Pastrnak Posts Four Points in Bruins’ 6-1 Win Over Mammoth

BOSTON –– Natasha Bedingfield’s “Unwritten” trickled out of the Boston Bruins’ locker room on Thursday night.

They had just beaten the Utah Mammoth 6-1 at TD Garden, and the B’s captain, David Pastrnak, posted four points.​

He smiled at the song choice.​

“I didn’t choose that. I think maybe the guys chose it,” Pastrnak said. “I love that song, so maybe they chose it for me. I don’t know. But I love it.”

Pastrnak, who scored his first two goals of the season on Thursday, added two assists in the dominant win. He was part of the power play, which went 3-for-4, while the penalty kill was a perfect 7-for-7. Jeremy Swayman had a shutdown showing with 36 saves.

“Important, obviously, and gave a huge boost to our game. Big time. Everything was clicking today. Good game for the special teams,” Pastrnak said. “The season is so long, and you’re going to go through ups and downs. It’s important to stay in the moment and make sure you respond.”

Head coach Marco Sturm was happy to see Pastrnak get rewarded.

“He had that flow; the rhythm in his game,” Sturm said. “You get one goal and all of a sudden you feel it. That’s just the way it is.”

​Before Pastrnak started to tear up the scoresheet, Casey Mittelstadt jump-started the Bruins with his first of the year to make it 1-0 at 10:06 of the opening frame. Elias Lindholm forced a turnover near the blueline and got the puck over to James Hagens, who backhanded it to Mittelstadt by the left circle to snipe past Utah netminder Sebastian Cossa. It marked Hagens’ third point of the season.

Mittelstadt was on the third line with Lindholm and Hagens as part of a shake-up Sturm committed to during Wednesday’s practice.

“I could see it in your guys’ eyes yesterday; you were probably like, ‘What is he doing?’ I’m not dumb,” Sturm said with a chuckle. “It was one of those things that I had to go with my gut, and guys throughout the game did a good job.”

Pastrnak doubled the advantage with a power-play tally. Lindholm won the offensive-zone faceoff, kicking it back to Morgan Geekie, who chipped it off to Frederic Brunet. The 23-year-old defenseman dished the puck over to Pastrnak for the wrist shot from above the right circle. It was the captain’s first goal of the year, and Brunet’s first NHL point.

“It was great. I was freaking out when I got that puck because I was like, I didn’t know what to do with it. I’m glad [Brunet] knew what to do,” Geekie said. “He’s got a calm presence to him out there and seems very comfortable.”

Brunet finished the contest with one assist, two shots, four blocks and two hits through 18:42 of ice time.

“He was great. Made that one play there on the power play when David scored. It was pretty impressive, actually, coming under pressure on the blueline from a young kid who has been on that unit for a few days,” Sturm said. “It was nice to see. Overall, what a great game from him.”

Boston widened the gap just over a minute later when Mason Lohrei weaved through three Mammoth and wired it home for the 3-0 scoreline and his first of the year. That was the end of Cossa’s night, as Karel Vejmelka came in for relief.

The power play kept rolling in the second period. Pastrnak released a slapshot from the dot, which made it 4-0 at 4:40. Geekie collected his second assist of the game on the play. He then got his own first goal of the season, also on the man advantage, nearly mirroring the previous tally. This time, Pastrnak slid it over to Geekie for the slapshot at 7:57 to push things to 5-0.

​Pastrnak soon posted his fourth point and second assist of the game, setting Matt Poitras up off a 2-on-1 rush for the zippy wrister, first goal of the year and second point of the night. The B’s took the 6-0 lead into the third period.  

​“Just try to be ready and to one time it because that’s kind of the best chance to score, when the goalie is not ready, and it comes across like that,” Poitras said of his thought process during the play. “Just get it on net and quick.”

Jack McBain eventually got the Mammoth on the board at 9:48, bringing the matchup to its final 6-1 standing.

“That’s the beauty of this league – you’re able to kind of get back on the horse right away,” Geekie said. “We got the crowd into it early with the big goal and things like that. It’s always nice playing at home, and glad we were able to turn things around tonight.”

The Bruins will close out their three-game homestand on Saturday when they host the Philadelphia Flyers for a 1 p.m. puck drop.