After scoring the overtime winner in Game 7 to beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 2-1, Boston Bruins winger David Pastrnak credited his head coach’s public challenge for Pastrnak to ‘step up’ after a 2-1 Bruins loss in Game 6.
“Your best players need to be your best players this time of year,” Boston Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery pointed out after the Maple Leafs once again kept Pastrnak off the scoresheet and forced a Game 7 after being down 3-1 in the series.
“I think the effort is tremendous, but they need to come through with some big-time plays in big-time moments. Marchand has done that in this series; Pasta needs to step up.”
After doing exactly that when his team needed him most, David Pastrnak credited his head coach for privately and publicly challenging him.
“It obviously helped,” Pastrnak said. “I told him, ‘If I’m the coach and you were me, I’d say the same thing.’ I had no problem with him saying that because he’s trying to bring the best out of every single player. I just took it as a man and tried to be better. I admitted I had to be better, and I still have ways to be better.”
Pastrnak finished with four shots for a third straight game, but the last one counted because of his dogged determination and puck sense. You can see in the replay that Pastrnak is thinking of going to the net all the way and seemingly calls for the bank pass off the wall from defenseman Hampus Lindholm, who finished Game 7 with a goal and an assist.
“I thought he was dynamic tonight,” Jim Montgomery said in his postgame presser. “I thought he had his most possession time; he was creating shots, taking what was available, and not forcing things.”
Montgomery wasn’t surprised, though, as he had a gut feeling his most ‘dynamic’ player was about to show why he’s an elite NHL winger.
“It happens at times to really gifted offensive players, but when I walked in this morning he had a smile on his face from ear-to-ear,” Montgomery said Saturday. “He goes, ‘What’s up Coach? You sleep well?’ and as soon as I knew he was in that frame of mind, I knew he was going to be good tonight.”
More must-reads: