Pastrnak Scores Twice in Bruins Overtime Loss to Devils

NEW JERSEY –– The Boston Bruins could not find a full 60 minutes in New Jersey.

Despite a fiery start and lead, the B’s fell 4-3 in overtime to the Devils on Monday at Prudential Center. David Pastrnak led his group into the fight, though, and posted two goals, including the tying tally in the third, which secured a point for the Bruins.

“This guy, he gave us everything he had,” head coach Marco Sturm said. “Not just because he scored two goals, he was the driver. He was good on the bench; he was always pushing guys. For me, he was by far the best player on the ice today.”

Pastrnak put the Bruins ahead early. Marat Khusnutdinov sent the puck up to Henri Jokiharju at the point, where he launched it on net. Pastrnak picked up the rebound, pulled a slick move in close, and put it past Devils’ goaltender Jacob Markstrom at 4:02. Pastrnak was skating on the first line with Khusnutdinov and Fraser Minten, a combination Sturm returned to on Monday.

“It is fun. They are super mature for their age,” Pastrnak said. “We obviously played a little bit together, had some success.”

Jokiharju was in his first game since Feb. 28 and earned his first point since Jan. 11 with an assist on the scoring play. The defenseman was on the third pair with Nikita Zadorov and finished the night with a point, three blocks and one hit through 19:14 of ice time.

Pavel Zacha, the former Devil, doubled the Bruins’ advantage to 2-0 at 14:29. Charlie McAvoy broke up a New Jersey rush at the blue line and sprung the puck up to Viktor Arvidsson, who set Zacha up for a knock-in shot from the left doorstep. It was Zacha’s 20th goal of the season; his career-high is 21.

Pastrnak and McAvoy both extended their point streaks in the first period to six and seven, respectively.

The Devils knotted the contest 2-2 by the end of the middle frame. Connor Brown’s snap shot 32 seconds into the period made it 2-1, and Jesper Bratt found the equalizer at 8:08. New Jersey grabbed its first lead, 3-2, of the night with a wrister from Paul Cotter at 2:50 of the third.

“Frustrating because we played such a good first period. The way we came out in the second and the way we played in the second, that for me is night and day. If you play like that, that’s what you get,” Sturm said. “That second period really bothered me…Got to learn from it.”

Pastrnak soon showed off his magic to tie things. The forward corralled the puck up the right side, weaved through the Devils, looped it over to his backhand and wired it in at 4:32 for the 3-3 scoreline, his second of the game and 26th of the season.

“It is a lot of fun watching him. He’s been working really hard today, winning a lot of battles. And when he had the puck, there was something always going on,” Zacha said of Pastrnak. “He basically gave us the one point at least and the chance to win the game.”

Pastrnak recognized his team could use a lift, and put it on himself on Monday.

“This season is long, so sometimes somebody has more energy than the other guys. Today, I felt like I was the guy. So I tried to be the voice,” Pastrnak said. “That is what’s special about this group. We can sense it if somebody is maybe fighting it or is low on energy; we pick each other up. We try to always be there for each other.”  

While Pastrnak got Boston to overtime, the Devils took the 4-3 win, courtesy of Cotter’s goal with seven seconds remaining on the clock.

The Bruins will now refocus for the second game of their back-to-back, closing out the road trip on Tuesday with a matchup against the Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre.

“Lucky that we get a point and we can learn from it and go tomorrow and win a game,” Zacha said. “That has to be the mindset – learn from it and win the next one tomorrow.”