Talking Points: Boston Bruins Pull Away From Sens In Win

BOSTON – Here are the Talking Points from the Boston Bruins 3-1 win over the Ottawa Senators at TD Garden on Monday afternoon.

GOLD STAR: Who else but David Pastrnak on David Krejci’s big day where he was celebrated for his 1000^th NHL game played. Pastrnak snapped a tie game in the second period with a sniper shot that went top corner from the bottom of the faceoff circle, and then he iced the game late in the third period when he was sprung for a breakaway goal where he beat the netminder five hole to make it a 3-1 game. Pastrnak finished with two goals and a plus-1 in 17:08 of ice time along with six shots on net and 11 shot attempts and a blocked shot in an extremely active game. This was clearly one of those games where No. 88 was a big-time difference-maker.

BLACK EYE: The Ottawa Senators didn’t play a bad game at all. In fact, they really pushed the Boston Bruins for the first half of the game, and they did it with a goaltender whose work I am not familiar with. But Nikita Zaitsev finished a team-worst minus-2, Drake Batherson was barely noticeable during the game and Alex DeBrincat didn’t register as a very big blip on the screen either despite topping 20 minutes of ice time. Most of the Sens played a pretty decent game, but they were going to need a little more from a bunch of different players if they were going to pull that one out.

TURNING POINT: The real turning point in the victory was the third period where the Boston Bruins pulled away from the Senators and really shut them down. They allowed just a couple of shots on net while protecting a one-goal lead entering the final period and tacked on an insurance goal from David Pastrnak as they got back to Boston Bruins hockey overwhelming a team with their depth in the final 20-minute block. There was also this stone-cold save from Linus Ullmark in the second period just before the go-ahead B’s score that probably signalled to the Sens that it wasn’t going to be their day. What a stop.

Linus Ullmark denies Dylan Gambrell. pic.twitter.com/zDVVawQSL7

— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) February 20, 2023

HONORABLE MENTION: Charlie McAvoy absolutely was a difference-maker for the Boston Bruins. It was McAvoy that served up the first pass that eventually led to Jake DeBrusk attacking the net and popping in his own rebound in the first period, and it was McAvoy again from his knees throwing a puck down the ice to a streaking David Pastrnak for a breakaway goal in the second period that iced the game for the Black and Gold in the third period. McAvoy finished with three assists, a plus-1 rating and 22:47 of ice time to go along with three shot attempts, three hits and four blocked shots in an excellent afternoon for Boston’s No. 1 defenseman against the team he debuted against as an NHL players a handful of years ago.

BY THE NUMBERS: 40 – the number of goals for David Pastrnak after scoring the game-winner in the second period that gives him back-to-back 40-goal season and the third 40-goal season of his NHL career.

QUOTE TO NOTE: “I thought [David Pastrnak] and Charlie McAvoy were special tonight.” –Boston Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery, on his two most explosive players stepping up in a win over the Senators.