Pastrnak Providing a Helping Hand

TAMPA - David Pastrnak has put together back-to-back 30-goal campaigns.
His 35 tallies during the regular season paced the Bruins. And he's added five more in just eight games this postseason.
But it's his playmaking ability that has truly risen to the occasion. The 21-year-old winger is leading the NHL with 12 assists during the playoffs, including the four helpers he dished out during Boston's 6-2 victory over the Lightning in Game 1 of their second-round series on Saturday.

Pastrnak, also the NHL's playoff scoring leader with 17 points, delivered assists - two primary and two secondary - on all four goals from Rick Nash and Patrice Bergeron. In total, the Bruins' top line of Pastrnak, Bergeron, and Brad Marchand combined for three goals and eight assists - a dominating total reminiscent of their output in the first two games against Toronto, during which they piled up 20 points.
The development of Pastrnak's vision and patience with the puck has been that much more of a boon to what is already considered by many to be the best line in hockey.
"He's just playing what's in front of him," said Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy. "If it's time to shoot, he'll shoot. Pasta certainly has the ability to make high-end plays, and I think he thinks shot first a lot, but [Saturday] the plays were there to be made.
"Look at the backdoor play he made to Jake [DeBrusk] in Game 7 [vs.] Toronto…in the past, I think he'd probably look to pound that, now he's maybe exploring all of his options. I think he's stronger on the puck now, so he has it longer.
"Maybe before he was shooting because he knew he wouldn't have it long. Now, he's able to have the confidence to hang onto it knowing he could absorb some of these hits or partial hits and still make the play."

Pastrnak's second assist of the afternoon was particularly impressive. As he broke in on Tampa goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy from the corner, the Czech native pulled the puck back on his right hip in an attempt to fake a shot. Pastrnak then quickly zipped a feed over to Bergeron at the bottom of the left-wing circle, where the pivot fired it home for a 2-0 Bruins lead.
"You saw that in Toronto, that play he made to Marchand on the 2-on-1," said Cassidy. "He's got that ability to get the puck out to the side like he's going to shoot and then he freezes everybody, gets the defenseman to flip his stick to commit to the shot block or to him, and then he slides it backhand against the grain.
"They have good chemistry, obviously, playing together. He's a guy who can do that very well. He's got that gift. It's composure, soft hands, timing. He's done all of that this year."

Maintenance Men

David Krejci, Kevan Miller, and Tuukka Rask all missed practice at the Ice Sports Forum in Brandon, Fla., on Sunday afternoon for maintenance days, but none are expected to have trouble suiting up for Game 2.
"Krech has a very minor injury," said Cassidy. "They're fine. I don't anticipate they will miss tomorrow, they should be ready to go."

DeBrusk Goes All Out

Jake DeBrusk has proven himself to be a natural postseason performer through the first eight games of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. His six goals lead the Bruins, while ranking second in the NHL behind Pittsburgh's Jake Guentzel and Sidney Crosby.
But it was his effort without the puck during Saturday's Game 1 victory over the Lightning that will go down in Bruins playoff lore. Putting forth his best Gregory Campbell impression, the rookie winger took a heavy hit from Alex Killorn in the slot early in the third, just before blocking a Yanni Gourde shot with his left knee.
The shot felled DeBrusk, but he remained on the ice and eventually dove to knock the puck out the zone. Just minutes later, the 21-year-old returned and potted an empty-netter to seal the win.

"I think I might have started the whole shift off with a turnover," said DeBrusk. "After the hit - I didn't even know it was going to come - just try to regroup and get my stick and try to stay in position, I guess. They were buzzing and Yanni took a shot and I just tried to get in the lane. Got a piece of it, and then it was just desperation on the third play of the sequence.
"I knew I needed to get it out there or else it could have been trouble. I just dove and I was lucky enough to get a piece and [David] Backes was in a great spot to get that puck as well. I mean it was just one of those things where it was just desperation, just playoffs. You have to give it your all, especially when they're pushing hard like that."
DeBrusk's efforts did not go unrecognized by his teammates.
"That was an amazing shift by him," said Bergeron. "He got pushed around a few times and got back up, made some blocks and had a good stick and finally got the puck out.
"That's what you need; that's what you want to see. He got rewarded, too, with the empty netter. It's great to see from the young guys. I say that a lot, but it's fun to watch."

Starting on Time

If there was one area of concern for the Bruins following Game 1, it was their start. Tampa came out with plenty of jump and easily could have opened up an early lead if not for several stellar stops from Tuukka Rask. Related to the slow start is their management of the puck - particularly in the defensive zone - which led to problems in their own end throughout the afternoon.
"We've just got to execute better, I thought we had opportunities to play with the puck better and we gave it back to them," said Cassidy. "Eventually you're going to pay the price…we know they're good. We've seen them now five times this year. I would suspect that they'll be better than they were [on Saturday] in certain areas of the game and I'm sure we will as well.
"You're on the road and that's part of it, you have to manage the game early and make sure you stay in it. We'd like to be the initiator early on, obviously, get the better start. That will be our game plan."