Boston Bruins Take 5-1 Win over Maple Leafs – Pastrnak Scores Hat Trick

The Boston Bruins celebrate after defeating the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-1 at the TD Garden Arena in Boston last night

The Boston Bruins welcomed the Toronto Maple Leafs last night in what turned out to be a reality check of what can go wrong, often does go wrong. It was a game that saw the Bruins win 5-1 and it was a night that saw David Pastrnak score his second hat trick of the season.

The Boston Bruins had a slow start last night but overcame that with a flurry of goals. With 3.48 left in the first period, Brad Marchand scored Boston’s first of the night after being in the zone and receiving a pass from Pastrnak. It seemed like the second period would be much like the first until the Boston Bruins came on strong in what saw Pastrnak send a blistering wrist shot past the pads of Garret Sparks.

Pastrnak scored his second at 10: 34-second mark of the second in yet another brilliant play by the Bruins to make it 3-0 for Boston. The Toronto Maple Leafs managed to score its only goal with 30 seconds remaining in the second, but any hope of a comeback ended there. Pastrnak earned his third of the night with 5:56 left in the third to put the Bruins up 4-1. Joakim Nordstrom scored Boston’s fifth goal, and earning assists were Pasternak, Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand, Matt Grelcyk, David Krejci and Tony Krug.

Pastrnak, while speaking to reporters that the team had talked before going out on the ice stated,

“We talked before the game that we need to be better than what we’ve shown the last couple of games.

This was the second hat trick of the season for Pastrnak, and the Czech is quickly becoming seen as a threat as an all-around attacker and scorer. This was recognised by Patrice Bergeron who commented.

“He’s obviously a great talent. He’s got great smarts and he’s so good at getting open. When you add being tenacious on the puck and winning battles that makes a big difference.”

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Last night’s game also saw Pastrnak take the lead in scoring and now has 15 goals to his credit this season. Bruins goaltender Jaroslav Halak made 40 saves for the night and brought an end to the Maple Leafs three-game winning streak. It was evident the Leafs struggled to take advantage of the opportunities they had last night, and Toronto coach, Mike Babcock agreed by stating that they failed to get the job done when opportunities were presented.

Jaroslav Halak did a superb job in the net after Tuukka Rusk took an unexplained leave of absence. He was instrumental in keeping the Bruins out front of the Leafs stopping twenty shots alone in the first period. Zdeno Chara, the Captain of the Bruins, concurred adding,

“The shot count was in their favour by a big difference but I think in the second we evened it out pretty closely and we did a good job capitalising on some scoring chances that we had.

What is clear after last night’s game is Toronto needs to recognise when they need to regroup. They next face the Golden Knights, a team entering is second NHL season and one that went the distance last year to the Stanley Cup finals. Punters wanting to show their support can still have confidence that Toronto is on the right path, and with a generous signup bonus as offered by Bodog, it is a good opportunity to maximise your bets before the season hits the mid-way point.

Author Noah is our American writer who likes to give his own spin on everything Golf & the NHL he covers mainly the US side of the game as Doug covers the Canada. In his time off he can usually be taking to the greens or on the ice playing some hockey