WASHINGTON -- Pavel Zacha always believed he could be a top-line center in the NHL.
So, in that way, centering the Boston Bruins’ first line between Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak in their 3-2 shootout win against the Washington Capitals on Saturday was a fulfillment of his own expectations.
It wasn’t the first game Zacha played with Marchand and Pastrnak this season, but he appreciates the opportunity every time.
“They put ‘Pasta’ and ‘Marchy’ with me in different games just to see how it goes,” Zacha said. “They’ve played together for a very long time, so for me it’s exciting to play with two of the best wingers in the League.”
Zacha envisioned playing this kind of role when he was selected by the New Jersey Devils with the No. 6 pick in the 2015 NHL Draft, but he hadn’t had the chance to do it regularly in the League until this season. The 26-year-old played mostly on the wing last season with Boston after being acquired from New Jersey in a trade for center Erik Haula on July 13, 2022.
The retirements of centers Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci after last season left openings at center on the top two lines, and Zacha and Charlie Coyle have stepped into them seamlessly. They’ve helped the Bruins (43-17-15) lead the Atlantic Division with 101 points, two ahead of the second-place Florida Panthers, and clinch a berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the eighth straight season.
“That was something I was looking forward to coming to Boston, knowing that in the future I’ll be able to get a chance to play center and getting the great opportunities that I’m getting to play,” Zacha said. “So, I’m enjoying this year and think I just have to keep working hard and getting better in those situations.
“That’s something that I was waiting for a couple years starting my career in Jersey. I’m getting it in Boston.”
Zacha has 51 points (18 goals, 33 assists) in 71 games, including an assist on defenseman Hampus Lindholm’s first-period goal that opened the scoring Saturday. Coyle has 55 points (NHL career-high 23 goals, 32 assists) in 75 games.
Together, Zacha and Coyle are close to replicating the offensive production last season of Bergeron, who had 58 points (27 goals, 31 assists) in 78 games, and Krejci, who had 56 points (16 goals, 40 assists) in 70 games. With seven regular-season games remaining, Zacha is within reach of reaching his NHL career high of 57 points (21 goals, 36 assists) in 82 games last season.
Zacha’s average of 18:10 in ice time would be an NHL career high, ahead of the 17:09 in 50 games with the Devils in 2020-21 and up from 16:03 last season with the Bruins.
“He established himself as a top-six guy last year playing on the wing,” Boston coach Jim Montgomery said. “Now, he’s taking more hard minutes because he’s used in every situation, and he’s being matched up against top lines all the time. So, that’s probably taken a little bit away from his offense, but what he’s given us, and him and Charlie Coyle have given us, is two top-line centers.”
Some wondered before this season how the Bruins would survive without Bergeron and Krejci, but Zacha and Coyle embraced the opportunity to prove the doubters wrong.
“When you have two of the best players on the team leaving and retiring, it’s a big hole to fill for us, but me and Charlie talked a lot during the summer just how we can get ready for the minutes and taking on the team that they built in the last few years,” Zacha said. “That was a great challenge. I was super excited to see where it can go. I knew we were going to have a great team defensively, but just to see how it goes, no one knew.
“Those centers played here for more than 15 years, so it’s a little bit different. But I think that was an exciting challenge for us.”
In the first season of a four-year, $19 million contract ($4.75 million average annual value) he signed Jan. 14, 2023, Zacha feels at home with the Bruins and has earned Montgomery’s trust to play in key situations on the power play and penalty kill. When Lindholm took a four-minute penalty for high-sticking 57 seconds into overtime Saturday, Zacha was one of the forwards who helped kill it off.
“That’s something I was working towards in my career, and now getting a chance here on such a good team is great,” he said. “You want to be in those situations. You want to be a little bit under pressure. I think that’s something every player wants -- to be put in those situations and be able to succeed in them.”
Zacha leads the Bruins in winning 54.8 percent of his face-offs and has taken an NHL career-high 962 face-offs, helping fill some of the void created by the departure of Bergeron, who took a team-high 1,706 draws, winning 61.1 percent, last season. Zacha believes he benefitted greatly from playing on the same line with Krejci last season and from watching Bergeron up close daily.
In addition to learning how they varied their approaches on face-offs depending on the opponent and the situation, he saw their commitment at both ends of the ice and how important it was to the Bruins’ success.
“I was able to talk to Krejci every shift, every game, one of the best two-way players,” Zacha said. “And just watching Bergeron every practice was huge for me as a young player coming to the team last year. … So, from these guys you can learn so much, and now I’m just trying to put it in my game and try to get as close as I can to those games.”
