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Pastrnak Hits Lofty 60 Goal Mark With Philly Hat Trick

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As he hit 50 goals for the Boston Bruins with plenty of time to go in the regular season, it was clear that David Pastrnak had a shot at 60 goals for the Black and Gold. That’s exactly what he did on Sunday night in Philadelphia as he dominated with a hat trick and was an offensive force through the entire game while becoming just the second B’s player in franchise history to reach the 60-goal mark. Pastrnak joins Phil Esposito as the only two Boston Bruins players in the 60-goal club as his final score, on a nifty give-and-go play with Tyler Bertuzzi, lifted Boston to a 4-2 lead at the Wells Fargo Center on Sunday afternoon.

The hats went flying from the Philly stands to celebrate Pastrnak’s big milestone moment, and truth be told No. 88 could have easily had four or five goals with another score getting called back to a borderline goalie interference call on Connor Clifton. Regardless, it was a huge milestone for Pastrnak as he’s become one of the elite goal-scorers in Boston Bruins franchise history with plenty of time left to tack big numbers in the prime of his career.

“It means you’re an elite goal-scorer, as elite as there is,” said Boston Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery, when asked earlier this week what it means when a player scores 60 goals at the NHL level. “To think that in the Bruins great history that Phil Esposito is the only one that’s ever done it is pretty amazing with all the great player and goal-scorers that have come through here.

Cam Neely, Nifty, it goes on and on, Chief and Ken Hodge. Wayne Cashman, my head coach in Philadelphia for a while.

“There have been so many great players that have come through here and scored a lot of goals. So to think that [David Pastrnak] is on the verge of being the second one to ever do it for Boston and just the [23rd] player to ever do it in the league? Now you’re talking about the history of great goal-scorers and you’re talking about the 1970’s, 1980’s and 1990’s in eras when the goal-scoring was so high.”

Amazingly, the hat trick and 60 goals for Pastrnak also give him 300 career NHL goals at the young age of 26 years old after debuting in the National Hockey League as an 18-year-old. Pastrnak won’t lead the league in goals scored as Edmonton center Connor McDavid has scored 64 goals for the Oil this season, but he joins very rarified NHL air by getting to that mark for the first time in his prolific lamp-lighting career.

Pastrnak becomes just the 23rd player in NHL history to score over 60 goals vaulting him into the super elite game-breaking category in the best hockey league in the world.

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