Boston Bruins

Pastrnak Reaches Lofty 50 Goal Mark For Boston Bruins

Published

1 year ago

March 26, 2023

RALEIGH, NC – It should have happened for the first time a couple of seasons ago when the sudden presence of COVID shut down the regular season, but on Sunday afternoon Boston Bruins game-breaking winger David Pastrnak reached 50 goals for the first time in his NHL career.

It was actually a bit of a funny play as Pastrnak was sprung loose on a nice Charlie McAvoy outlet feed and raced down the ice for a partial breakaway attempt. It looked like Pastrnak lost control of the puck as he was shooting and it slide past the reacting Frederik Andersen, but it’s difficult to say with No. 88 when he lost control of it or it was a clever, slick move designed to strike at a goalie shifting from side-to-side.

Make that 50 goals for Pastrnak 🍝🚨 pic.twitter.com/VE3uREOYhV

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) March 26, 2023

Either way it went in for Pastrnak’s 50^th goal of the season to give the Boston Bruins a 1-0 lead over the Carolina Hurricanes at PNC Arena, and in reaching that milestone Pastrnak became the first player drafted-and-developed by the Bruins to reach the 50-goal mark in a Black and Gold uniform. The milestone goal happened on a Sunday when the Boston Bruins were resting Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand, and Pastrnak was serving as alternate captain with an “A” on his sweater.

His Boston Bruins teammates were already preparing for the momentous accomplishment a few days ago when Pastrnak scored his 49^th goal in a win over the Montreal Canadiens.

“That’s a good question,” said Jake DeBrusk, when asked what scoring 50 goals at the NHL level means. “I’m just trying to get to the 30 [goal] mark, so you’d have to ask Pasta.”

Pastrnak joins an exclusive group of Boston Bruins players that includes legendary Boston Bruins forwards Cam Neely, Ken Hodge, Rick Middleton, Johnny Bucyk and Phil Esposito. Neely was the last to do it in 1993-94 when he scored 50 goals in 49 games while battling through lower body injuries that ended his career and winning the Masterton Trophy that season for his efforts.