Since the calendar turned from 2021 to 2022, David Pastrnak has been red hot.
The Boston Bruins winger struggled a bit to begin the season, scoring just eight goals in the first three months. That all changed in the new year, though, and Pastrnak has been a scoring machine since.
His latest goals came in the Bruins' 5-2 win over the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday night at T-Mobile Arena. Pastrnak potted two goals to go along with Craig Smith's hat trick to keep Boston's recent surge going.
Pastrnak was hopeful some extended time off in December would help him regroup and get back to his normal self and that certainly seemed to help after reaching the 30-goal mark for the fifth time in his career Thursday.
The two goals upped his total to 31 on the season, meaning Pastrnak has scored 23 of his 31 goals since Jan. 1.
There's still plenty of hockey to be played and if he keeps up this pace, Pastrnak could be the Bruins' first 50-goal scorer since Cam Neely reached the mark in 1993-94.
