Hockey forward David Pastrňák found himself in the involuntary role of a spectator in the last third of Boston’s game against Seattle on Sunday.
Watch a clip from the game Boston – Seattle | Video: NHL.com
Coach Jim Montgomery decided to sit the Czech superstar for the entire third 20-minute period and did not use Pastrňák for even a single substitution.
Boston kept the 2-0 score and celebrated its second consecutive win with a clean slate.
The 55-year-old Canadian took a step to send a clear message to the cabin: Absolutely no one is untouchable.
Montgomery wants 100 percent focus and responsibility for the entire team from every individual, regardless of the name tag on their back. All the more so when the Bruins’ entry into the new NHL season did not go well at all.
Quite possibly, a moment from the last minute of the second act definitely contributed to his decision.
The home team played a power play during Oliver Bjorkstrand’s penalty, Pastrňák tried to get the puck into the offensive zone, but in the position of the last Bruins player, he lost the puck while trying to pass his opponent.
It wasn’t long before Yanni Gourde got away. Although the Bruins managed to ward off the immediate danger, Pastrňák was disappointingly substituted, but goalkeeper Jeremy Swayman immediately faced Gourde’s finish when the number was two to one.
For Pastrňák, it was the second loss of the puck in the match and at the same time the last substitution, even though he was the most active scorer of the match with seven accurate shots.
Montgomery didn’t want to talk about the reasons. “The coach’s decision. I won’t comment on it any more,” said the Jack Adams Award holder for the best NHL coach for the 2022/23 season after the game.
Boston’s entry into the season did not go well. And so far, even the author of the winning goal from the final of the May World Cup in Prague is not fully shining, even though he is at the head of the team’s productivity.
The 28-year-old Pastrňák scored 11 points for six goals and five assists in 13 starts. But this is a player who scored 110 points last season, and even three more in the previous season.
But the native of Hávíř took Montgomery’s lesson in stride and encouraged his teammates from the substitutes.
“He gave us energy, he talked, he was definitely not quiet. He was involved in the match. That is always proof of a good teammate. And at the same time, the reason why he is among our leaders,” Charlie Coyle, the author of the second goal, praised Pastrňák’s approach.
Since the 2-8 debacle on the ice of Carolina, with which Boston closed last month, the team has not collected yet. With a 2:0 victory over the Kraken, he followed up a 3:0 triumph from the Philadelphia arena and equaled the season high with two wins in a row.
“We make sacrifices for each other, that’s where it all starts. We’re going in the right direction. So far, November definitely looks a lot better than October,” Montgomery boasted.
