forechecker to him then bump it into the middle…he led some really nice breakouts tonight, did a real good job with that.
"So that's maybe things you see but you don't appreciate until they're right in front of you. And that's a part where the argument about adding D versus forwards [at the deadline] - when you've got a defenseman like that that can start the attack, that's going to generate more offense for your team automatically.
"That was a pleasant - I don't want to use the word surprise - but something that kind of jumped off the page tonight besides his ability to defend."
Lindholm got things started on Pastrnak's first goal of the night with an powerful individual effort to break the puck out of Boston's end. With Brandon Hagel - Tampa's own shiny new deadline addition - buzzing hard on the forecheck behind the Bruins' net, Lindholm shielded a loose puck and shook off the forward's attempts to steal it away before dishing to Erik Haula at the top of the right circle.
"I try to have a plan, but going back there, that's kind of part of my game. I want to be big and strong and slow it down a little bit and try to get those passes up the middle or break it out clean," said Lindholm, who added that Cassidy told him to trust his intuitions in a meeting before the game. "When you have a team like this with so much speed you want to try and get in the middle or up the wall there. So that's kind of playing to my game and obviously McAvoy there, he makes it easy for me to make those reads."
Haula - who tallied a season-high three assists and now has five in his last two games - then delivered a lengthy cross-neutral zone dish to Pastrnak. The winger picked the puck up off the wall in front of the Bruins bench and broke in alone on Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, depositing a nifty backhander by the netminder at 9:55 of the second period to knot things at 1.
"It was nasty. It was amazing," Pastrnak said of Lindholm. "Obviously it's not easy to come to a new team, usually it would take a couple games to learn the system. The way our D's playing overall, and the structure, he was amazing. It was a lot of fun to watch. Real exciting to have him. He's a great guy. I know him a little bit from Sweden. We're really happy to have him."

For Lindholm, the feeling is mutual.
"You always wanna get thrown into the fire. This was one of those games," said Lindholm, who became the first Bruins defenseman since McAvoy in October 2017 to record a point in his Boston debut. "You play one of the best teams in the league and you get thrown in there and you go from there. That's the way I want it, playing in front of the home fans. I don't know, it couldn't be a better first game for me."

Gaining Confidence

Despite being without Patrice Bergeron for the fourth straight game, the Bruins were able to take it to the Lightning for most of the night, outshooting them, 39-24, to grab a 2-1 lead in the season series. With the victory, Boston leapfrogged the Lightning into the third spot in the Atlantic Division and tied Toronto with 85 points, though the Maple Leafs have a game in hand.
"We miss Bergy and can't wait to have him back," said Pastrnak. "Obviously, this is a big win. Overall, any games against your division teams are big. We've been chasing those three teams for a while. Our main focus is to focus on our game and grow our game. We have tons of games left. Obviously, we beat a great team like Tampa, it's a confidence booster. At the same time. we deserved a win today. I think we were the better team."
Cassidy felt the Bruins were the better team in their 3-2 overtime loss to Tampa at TD Garden on December 4 and their 5-2 win over the Lightning at Amalie Arena on January 8, too - success that has the Black & Gold gathering some confidence against a team that has eliminated them from the playoffs in two of the last four postseasons.
"Well, I felt we controlled the game up in Tampa pretty well," said Cassidy. "Even the game - again I wasn't in the building live [because of COVID-19], but I thought the team played very well when we lost here at home. And there's different circumstances for that…but three times now is going to give us confidence. On the flip side, this is the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions.
"So, we're excited we won and played well, but we're not getting ahead of ourselves either. We know who Tampa Bay is. They know who they are, and the road runs through them eventually. But this is good. It's good for the guys in the room to know that if we play a certain way, then we have a chance to beat them and can outplay them in certain areas, so that's the positive of that.
"And you should be confident when you beat a really good team. I am not taking that away from our group, but…I'll never get down on Tampa. They're too good a hockey club, they've accomplished too much. But good for us, positives for us."

Letting 'Em Fly

Pastrnak's hat trick was the 12th of his career (he also has two in the playoffs), tying Johnny Bucyk for third in Bruins history behind Cam Neely (14) and Phil Esposito (26). The winger, who now has 36 goals this season, credited his line's big night to an adjustment they made on the forecheck.
"Obviously Haula's been going great the last couple games," said Pastrnak. "I was a little bit lost out there...we talked about that we were a little bit far away from each other on the forecheck. Today, we've been great on forecheck and that's when we turned the puck over. We were able to spend more time in their zone because of it and create more opportunities to score."
Cassidy praised Haula's effort, in particular, noting that the centerman has had "good legs" over the past two games, during which he's accumulated five helpers.
"When Erik is skating, he is at his most effective," said Cassidy. "And between those guys [Taylor Hall and Pastrnak], you have to skate to keep up, but you also have to skate to reload if plays don't work out, and he's kind of bought into [it] - the last goal is a great example. He is working his way out of the zone knowing that there's a rush maybe coming back. He stops on a puck and now we're on offense again.
"Nice play in front of the net, create a second chance, which you have to against this goaltender. But yes, I think he's at his best when he is skating. Listen, guys go through stretches where they're feeling it, and he's feeling it right now."