David Pastrnak Plans To Help Bruins Win Cup While Playing All ‘Road Games’

On the surface it might not seem fair that the Boston Bruins, who were well on their way to the Presidents’ Trophy when the NHL paused because of the coronavirus pandemic in March, will have to play three other Eastern Conference powerhouses for Stanley Cup playoffs seeding if the NHL is able to execute its Return to Play initiative in August or September.

Always-affable Bruin star forward David Pastrnak doesn’t have a problem with the format, which will pit Boston against Philadelphia, Washington and Tampa Bay while the other conference teams that are part of the 24-team attempt to complete the 2019-20 season play in best-of-five play-in series.

The 24-year-old figures it’s the best way for him and the Bruins to get sharp before attempting a postseason run that they hope will end with them avenging last year’s loss to St. Louis in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final.

As for getting back into the flow that made him a 48-goal scorer this season, tied with Capitals sniper Alex Ovechkin for the Rocket Richard Trophy, Pastrnak doesn’t think he will have any problems because he’s been skating in scrimmages twice a week back home in Prague. When he hasn’t been on the ice or working out, he’s been playing tennis or soccer, leaving his home at around 10 a.m. and not getting back until around dinner time, he explained during a video conference Monday.

If the Bruins are worried that their goal-scoring leader will have trouble adapting to having to play all Boston’s games in one of the two, yet-to-be-named, NHL hub cities, they need not be concerned.

“For me not that much. I don’t have kids you know, pretty much I just have a girlfriend. So for me I don’t have many superstitions during gameday, so for me it’s just going to be like on the road,” he said. “Obviously we’re going to be there for a while, so you know it’s not going to change much for me. I’m just going to think about it like a road game.”

The NHL recently started Phase 2 of its return plans, with team facilities opening for voluntary, small on-ice and off-ice workouts. Pastrnak figures he’ll return to North America closer to the July 10 scheduled start of Phase 3, which will consist of full training camps before what the NHL hopes will be Phase 4, the resumption of the season in early August. There are still numerous details to hammer out about protocol for the start of games, but the NHL and NHLPA seem confident they’ll be able to come to terms and finish the season.

Pastrnak’s season, which earned him the Golden Hockey Stick award (best players from the Czech Republic) for the fourth straight year, feels somewhat incomplete. He not only wasn’t able to achieve 50 goals, but also came up five point shy of 100, a disappointment that didn’t tarnish his feeling about the strides he made from a key cog with the Bruins to a league-wide superstar.

“To be honest, it’s a little sad. But at the same time I was actually more mad about 100 points than 50 [goals] to be honest,” he said. “But overall it was a good season. Sometimes in the world happens things that you can’t control and that’s what happened. So for me, I’m really happy and I felt good the whole season.”

Although he didn’t reach those two offensive milestones, Pastrnak could be a candidate for the Hart Trophy. Without hesitation, though, Pastrnak made it clear Monday who he thinks should take the hardware as the NHL’s MVP – a certain Edmonton Oilers forward who had 110 points in 71 games.

“For me it’s absolutely no question because you know for me what Leon Draisaitl was showing the whole season – and a lot of people say he was playing with Connor [McDavid]. Connor was hurt for a month or two, and he [kept] it up – so for me there’s really no question, it’s going to be Leon Draisaitl and it should be Leon Draisaitl because the way he played this it should really be no question, for me,” Pastrnak said.