David Pastrnak is a showman. A man who shies away from attention would not have strutted into TD Garden wearing a white suit with patterns of blue ferns speckling the arms.
“I like fashion,” Pastrnak said Saturday after the Bruins’ 5-2 Game 1 win over the Islanders in their second-round playoff matchup. “It’s a boring one today that I decided, compared to what I was going to wear. In the end, I backed up and decided to go with this one. Still have a couple crazy ones in the closet. Hopefully, I’ll be able to wear them. I love fashion. As long as I feel good, I don’t really care what people think.”
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It could only have been Pastrnak, then, to touch off Boston’s biggest frenzy in more than 14 months. At 13:50 of the third period, Pastrnak blew the roof off TD Garden — filled with 17,400 on Massachusetts’ first day of no COVID-19 restrictions — by pumping his third puck past Ilya Sorokin. Hundreds of hats sailed onto the Garden ice to commemorate not only Pastrnak’s achievement but also, perhaps, the beginning of better days.
The crowd had Pastrnak to thank for the opportunity.
“It seems like he rises to the occasion every time he’s asked to,” Patrice Bergeron said. “He’s one of those guys that brings that energy. But he also loves to get the crowd going. It seems kind of fitting for him to have one of those nights with the fans back in the building.”
Pastrnak’s third goal was classic No. 88. Earlier in his shift, he had been dumped in center ice, peeved that he didn’t get a call. After he picked off Brock Nelson’s pass, Pastrnak was determined to make up for the non-penalty.
He walked Josh Bailey in the neutral zone. As he accelerated into the offensive zone and curled into the slot, Taylor Hall, fresh over the boards, skated straight into Noah Dobson and Adam Pelech. With the two defenders occupied by Hall, Pastrnak whistled a wrister past Sorokin’s blocker. The right wing, who’d spent too many regular-season shifts fumbling pucks and misfiring one-timers, stitched together all of his dynamic skills in one electric sequence. The hats signaled the fans’ delight.
“I think it was just a good moment to look around and see a lot of joy,” coach Bruce Cassidy said. “Obviously, Pasta’s a goal scorer. He’s found his touch.”
The Islanders had no answers for Pastrnak, Bergeron and Brad Marchand. The first-liners did their thing all night, from winning pucks to snapping east-west pucks in the offensive zone to getting Sorokin to scurry all around his crease. During five-on-five play, the Bruins outshot the Islanders 17-3 with the No. 1 line on the ice, according to Natural Stat Trick.
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Bergeron led all players with eight pucks on goal. Pastrnak drained three of his seven shots. Marchand was everywhere.
Islanders coach Barry Trotz, who did not have last change, had to split up his top pair of Pelech and Ryan Pulock at times to account for the Bruins’ first two lines. It didn’t work. Trotz will have to devise a fix in a hurry, whether that’s riding the Pelech-Pulock pair, getting a different line against Bergeron’s unit or perhaps even putting Semyon Varlamov back in net.
Sorokin stopped some surefire goals. But the former No. 2 punted out a bad rebound on Bergeron’s shot that led to Pastrnak’s second goal.
It was almost as sloppy as the sequence before Pastrnak’s first goal. Sorokin kicked out David Krejci’s point shot to Pastrnak. As the goalie tried to recover, he slid too far to his right and failed to get square to Pastrnak. The right wing thanked Sorokin for his mistake.
The top line and the Bruins were in control for the entire game. Even when Anthony Beauvillier gave the Islanders a 1-0 lead in the first, the Bruins were trending in the right direction. They were reducing some of the early in-zone jitters on clearing attempts. They were getting their looks between the circles on Sorokin. They were in sync.
“When it was your turn to get the puck out, just making sure you bear down. That was it,” Charlie McAvoy said. “I thought our forwards played great tonight. I thought they attacked with tons of pace. Our skill was on display. They really played awesome. Lots of great chances and looks. When we’re moving like that, when we’re attacking and using each other, oftentimes we’re able to carry the momentum of the game.”
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McAvoy pulled the momentum toward his team’s side for good in the third. With Nick Ritchie parked in front, McAvoy rapped a long-distance one-timer that caught Sorokin peeking the other way. It set up Pastrnak to do his thing, which he enjoyed. Pastrnak has had enough of playing hockey in empty rinks.
“It’s a different sport with them in the building,” Pastrnak said. “It definitely warms your heart and reminds you why you play this sport. It was awesome to have them back.”
(Photo: Rich Gagnon / Getty Images)
