BOSTON — Because he’s scored so many goals in so many ways, people are starting to give Bruins star David Pastrnak credit for things he’s not doing on purpose.
Including his coach.
Jim Montgomery has seen Pastrnak score 69 goals since he’s been the Bruins coach. So when Pastrnak paused with the puck between the faceoff circles in his own end, then banked it off the sideboards behind the red line and then watched it slowly carom into the Red Wings’ empty net to seal the win, he figured Pastrnak had done it on purpose.
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And why not? He’s seen enough other hard-to-imagine goals from Pastrnak, that this straight-out-of-the-billiard room goal that sealed Saturday’s 4-1 win at TD Garden seemed plausibly intentional.
“I betcha he doesn’t know geometry, but he probably knows it in pool halls and he definitely knows it on the ice,” Montgomery said.
Pavel Zacha thought so too.
“He knows how to score goals.”
While kids around New England will be trying to replicate “flat-puck-in-the-middle-pocket,” Pastrnak said he wasn’t trying to score and he is in fact “terrible” at pool. He was just trying to clear the puck slowly enough for the Bruins to change lines. When Patrick Brown asked him about his billiard skills, Pastrnak initially thought he was inviting him to hang out.
“Brown asked me if I’m a good pool player and I didn’t get it. I was like, ‘What do you mean — are you trying to play some pool tonight?’ “So I told him, ‘No, I’m terrible.’ Now I got it,” Pastrnak said laughing at himself in the postgame. “I was just exhausted. I just wanted to get a change. … It was just a lucky bounce.”
Of course, that’s what a pool hustler would say…
But the goal was his second of the game and there was nothing accidental about the first one. After getting slashed on a breakaway, he was awarded his second penalty shot in as many Saturdays. He skated by Jeremy Swayman and asked for a suggestion before his attack.
“He asked me what to do. I just smiled at him,” Swayman said. “I knew it was going in.”
Pastrnak skated in very slowly, eyeing goalie Ville Husso. Pastrnak faked with his head and his stick like he was going to shoot and the goalie dropped to his knees to play it.
Pastrnak casually flipped it over him into the net to stretch the Bruins’ lead to 3-1.
“I was going to do something different, but then I touched the puck and went with this,” Pastrnak said. “It worked out.”
He said it like it was no big deal and for him, it wasn’t. For everybody else though it’s like watching a magician. His Bruins teammates admitted when Pastrnak sets up for a penalty shot, they’re eager to watch him work. He pulled off his floorball-hide-the-puck goal last week and then the stutter-fake-flip Saturday.
“He’s unbelievable,” Zacha said. “It was great to watch from the bench. He has goals like this every season.
Swayman said Pastrnak’s arsenal can get in a goalie’s head before the shot.
“He’s got a mixed bag. That’s hard to do in this league — be unreadable,” Swayman said. “He has so many go-to moves. He’s really good at reading the goalie. That’s a really hard thing to do. That’s why he’s a world-class player. I’m glad he’s on my team.”
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Charlie McAvoy said players almost turn into fans in that spot.
“He thinks the game at a very elite level and he’s not afraid to try things,” McAvoy said. “You’re excited to see what he’s going to do.”
Follow MassLive sports columnist Matt Vautour on Twitter at @MattVautour424.
