David Pastrnak scored in both the second and third periods to reach and surpass the 40-goal marker as the Boston Bruins downed the visiting Ottawa Senators 3-1 on Monday afternoon.
Pastrnak’s 40th goal of the season broke a 1-1 tie with 2:54 remaining in the second period and stood as the game-winner. He padded the lead at 12:10 of the third, helping the Bruins to their fourth consecutive win.
Charlie McAvoy assisted on all three Boston goals, marking his second game with more than two helpers this season.
Jake DeBrusk scored his second goal in as many games since returning from injuries to round out the Boston scoring.
Pastrnak became the fifth Bruins player to post consecutive 40-goal campaigns and first since current team president Cam Neely more than 30 years ago.
Linus Ullmark made 30 saves and brought his career-high win total to 29.
Claude Giroux scored the lone Ottawa goal, his 23rd of the season.
Rookie Kevin Mandolese made 29 saves in his second NHL contest for the Senators, who had their four-game point streak (3-0-1) snapped.
Boston had a 32-31 shot advantage. Ottawa logged 13 of its shots in the first period.
Ottawa had 1:50 of an early 5-on-3 go by the boards, leaving the door open for Boston to score the all-important opening goal.
The Bruins did just that with 4:51 left in the first. Brad Marchand won the puck out of the right corner and it deflected to DeBrusk in the circle, where he slotted home the goal on a second effort.
Giroux tied the game with 30 seconds remaining, gaining control of the puck in traffic after Dylan Gambrell forced a turnover and made a move to score in the slot.
Boston has still not lost in regulation (29-0-3) when scoring first this season.
Pastrnak gave Boston the lead back at 17:06 of the second, taking McAvoy’s diagonal feed and ripping it past Mandolese and into the top glove-side corner.
On the insurance tally, McAvoy whacked the puck ahead from the Bruins’ own zone to spring Pastrnak for a breakaway. The winger flicked a backhand through the Ottawa rookie goalie’s wickets to extend Boston’s lead to 3-1.
–Field Level Media
