Preseason doesn’t matter, preseason is just a warm-up… call preseason what you want, but it’s certainly serving as a great start for NHL sophomore David Pastrnak of the Boston Bruins.
Drafted 25th overall at the 2014 NHL Entry Draft by Boston, Pastrnak’s rookie season was unnaturally short for someone who had the impact he did — despite scoring at a faster pace than Tyler Seguin did in his own rookie season with Boston, the 18 year old Czech Republic native spent almost half the season in the AHL before actually getting a consistent call-up to play with the big team.
Now, he’s scoring in pre-season games and reminding everyone that he is the hero Boston both needs and deserves.
In a 2-1 overtime victory for the Boston Bruins over the Washington Capitals, Pastrnak didn’t just score the overtime winner — he scored both of the team’s goals in the game, period. His ability to play with centre David Krejci and find the back of the net suggests that he may be ready not just for the big leagues, but to take on more ice time responsibility than he had last year.
For those who need to see it to believe it, here’s the 3 on 3 overtime winner:
Total snipe by David Pastrnak in the 3-on-3 overtime. Holy smokes. pic.twitter.com/UPIKuZ8sGx
— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) September 23, 2015
Oh… and here’s the first of the two goals, where Pastrnak announced his presence loud and clear against the Capitals netminder with a little over 11 minutes left in the third period:
David Pastrnak, still good at hockey! pic.twitter.com/NtQ62YcGJW
— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) September 23, 2015
The Bruins had a questionable off-season that’s been debated into the ground, but the fact that the team has yet to see a full season out of last year’s first-round selection — who ran roughshod on the AHL in his brief time there before racking up 10 goals and 27 points in 46 regular season NHL games — tends to get overlooked a bit. Chances are, if he can continue to perform the way he did last year (and the way he clearly already is in the early exhibition-only games), Pastrnak may be one of the top steals of his draft class.