(Photo Credit: Steve Babineau - Getty Images)
Sunday evening at TD Garden, the Bruins earned their second shutout win in as many days with a 2-0 win over the Seattle Kraken. Since falling to 4-6-1, after an 8-2 loss in Carolina on Halloween, Boston has increased their assertiveness, compete, puck support, and quick decision making - which in turn, has improved their pace, and overall team speed. These are positive developments, that should be the main focus during Boston's current two-game win streak.
Unfortunately, indicative of this article - that's not the case.
The headline, instead, is Jim Montgomery's benching of David Pastrnak.
The Bruins' star forward, and leading scorer finished the game with just 14:21 of ice-time after not playing one shift for the entirety of the 3rd period. For those who may not be aware of how much Pastrnak historically plays, his average time-on-ice per game over his last 7+ regular seasons is around 21:30.
So why was Pastrnak disciplined?
Reading between the lines - Irresponsible puck possession, and a lack of situational awareness. Pastrnak was credited with having three turnovers through the first 40-minutes of play - but none more egregious than in the final minute of the 2nd period.
Ahead 2-0 in the game, and on the power play with seconds ticking down, Pastrnak committed a careless, low-percentage play that almost allowed Seattle back in the game, and nearly gave them momentum. Simply put, it's a play that can not happen.
After the game, Montgomery, unprovoked, made reference to this play - hinting, without making reference to No. 88, that this was likely the moment he decided to bench Pastrnak.
Pastrnak's intensity, play-driving ability, and attention-to-detail is late arriving so far this season, so it's not a total shock that Montgomery is trying to get his attention, while yet again disciplining one of his captains, and best players as an example for the rest of the team. After all, we're only a few weeks removed from Montgomery giving Brad Marchand an earful following a similar ill-timed, doing too much, turnover in Utah.
In addition to Pastrnak's early intangible struggles, he's also gotten off to a slower start offensively - for his standards - despite still leading Boston in scoring.
His 6G, 5A, 11PTS, in 13 GP, ranks 22nd in the league in goals, 110th in assists, and 51st in points, while being 4th in shots on goal - not an ideal start for someone who's been a top-5 scorer in the NHL in three of the last five seasons.
So, how will Pastrnak respond?
We'll find out Tuesday night in Toronto when the Bruins visit the Maple Leafs.
I'm sure they definitely won't be discussing this story ahead of puck drop over there ..
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