“For a goal scorer, you don’t want to go too long,” Cassidy said.
The moment found Pastrnak in overtime Saturday in Ottawa.
Knotted at 2 with the Senators, Taylor Hall set up Pastrnak above the right circle and Pastrnak fired a slap shot from 41 feet out that sealed a 3-2 Bruins win to close out their four-game road trip.
“Listen, every player wants to score in overtime,” Cassidy said. “I think he needed that, to be honest with you. He was getting frustrated with his opportunities — or lack of — or even some calls. It looked like he got roughed up a little a few times and didn’t get a call.”
The goal gave Pastrnak 25 for the year, his fifth time reaching the plateau in a single season.
“It’s been a little grind lately, so it was a nice goal,” Pastrnak said. “But overall it’s a big win for us. Way to end the road trip. It wasn’t pretty but we got the 2 points.”
The Bruins are still the only team in the NHL to avoid losing three consecutive games this season, but this was by far their most trying stretch. They dropped four of their last five before Saturday, getting outscored, 16-6, over that span. They were 0 for 9 on the power play over their previous four games.
Over their last 13 games, the Bruins are 5-6-2 and they’ve been outscored, 42-25. They haven’t scored more than three goals in a game since Jan. 20 when they beat the Capitals, 4-3.
The Bruins opened up this four-game road trip with a 2-0 win over the Senators but if the Senators were supposed to be the Bruins’ slump-buster, they didn’t get the memo.
“Listen, you play in the NHL, there’s teams that are going to make their push,” Pastrnak said. “Sometimes they’re not going to come back, sometimes they are. The important thing is to refocus for the next shift and stay focused.”
The Bruins needed players up and down the roster to snap out of scoring funks to pull out the win.
Jake DeBrusk hadn’t scored a goal since Jan. 26 against the Avalanche. He was minus-4 with a 0-1–1 line over that eight-game stretch. He cashed a chaotic score at the 2:37 mark that gave the Bruins their first goal of the night.
Jack Studnicka raced to dig the puck out of the corner and spotted DeBrusk cutting through the middle of the ice.
With two Senators surrounding him, Studnicka simply flung the puck to safety.
DeBrusk snagged it in mid-air and swatted it at the net. Before Senators goalie Forsberg knew what happened, the puck hopped past his right pad.
The Senators didn’t take long getting the goal back. Tim Stützle took an outlet pass from Adam Gaudette, pushed the puck up ice, gave it up to Erik Brannstrom, while the Bruins were scrambling to get back on defense. Artem Zub fired a wrist shot from the point that Jeremy Swayman was about to get a stick on when Stützle reappeared to clean it up. His 10th goal of the season evened the score at 1 at the 6:45 mark.
Knotted at 1 late in the second period, Mike Reilly wrapped the puck along the wall from the blue line to Brandon Carlo in the far corner on the other side. Carlo found Charlie Coyle behind the net. Coyle took the puck to one side, and sent a pass out in front of Forsberg.Carlo swooped in to finish the job.
Carlo’s first goal since Jan. 4 gave the Bruins a 2-1 lead. It snapped a 19-game drought.
However, a turnover at center ice by Hall allowed the Senators to even it at 2 with 3:54 left in the third on Nick Holden’s fourth goal of the season.
Jeremy Swayman kept the Bruins in it stopping 29 of 31 shots and earned his 10th win of the season. The Bruins return home for a matchup Monday with the Colorado Avalanche before heading back out on a six-game road trip.
“Obviously, you never want to come back from the road to be down wins,” Pastrnak said. “So today was a big one and we’re really happy to get it done, but there’s still work to do for us.”
Julian Benbow can be reached at [email protected].
George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism