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BHN Talking Points

Talking Points: Rask, Pastrnak Team Up For Winning Boston Bruins

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Boston Bruins

BOSTON – Here are the Talking Points from the Boston Bruins 3-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers at TD Garden on Thursday night.

GOLD STAR: David Pastrnak has been just as red-hot as Brad Marchand, and so it makes sense that No. 88 followed Marchand’s lead by potting a hat trick the day after No. 63 did the same exact thing. Pastrnak’s goals powered the entire offense for the Black and Gold and gave the Bruins everything they would need in the game’s first 40 minutes. It was Pastrnak’s 11th hat trick of his NHL career and continues a hot streak that’s seen him score eight goals in his last six games. The capper was a patented Pastrnak one-timer from the high point on the power play that beat Carter Hart top corner on a night when the Flyers goaltender had his “A” game. Pastrnak finished with eight shots on net and 14 shot attempts in 18:23 of ice to go along with his three goals and two penalties.

BLACK EYE: Charlie Coyle has actually been pretty good for the balance of this season, but there was not much to his game on Thursday night. Coyle went without a shot on net, took a penalty, had two giveaways and lost 7-of-11 faceoffs in a performance that as much invisible as it was ineffective against the Flyers. One would hope it’s merely an off night on the second night of a back-to-back and the third difficult game in four days, and not his game trailing off in the third line role with Jake DeBrusk and Oskar Steen. Either way, Coyle needs to be a lot better than he was in a win over the Flyers where some bad habits seemed to creep back in Boston’s game.

TURNING POINT: The Bruins were off and running when David Pastrnak had two goals in the first 5:27 of the first period and that gave Boston the cushion they needed to let Tuukka Rask knock off the rust as the game was going on. They outshot the Flyers by a 29-15 margin through the first 40 minutes of the game and dominated, and it easily could have been a much more lopsided game if Carter Hart wasn’t so brilliant early in the contest.

HONORABLE MENTION: Tuukka Rask was brilliant for a guy that hadn’t played meaningful hockey games since last spring. He didn’t see a ton of action early, but he was able to stop Joel Farabee on a breakaway and then forced Zack MacEwan into hitting a post on another quality chance for the Flyers as Boston was protecting a one-goal lead. In all Rask stopped 25-of-27 shots and was at his best in the third period making 12 saves as Philly really amped up their attack while trying desperately to get the game-tying goal. It looked like Rask wasn’t at his best playing the puck at times and certainly things will only get better, but it was also obvious watching him move post-to-post that he’s a lot healthier now than he was during the Stanley Cup playoffs last season. The first step was a really good one for Rask and the Bruins.

BY THE NUMBERS: 11 – the number of hat tricks for David Pastrnak, who trails only Evgeni Malkin and Alex Ovechkin for the most career hat tricks among active players. That is some pretty amazing company to be keeping for the Boston Bruins game-breaker.

QUOTE TO NOTE: “Looked like old Tuukka.” –Boston Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy talking about the “new” goalie after stopping 25-of-27 shots in his first game in over 200 days.

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