Facing the Bruins' top line of Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron, and David Pastrnak is tough enough for NHL teams. After all, they've combined for 98 goals and 241 points entering tonight — with each of the three scoring 30-plus goals this season for the second straight year.
But if you've got a player in the penalty box? Well, good luck going up against them. The Rangers found that out the hard way Wednesday night when Pastrnak beat Henrik Lundqvist for a power play goal less than three minutes into the first period.
The tally was Pasta's 34th of the season — and his 16th on the power play, which puts him into the top-five in the league this season, and makes him one of the rare Bruins to have a season that prolific on the power play.
Pastrnak joins Joe Thornton in 2000-01 as the only Bruins in the last 20 years to put up at least 16 PPG in a single season, though he's a long way off from the record, as Phil Esposito twice scored 27 PPG in a season. (Pastrnak later added another power play goal to complete his third hat trick of the season.)
While Pastrnak won't reach Espo's mark this year, the very same play also featured another Bruin coming closer to accomplishing a feat that hasn't happened since Jumbo Joe's time in Boston.
Marchand collected his 61st of the season on the Pastrnak score, giving him 95 points, leaving him just five points away from becoming the 10th Bruin in history — and first since Thornton in 2002-03 — to score 100 points in a season.
Boston Bruins
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