(Photo Credit: Steve Babineau/NHLI)

By: Jeff Playdon | Follow me on Twitter @PlaydonJeff

21 seconds into the third period of Saturday afternoons game against the New York Rangers, David Pastrnak notched his 200th career goal becoming the fastest Bruin to reach 200 goals in the club’s history. Brad Marchand found a streaking Pastrnak. Pasta quickly redirected Marchand’s pass into the net for a 2-1 Bruins lead and his 20th goal of the 2021 season. Sadly, Pastrnak’s glorious goal would be short-lived as the New York Rangers won Saturday’s game 5-4.

Below Average Season for Pastrnak

After starting the 2021 NHL season on a tear, David Pastrnak has found himself struggling as of late. In April, David Pastrnak only scored five goals, with his last goal coming on April 29th in a contest against the Buffalo Sabres. In a stretch of 16 games in the month of April, Pastrnak managed only to score five goals to go along with 11 assists. Racking up a grand total of 16 points in April. Not good enough standards when it comes to talking about David Pastrnak. If you compare the first 26 games of the season to the 16 games cold stretch that Pastrnak had, you can see why Bruins fans were worrisome for Pastrnak. In the first 26 games of the season, Pastrnak had 14 goals and 13 assists for a total of 27 points in that stretch. In an interview back on April 2nd, Patrice Bergeron had some positive words defending his fellow linemate:

“I don’t think it’s just Pasta, I think it’s more collectively what we can do to be better. Pasta is an amazing player, a player that is obviously dynamic and has been great for us for years. So, it’s about what we can do to help him out, as well. It starts with everyone, myself included.”

Looking Ahead to the Playoffs

With the 2021 NHL Playoffs just around the corner, David Pastrnak will have to be on top of his game from now on. The Bruins will either be playing the Washington Capitals or the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round. Both of those teams have lethal offenses, and it’ll be a good test for the Bruins in the first round. In the 52 career playoffs games that David Pastrnak has played in, Pastrnak has scored 22 goals and assisted on 31 goals for a grand total of 53 points. Arguably David Pastrnak’s best series happened in 2018 in a first-round matchup against the Toronto Maple Leafs. In the series, he racked up five goals and eight assists for a total of 13 points in seven games, impressive if you ask me.

Milestone Upon Milestone

After scoring his 200th goal Saturday afternoon, Pastrnak became the quickest Bruin to eclipse the 200-goal milestone, and it only took him 437 games played. The previous mark was held by Bruins legend Bobby Orr, which took him 502 games played to reach the 200-goal mark. Pastrnak’s 200th goal also allowed him to become the fifth quickest active player to reach 200 goals. The four active players that were quicker than him to reach the mark were Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby, Steven Stamkos, and Alex Ovechkin. David Pastrnak also became the third active player to score 200 regular-season goals and 20 playoff goals before the age of 25. The other two active players that reached that mark: Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby, that’s some pretty good company to be in.

After the game David Pastrnak reflected on scoring his 200th career goal:

“I felt pretty good lately. Last couple games, my legs were moving, got a couple opportunities, Obviously, haven’t been scoring as much as I’m used to lately. For me, it’s just getting better every day and pretty much getting ready for next week. Every game right now is an opportunity to get ready.”