Well, can’t lose ‘em all.
A loss is kind of a win for the Bruins at this point in the season, so it’s easy to forget that this is still a group of professional athletes who are playing for pride, a spot next season, personal accolades, and career milestones.
There were a number of milestones and plenty of energy, effort, and pride on display in Newark on Tuesday night, with the lottery-bound Bruins pummeling the playoff-bound Devils, 7-2.
David Pastrnak (who else?) led the way for the Bruins, putting up 1G-2A-3PTS totals and recording his third consecutive 100-point season in the process.
Morgan Geekie recorded his 30th goal of the season, Michael Callahan scored his first NHL goal, and Fraser Minten scored his first with the Bruins as well.
Jeremy Swayman made 19 saves in the win.
Jakub Lauko, Casey Mittelstadt, and Cole Koepke were the other goalscorers for the Bruins.
Pastrnak got things started for the Bruins midway through the first, playing free safety and intercepting a pass at the New Jersey blue line before beating Jacob Markstrom to make it 1-0 Bruins.
Pastrnak would be involved again later in the first, getting the secondary assist on Callahan’s first NHL goal to make it 2-0 Bruins.
Lauko toasted Markstrom with a wrist shot to make it 3-0 Bruins early in the second.
New Jersey climbed back in it late in the second, scoring twice in less than 30 seconds. First, Stefan Noesen made it 3-1 Bruins…
…then Timo Meier got a bounce 20 seconds later to make it 3-2 Bruins.
At that point, you could be forgiven for thinking that the wheels were going to fall off, but a well placed timeout helped the Bruins settle down, and they ran roughshod over the Devils the rest of the way.
Mittelstadt scored on a random toss on goal late in the second to put momentum back on the Bruins’ side, making it 4-2 Bruins.
Geekie got his 30th five minutes into the third period off of an incredible Pastrnak pass, making it 5-2 Bruins.
Minten would get in on the fun a few minutes later, making it 6-2 Bruins.
And finally, Koepke would put the cherry on top with a great hustle goal, making it 7-2 Bruins.
And that was it!
Yes, it hurts the draft lottery odds, but it’s also nice to see a game like this and think there might be some hope for next season after all.
Game notes
- Pastrnak’s assist on Geekie’s goal was his 100th point of the season, giving him three consecutive 100-points seasons. Per NHL PR, he’s the first Czech player in NHL history to accomplish that feat. Per Kevin Paul Dupont, Pastrnak is only the third Bruin to ever record back-to-back-to-back 100-point seasons, joining Phil Esposito and Bobby Orr.
- Fabian Lysell assisted on Mittelstadt’s goal, the first point of his NHL career. While he didn’t score tonight, he had some juice in his skates and brought some energy to the ice with each shift. He had a good game.
- Scott McLaughlin of WEEI has a full list of tonight’s milestones — a remarkably long list, given the nature of this season.
- At some point, I’ll put together a longer piece on Pastrnak (the next Bruins captain), but it’s worth noting that per Dmitri Filipovic, Pastrnak is the first player in the NHL to record 60 5v5 points this season. Pretty remarkable feat, given…you know…everything.
- For the tank-conscious, it’s OK to enjoy a win — especially when you note that Buffalo and Pittsburgh also won tonight. All is not lost!
The Bruins are back in action on Thursday night, hosting the Blackhawks at TD Garden.