By: Ryan Bosworth | Follow me on Twitter/X @RyanJBosworth
Pavel Zacha is coming up on four full seasons as a Boston Bruin, as he was acquired back in the summer of 2022 – one-for-one in a trade that sent Erik Haula to New Jersey. Since then, Zacha has had a resurgence, setting career highs in every year but the 2024-25 season. This year, though, something is different.
Playing on a line that almost always had David Pastrnak, it wasn’t surprising that he was seeing an uptick in production. You can place almost anyone next to Pastrnak, and they’re going to perform. Despite last year’s down year, Zacha has kicked his production up another notch.
When playing five-on-five, Zacha and Pastrnak have only been on a line for about 60 minutes of game time. The majority of Zacha’s time this season, at five-on-five, has been centering Casey Mittelstadt and Viktor Arvidsson, and their line is putting together something special — and, frankly, unpredictable — this season.
While there could be an hours-long conversation about just how impressive Boston’s second line has been, the focus here is going to be on Zacha, who just seems to continue finding new levels of production, as he’s nearing a 30-goal campaign for the first time in his career, as well as being close to surpassing his career-high in points.
With his game-tying goal last night in Columbus, that sent the game into overtime and the eventual shootout that saw none other than Viktor Arvidsson seal the comeback for Boston, he put himself within two goals of the 30-goal mark, and tied his career-high in points at 59.
He’d been productive offensively pretty consistently this season, but since returning from the Olympic break, he’s seen a surge, as he’s recorded 13-9-22 through 17 games since the NHL made its return.
This past weekend was a five-point weekend through the Bruins’ two back-to-back games, as Zacha recorded two goals on Saturday and two goals and an assist on Sunday, and in doing so, he surpassed a new career milestone, as he hit the 400 point mark with his first goal of the game.
Following the Bruins’ 6-3 victory over the Minnesota Wild on Saturday, Zacha was asked if he feels like he’s playing the best hockey of his career:
“I think I try to get better every year. Every summer I try to work on my game, and I’m happy it keeps going up. Last year wasn’t as good as I wanted, too, and kind of was motivation for all of us to get better.”
Zacha’s come up with some pretty big goals this season, too. When Boston was facing off with Buffalo last week, they were able to force the game into overtime, Zacha came up big, scoring the overtime goal to secure an important two points for Boston.
That’s not the only big-time goal Zacha has scored this season, either, as last night — in the Bruins’ come-from-behind victory over Columbus — Zacha’s second goal of the night was the game-tying goal with just 11 seconds left in regulation to force overtime.
To top it all off, Zacha has been named the NHL’s Second Star of the Week, joined by Jakub Dobes and John Carlsson. In his four games last week, against Toronto, Buffalo, Minnesota, and Columbus, Zacha recorded 5-3-8.
Zacha’s been on an impressive run this season. Career-high in goals, nearing a career-high in points, hitting the 400-point milestone, and going on an offensive tear since coming back from the Olympic break. He’s been coming up clutch for a Bruins team fighting for a playoff spot.
Leave a Reply