David Pastrnak was going to score eventually.
Friday, he finally did.
The Boston Bruins’ star winger was stuck in a goal-scoring slump. It wasn’t due to carelessness, he had been playing the right way. Pastrnak had been attacking the puck and even getting to the net. He was just snakebitten.
But in Boston’s Game 4 win over the Washington Capitals, Pastrnak got back on track with a third-period rocket of a wrister from the top of the right circle.
“I just tried to keep shooting,” Pastrnak said after the game over Zoom. “I think even last game, I had a lot of great opportunities to score. Sometimes the goalie just made a good save or I rushed it a little bit. So, it’s always a good sign when you’re getting the chances and you know it’s right there. At the same time, it’s frustrating when you’re getting a lot of chances and it doesn’t go in. Just got to stay with it, and the main focus is to keep shooting pucks.”
The good thing for the Bruins is that Pastrnak’s troubles finding the back of the net have not had a huge impact on the series. Boston’s entire top six was off in Game 1, but since have rebounded and the results have shown. The Bruins lead their series 3-1 and are one win away from moving onto the second round.
“Obviously nice to score a goal, but important part is that we’re winning,” Pastrnak said. “Everybody loves scoring, but in the playoffs it doesn’t matter as long as you get the win.”
That, the Bruins are.
Here are some other notes from Bruins-Capitals Game 4:
— Tuukka Rask is firmly situated atop the Bruins record books.
With the win Friday, Rask now is the winningest postseason goaltender in team history. It was the 54th playoff victory for Rask, who passed Gerry Cheevers. Rask had a respectable showing, turning away all but one of the shots he faced in Game 4.
The Capitals didn’t have a ton of Grade A chances, but when they did, Rask was up to the task. He finished with 19 saves on 20 shots, stopping all 14 even strength attempts and five of the six power-play shots.
— Matt Grzelcyk had a bumpy start to the season from a health standpoint, but he’s proven time and time again how valuable he is to the Bruins.
For as good as he is at moving the puck and skating it out of the defensive zone and into the offensive end, he’s not the most prolific goal-scorer.
He was rewarded late in Game 4, though, scoring on a power-play one-timer from the right dot to put the Bruins up by the deciding score.
“It’s always fun to score, especially in the playoffs in a big game like that,” Grzelcyk said. “That’s a great feeling, but especially as defensemen, we tried to make an emphasis going into Game 4 to shoot the puck quicker, the forwards are doing a great job working them down low, doing a good job spinning off hits and not giving it to us right away. We can find some open space and we just try to get it to the net as much as possible. We did a lot better job of that tonight.”
— More of a housekeeping item than anything, but for those interested in who the Black Aces are, here was the list of scratches for the Bruins in Game 4, which should give you an indication.
— The Bruins have a chance to eliminate the Capitals on Sunday. Puck drop from Capital One Arena is set for 7 p.m. ET Sunday on NESN, with pregame coverage beginning at 6.
