David Pastrňák proved to be a good friend. The Czech striker of Boston against Philadelphia (3: 2) almost a year later ended the waiting for another hat-trick in the basic part of the NHL, but instead of his own celebrations, he thought of a teammate.
“I had extra motivation today, I wanted to succeed mainly because of Tuukk. He is a great friend of mine and I am excited to have him back,” Pastrňák said of the Finnish goalkeeper, who introduced himself at Bruins for the first time since June 9 last year.
The native from Havířov started the way for the first hat-trick of the season in the second minute. He took advantage of the excellent work of Taylor Hall and Erik Haula in the attack and opened the score with an accurate shot from the space between the circles.
“It was an important goal for our line. We won the puck in the offensive zone and quickly got to the end. I don’t think any of us had a stick on the stick for more than a second,” the Czech gunner praised.
Pastrňák added the second shot less than four minutes later in a power play, when he was challenged to score by Brad Marchand with an excellent cross record. Hattrick closed the Havířov native with a power-up shot from the 37th minute and confirmed that he was doing well against the Flyers. He recorded his last two three-goal evenings last season against this team.
“It was his evening, he played a fantastic match and he showed again that he is an excellent shooter,” said Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy, a 25-year-old gunner.
The pastrňák was helped to move on to the second attack. In the first matches, he got used to his new teammates, but in the last four he drove alongside Hall and Haula. He scored seven goals and confirmed the reputation of the gunner.
“I think our whole formation is doing an excellent job. We are playing at great speed, we can combine well and satisfy each other,” Pastrňák revealed.
“I’m very happy with the past performance of Past’s formation in the last period. We need them to be striking and productive. Which they are fulfilling to the fullest.
The Czech striker matched Sydney Crosby on the eleventh three-goal evening and is in third place in the number of hat tricks scored among the still active players, together with the Canadian star. Only the Russian duo Alexander Ovechkin (28) and Yevgeny Malkin (12) are better off.
Among the Czech hockey players, Pastrňák chases the legendary Jaromír Jágr, who has accumulated 15 hat-tricks in his career.
Thanks to three hits, the Boston gunner was the second Czech to cross the 30-point mark. He loses only one point from the second position to the most productive Tomáš Hertl. But he could easily have skipped it. “It was the kind of match where David could have scored five or six goals,” coach Cassidy agreed.
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