Blue Jackets defeat Bruins; Pastrnak scores, Marchand leaves exhibition

David Pastrnak scored for the Boston Bruins in a 4-1 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets in an exhibition game at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on Thursday.

The forward was held out of all full-team practices in training camp because he had to quarantine after returning from the Czech Republic. His first full-team practice was Monday in Toronto, the Eastern Conference hub city.

"I knew coming into the game I'm not going to feel great, but at the end it wasn't that bad," Pastrnak said. "To be honest, I'd rather play and get the time, get the game mode, the earlier, the better. I'm really happy I played."

Brad Marchand, Pastrnak's linemate, left the game with 11:40 remaining in the third period after he appeared to grimace and showed discomfort killing a penalty during his last shift.

"Don't think it's anything serious, but we'll have a better idea in the morning," Boston coach Bruce Cassidy said.

As part of the NHL Return to Play Plan, a team is not permitted to disclose player injury or illness information.

Tuukka Rask and Jaroslav Halak combined for 27 saves for the Bruins. Rask allowed three first-period goals and made 17 saves on 20 shots playing almost half the game.

Boston next plays in the Eastern Conference round-robin portion of the Stanley Cup Qualifiers against the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday (3 p.m. ET; NBC, SN, TVAS). It also plays the Tampa Bay Lightning (Aug. 5) and Washington Capitals (Aug. 9) to determine seeding for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

"We didn't play well in front of Tuukka the first period," Cassidy said. "We weren't on time. They had more urgency. Obviously, they're getting right into their elimination games, so their mindset was clearly different than ours early on. I think we were to a certain extent just trying to get back into live hockey, whereas they were playing for keeps."

Boone Jenner, Zach Werenski, Gustav Nyquist and Alexandre Texier scored, and Joonas Korpisalo and Elvis Merzlikins combined for 23 saves for the Blue Jackets, who play Game 1 of their best-of-5 qualifier series against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena on Sunday (8 p.m. ET; NHLN, SN, TVAS, FS-O).

Korpisalo started and didn't allow a goal on 11 shots. Merzlikins played the second half of the game and allowed the goal to Pastrnak on 13 shots.

Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella said he has not decided who will start Game 1.

"We're not in the bubble if we don't get the play from our two goalies that we did this year," Tortorella said. "We're not even close. It doesn't surprise me what they did tonight. I thought they both played very well. Where it sits on [Sunday] I don't know."

The Blue Jackets are the ninth seed; the Maple Leafs are the eighth seed. The series winner advances to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Columbus outshot Boston 31-24, was 1-for-5 on the power play and 2-for-2 on the penalty kill, and had eight players with a point, including two assists for Oliver Bjorkstrand, who played his first game since Feb. 20 after an ankle injury.

"We just wanted to play the right way, make it hard on them, get into our systems, pretty much the way that we're going to have to play against Toronto," Columbus forward Cam Atkinson said. "It wasn't our best at times, but I thought we took a lot of good strides in the right direction. Each one of us is going to have to elevate our play come Sunday."

Tortorella said he was impressed with center Pierre-Luc Dubois' skating and checking against Patrice Bergeron for most of the game, and with rookie forward Liam Foudy, who assisted on Boone Jenner's goal that gave Columbus a 1-0 lead at 4:27 of the first period.

Foudy had one assist in two regular-season games (Feb. 10 and Feb. 13), playing as an emergency recall from London of the Ontario Hockey League.

"He'll be in the lineup [Sunday]," Tortorella said of the 20-year-old. "He has played well. He has had a good camp. Where he sits on lines I don't know yet. The thing I like about [Foudy] is he's not afraid. He's not afraid to make a play. A very intelligent player."

Nyquist and Werenski scored 18 seconds apart late in the first period.

Werenski scored on a one-timer from inside the blue line to make it 2-0 at 18:18. Nyquist made it 3-0 with a power-play goal at 18:36, capping a passing sequence with Dubois, Seth Jones and Bjorkstrand with a one-timer from the right circle.

Pastrnak made it 3-1 at 12:16 of the second period, when he faked out Merzlikins before beating him through the five-hole.

"I thought he played well for a guy that hadn't seen a lot of hockey," Cassidy said. "That bodes well for us."

Texier scored an empty-net goal with two seconds left to make it 4-1.

"Thank God we're going to be playing games that really mean something here shortly," Tortorella said. "I think everybody in this bubble that puts a uniform on and coaches the players with uniforms on are just dying to play games that mean something."

NHL.com staff writer Amalie Benjamin contributed to this report