Bruins Rout Rangers With Hat Trick From David Pastrnak

BOSTON — Hats were flying at TD Garden on Saturday afternoon as David Pastrnak scored three goals in a 6-3 win for the Boston Bruins over the New York Rangers.

Charlie McAvoy capitalized on a five-on-three power play for the Bruins with a blast from above the left face-off circle that rang off the back iron.

McAvoy’s 10th goal of the year at 10:21 of the first period gave Boston an early lead that was quickly erased 34 seconds later when J.T. Miller answered back for New York, scoring in his first game back as a member of the Rangers.

The Bruins jumped back in front when Matthew Poitras won a battle for the puck behind the boards and swung in front of the net and onto the waiting forehand of David Pastrnak to flick a shot underneath the crossbar.

The Bruins added two goals in the middle frame while holding the Rangers to just two shots on goal all period.

Providing a screen in front of Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin, Charlie Coyle got a piece of Andrew Peeke’s shot from the point, deflecting it for his 13th goal of the season.

Pavel Zacha extended the lead to 4-1 with his 12th goal of the season while on the man advantage. It was just the third time this season that the Bruins have scored multiple powerplay goals in a game.

As good as the Bruins were in the second period, an interference penalty by Brad Marchand at the end of the frame put them in a difficult position to start the third.

Boston nearly killed off the penalty, but with six left until Marchand could step out of the box, Miller scored his second goal of the game for New York, deflecting in a shot past Jeremy Swayman.

It was no matter, though, as Pastrnak responded for the Bruins 46 seconds later to make it 5-2, matching Miller with his second goal of the night, with Poitras once again providing the primary assist.

Pastrnak later scored on an empty net to complete the 20th hat trick of his career with his 27th goal of the season.

New York cut the lead back down to two for a short while when Jonny Brodzinski scored with 9:13 remaining in the game.

It was the last puck that made its way past Swayman as he finished the game with 22 saves on 25 shots.

The Bruins improved their record to 26-22-6 and earned a vital two points over a team closely behind them in the tight Eastern Conference wildcard race.

The win, however, did come at a cost for the Bruins Bruins played the majority of the game down a man on the blue line after Michael Callahan exited during the second period after being hit in the face by a puck.

The Bruins will host the Minnesota Wild at TD Garden on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

This story will be updated.