Boston Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery understands David Pastrnak is behind his 60-goal pace to start the Stanley Cup playoffs. But Montgomery isn’t overly concerned about Pastrnak’s limited contributions through five games.
Montgomery knows it could come to a screeching halt the next time the All-Star winger steps on the ice.
Pastrnak is keeping a similar mindset himself. The veteran forward, who netted 61 goals in 82 regular-season games, expressed how he’s not letting himself get frustrated despite being limited to two goals in Boston’s first five contests against the Florida Panthers. Taylor Hall and Brad Marchand lead the Black and Gold with five and four goals, respectively.
“I can shoot the puck more, a little bit,” Pastrnak told reporters, per the team. “Obviously got a couple blocked shots and then you try to look for another play to see if somebody else is open better. So yeah, definitely going with the shooting mindset moving forward.”
“It’s just a matter of time it’s going to go in. It’s going to be tomorrow.”
Montgomery expressed much of the same immediately following the Bruins’ overtime loss in Game 5 at TD Garden on Wednesday night. But Boston’s bench boss still was enthusiastic about what Pastrnak brought to the group when the puck wasn’t on his stick.
Montgomery doubled down on those sentiments Thursday.
“I really trust David’s decision making, especially when he has the puck or when he’s offensively without it, because I go to him a lot about what he sees in certain situations and I learn through him,” Montgomery told reporters, per the team. “And so, I really liked his habits without the puck (Wednesday). And I just know when his habits without the puck are really good, he’s going to get more opportunities. I thought he had more opportunities (Wednesday) to do things than Game 4 in Florida. So if he continues along that trend it’s just a matter of time.”
The Bruins will have another chance to eliminate the Panthers in Game 6 on Friday night after not being able to do so in an overtime loss at TD Garden. They’ll surely be all the more difficult to beat if Pastrnak scores for a third (or fourth?) time in this series.
