Pastrnak will one day top Bruins' goals list, Bucyk, Esposito say

David Pastrnak scored the first two goals of his Boston Bruins career against the Philadelphia Flyers on Jan. 10, 2015. Fittingly, they came at Wells Fargo Center (now Xfinity Mobile Arena) in Philadelphia, where he was selected by the Bruins in the first round (No. 25) of the 2014 NHL Draft.

Now, 426 goals later, the 28th captain in team history is third all time for goal-scoring with the franchise.

Pastrnak's 428th goal, which came when he scored on a breakaway in the first period against the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday, moved him into sole possession of third place, ahead of Patrice Bergeron, who will enter the Hockey Hall of Fame with the Class of 2026 on Nov. 9. It was Pastrnak's 848th regular-season game. Bergeron reached the plateau of 427 in his 1,288th of 1,294 games with the Bruins.

Pastrnak will now set his sights on second-ranked Phil Esposito, who was enshrined in 1984 and whose 459th goal came in his 624th of 625 games with Boston.

David Pastrnak pulls on a Bruins cap upon his selection during the 2014 NHL Draft in Philadelphia, and a newspaper report of his first two NHL goals, scored in Philadelphia on Jan. 10, 2015.

At the Bruins' goal summit is former captain Johnny Bucyk, the Class of 1981 icon who scored the last of his 545 goals in the 1,419th of his 1,436 games wearing the spoked B.

Esposito has little doubt that Pastrnak will topple his 459, with Bucyk's 545 not out of reach.

"Pastrnak is a (heck) of a hockey player," said Esposito, who from 1964-81 scored 717 goals for the Chicago Black Hawks, Bruins and New York Rangers. "He's smart, he knows where to go, how to get in the open, especially on the power play, he moves and gets himself into position to shoot. He's got a great shot, and he has the same quick release that I had."

Esposito holds the NHL record for shots by a player in a season (550), set during his 76-goal 1970-71 season. Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin stands second and third with 528 and 446. Pastrnak is 12th with 407 shots that produced 61 goals in 2022-23.

Phil Esposito as a member of the 1970s Boston Bruins in action against the New York Rangers.

"You're never going to get guys getting 550 shots like I did, that's not going to happen," Esposito said. "The equipment is so good now that everybody blocks shots, unlike my day. (Bruins goalie) Gerry Cheevers once asked me, 'Are you ever going to block a shot, Phil?' and I replied, 'When you score a goal, I'll block a shot.' He said, 'OK, fair enough.'

"Pastrnak probably should range about 340, 360, 370 shots a year. If he does that, he'll get 45 to 55 goals. He's a good shooter with an eye for the net."

Bucyk has ranked first among Bruins goal-scorers for almost 59 years. His two-goal performance in a 4-4 tie against the Black Hawks at Boston Garden on Dec. 2, 1967, gave him 231, pushing past the 229 shared by team legends Dit Clapper and Milt Schmidt.

"Probably within a few years David will be passing me, and I'll be happy for him," Bucyk said. "He has a great shot. He's a good skater, but more so he's a very personable kid. You can talk to him, he's very polite. I can't say enough about him. I just want him to keep rolling."

The Bruins' Johnny Bucyk on his team's bench during a 1967-68 game.

Four years after Bucyk assumed the top spot, Esposito also passed Clapper and Schmidt to move into second place, the Bruins sniper scoring No. 230 on Christmas night 1971, a 5-1 home-ice victory against the visiting Flyers.

Bergeron claimed third spot with his 403rd goal, moving him one past Rick Middleton, in Boston's 7-5 loss at the Ottawa Senators on Oct. 18, 2022.

There was little noise in the Boston press about Bucyk becoming the Bruins' goal-scoring king. Reference was made to his 14th and 15th goals of the season, both scored on Chicago's Denis DeJordy, to move him past Schmidt, then his general manager. There was no mention of co-record holder Clapper.

Patrice Bergeron (l.) passed Rick Middleton (r.) on Oct. 18, 2022, to become the third-ranked goal-scorer in Bruins history.

Boston fans could celebrate the milestone achievement of the man known as Chief with a visit to Raymond's department store the following day. Bucyk's Bauer hockey skates were advertised in The Boston Globe for $11.90, along with beginners shin pads and gloves, $4.99 for the set.

"You can't buy a roll of tape for that today," Bucyk said, laughing.

There was less ink -- in fact, none at all -- about Esposito passing Schmidt and Clapper to move behind only Buyck, a mention that he converted a pass from Ken Hodge past Flyers goalie Doug Favell offered without context.
 
"Because no one cared," Esposito said. "There wasn't any social media and reporters weren't always digging for stories because they were desperate to have one. No one cared about game-winning goals or plus-minus. It was just who won and who lost.

Bruins legends Dit Clapper (l.) and Milt Schmidt.

"People ask me all the time, 'Were you a plus player?' and I say, 'I have no clue.'"

(For the record, Esposito was plus-252 in 1,282 NHL games.)

Two days after climbing into second spot, Esposito and second-year Bruins forward Reggie Leach, the future Flyers star, met fans for an hour at Boston's Ann & Hope department store, offering everyone a free autographed photo and, according to an ad in the Globe, "a few pointers on puck and stick-handling!"

Fans could outfit themselves with Esposito-endorsed equipment, including a foam-padded helmet, $2.99 from its usual $3.99 price; and hockey gloves, a fiberglass-reinforced stick, a street-hockey stick and shin guards, respectively $7.99, $1.99, $1.69 and $3.99. Espo-endorsed boys' and men's skates were selling for $9.88 and $14.88.

Phil Esposito in action with the 1970s Boston Bruins, and his 1971 autobiography, written with his goaltending brother, Tony.

For the reader, Phil would autograph "The Brothers Esposito," the new autobiography written with his brother, Tony, selling for $3.97 -- a full 49 cents off the regular price.

"I think we paid Reggie a couple hundred bucks to come with us," Esposito said of Leach. "That appearance was all about street hockey. I'd worked with a company to invent street-hockey sticks and the hard orange ball."

There's no record of Bergeron making a department store appearance when he claimed third place, rating a single paragraph when he scored No. 403. Coincidentally, Pastrnak scored what would be the game-winner that night against the Senators.

At age 91, Bucyk and his wife, Terri, attend every Bruins home game, the Boston legend holding court in the team's alumni suite, greeting friends and visitors, posing for photos and signing autographs before he even sits down.

Next June will mark Bucyk's 70th anniversary as a member of the Bruins family, with him having been traded with cash by the Detroit Red Wings in for goalie Terry Sawchuk on June 10, 1957.

Johnny Bucyk presents Patrice Bergeron with the John P. Bucyk Award for charitable and community endeavors at TD Garden on March 30, 2023.

Every now and then, he says, a fan of a certain age will remind him of Stanley Cup championships he won in 1970 and 1972 and his spot atop the Bruins' goal-scoring list, a perch he's occupied for nearly six decades.

"It's always nice, but I like to bring the discussion back to the new kids," Bucyk said. "It was a good choice making David captain. We have a lot of new players, and they seem to be headed the right way. I talk to him every so often after a game. If something big happens, I send him a text and he replies, so that's been nice.

"I'll see him around TD Garden and we chat. I like him, he's a good kid. He'll talk to you any time you want. You can ask him questions and he'll answer.

"It's time for somebody else to be the leading goal-scorer on the Bruins, that's the way I look at it. I've had it for nearly 60 years. That's a long time. It will be good for someone else to have it and I'll be very happy when David takes my place."