David Pastrnak historically has been an unreliable option in the shootout.
Still, the decision by Bruce Cassidy to leave an early Hart Trophy candidate on the bench during an ugly shootout loss to the Florida Panthers on Tuesday was a perplexing one.
After the Bruins blew a 4-0 third-period lead, they ultimately fell 5-4 to Florida, dropping the shootout 2-1. Vincent Trocheck and Mike Hoffman both scored for the Panthers, while Charlie Coyle had the B’s lone tally. Chris Wagner, Brad Marchand and Charlie McAvoy all were stopped by Florida backup Sam Montembeault, who took over after Sergei Bobrovsky was chased earlier in the game.
So, even though Pastrnak is 3-for-16 in his career in shootouts, why didn’t Cassidy at least give him a go? He explained following the loss that in the past, shooting on Montembeault has worked better than trying to deke him.
“You know, again, (goalie coach) Bob (Essensa) has information on that. One thing Bob suggested — we were going to use Wagner,” Cassidy said, via a team-provided transcript. “There was maybe more shooters than dekers against this goalie coming in, but Charlie (Coyle) scored in the shootout shooting. You know, we put Coyle in and recommended shooting. Pasta tends to like to deke, so that’s why we went away from him. He’s been a little bit cold lately in the shootout, so give some other guys an opportunity that we feel can finish. Charlie McAvoy definitely has but didn’t happen.”
With that logic in mind, perhaps Zdeno Chara would have been a good option in one of those spots.
Of course, not conceding four goals in the third period is a way to keep those decisions from needing to be made, but it’s clear Cassidy had his reasons for not having Pastrnak shoot.
