Pastrnak’s first two goals of season, two assists help Bruins cruise past Mammoth

BOSTON -- David Pastrnak scored two of the Boston Bruins’ three power-play goals and had two assists in a 6-1 win against the Utah Mammoth at TD Garden on Thursday.

Pastrnak’s goals were his first two of the season and the first two on the man-advantage for Boston, which entered 0-for-10 through four games but finished 3-for-4 on Thursday.

Pastrnak also tied Brad Marchand (422) for fourth on the franchise’s all-time goals list.

Morgan Geekie added a goal and two assists, all on the power play, and Jeremy Swayman made 36 saves for the Bruins (3-2-0).

“It gave a huge boost to our game -- big time,” said Pastrnak, who scored his first goal as Boston captain. “Everything was clicking today, and it was a big game for special teams.”

Jack McBain scored for the Mammoth (3-2-0), who entered with the NHL’s top-ranked power play (8-for-13, 61.5 percent) but went 0-for-7. Sebastian Cossa allowed three goals on eight shots before being relieved by Karel Vejmelka, who made 11 saves.

“Obviously not good, not a good start,” Utah captain Clayton Keller said. “We hung Cossa out there to dry a little bit. Just learn from it, but we got embarrassed tonight. ... It’s pretty obvious what we have to do to not let it happen again. We weren’t ready to go at the start. They were ready to play and we weren’t. We made simple mistakes and we rolled over from there.

The Bruins’ sustained forecheck led to their first goal when Casey Mittelstadt made it 1-0 at 10:06 of the first period. His wrist shot from the left face-off dot beat Cossa to the short side.

Pastrnak’s power-play goal gave the Bruins a 2-0 lead at 14:22. His quick wrist shot from the top of the right circle beat a screened Cossa through the five-hole.

“You get one goal and all of a sudden you feel it,” Boston coach Marco Sturm said of Pastrnak’s performance. “I’m happy for him because he’s excited and he’s very honored, but there’s also a little bit of pressure for having that ‘C’ on your jersey, so I’m glad the (drought) is over. ... It was a big night for him.”

Mason Lohrei increased the margin to 3-0 at 15:51. He gained possession at the offensive blue line, broke down the right side and cut toward the net at the bottom of the circle before scoring with a quick wrist shot to the stick side.

Vejmelka replaced Cossa following the goal.

“We just weren’t connected,” Keller said. “It just wasn’t a good game, and on the PP as well. I don’t know what it was tonight, but we’ve got to flush it. We’ll learn from tonight. It’s not going to be smooth all year long. We’re a confident group and we know how good we can be. We’ll learn from tonight and we’ll be ready to go against Buffalo (Saturday on the road).” 

Pastrnak’s second power-play goal made it 4-0 at 4:40 of the second period. His one-timer off a Geekie cross-ice saucer pass beat Vejmelka high glove.

“That’s the beauty of hockey. One night it doesn’t go your way and the next night you’re nearly perfect,” Pastrnak said of the Bruins power play. “That’s the important thing to remember, what we’ve done right. We know we’re all good players and we proved it last year.”

Geekie scored on the man-advantage for a 5-0 lead at 7:57, and Matthew Poitras pushed it to 6-0 at 14:08 with a wrist shot off a Pastrnak pass.

“It was big,” Geekie said of the win. “Special teams have been struggling the first couple of games, so it was nice to see a few go in, and obviously a lot of kills, and the (PK) stepped up big in the second period to keep them at bay. They have a lethal power play over there, so we knew going in that would be a key for us and (the PK) stepped up big.”

McBain scored with a deflection at 9:48 of the third period for his first point of the season, making it a 6-1 final.

“Obviously a tough night,” Utah coach Andre Tourigny said. “Actually, we had a good start. We had the puck deep and had a few scoring chances, but they capitalized early on their chances and from there it was tough for us to come back. Their goalie played well, and obviously our special teams were really good from the start of the season for us, but that was not the case tonight. They won that battle and that’s what tipped the scale.”

NOTES: Pastrnak posted his 19th four-point game and passed Adam Oates for eighth most in Boston history. … JJ Peterka played his first game against his former team since the Bruins acquired the forward in a trade with the Mammoth on June 26. He had no shots on goal and was minus-1 in 12:28 of ice time. ... Frederic Brunet assisted on Pastrnak's first goal for the defenseman's first NHL point in his third career game. … Poitras took a puck to the face in the first period and needed five stitches during the intermission, but he remained in the game and scored his first goal of the season. … Utah forward Nick Schmaltz had a season-opening four-game goal streak (five goals) end.