Boston Bruins right wing David Pastrnak is one of the NHL's finest goal scorers. Few players in the sport are more dangerous in the attacking zone.
In fact, his 329 goals since the start of the 2016-17 season are the fourth-most of any player. The only players with more goals during that span include Auston Matthews (373), Alex Ovechkin (338) and Leon Draisaitl (336).
Unfortunately for the Bruins, their most talented and highest-paid player is having trouble scoring goals right now. Pastrnak's goal drought reached seven games after Saturday's 3-2 overtime loss to the Ottawa Senators at TD Garden. Included in this drought was Pastrnak being benched for the entire third period of a win over the Seattle Kraken on Nov. 3.
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It's his longest goal drought since he went nine games without scoring during the 2021-22 campaign. He had only one goal drought longer than four games last season, and it came over the final five matchups.
"I've been through some slumps in my career early on," Pastrnak told reporters after practice Monday. "Scoring is addictive and I want to score goals, that's what I'm here for. It always starts with, you have to keep shooting. I've passed up on some opportunities where I should shoot. ... I don't make much of it. Obviously, I know I need to be better. I need to be shooting more, trust my shot and get back in the scoring column."
David Pastrnak on the #NHLBruins so far this season: "We know we have to be much better than what we've shown...we have to be confident in ourselves and in the team."
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) November 11, 2024
More practice reaction: https://t.co/Lre0GaP0H9 pic.twitter.com/pOywwQpyGr
Pastrnak rarely goes long stretches without scoring, and while he does have six assists during his seven-game goal drought, the Bruins need him to be a premier scorer. They don't have a ton of offensive firepower on the roster. Even after not scoring in seven consecutive games, Pastrnak still leads the B's with six goals and eight assists in 16 games.
Pastrnak has to be the engine that drives the offense. When he's not, which is the case right now, it's hard for this team to score goals. The Bruins have scored just 24 times at 5-on-5 this season, which is tied for the third-lowest total in the league. Boston's power play ranks as the league's third-worst unit with a lackluster 12.5 percent success rate.
Pastrnak has gone 11 straight games without scoring a power-play goal. He tallied 35 power-play points (12 goals, 23 assists) last season, and he has just four (three goals, one assist) in 16 games this season.
"We definitely have to shoot more pucks," Pastrnak told reporters Monday when asked about the power play. "And we have to retrieve the pucks after shots. We can't be one-and-done. We need to shoot the puck. The penalty kills are so good in the NHL these days, you need to shoot it and then retrieve it, that's when the holes open up.
"We have a lot of work to do there. As power-play guys, we have to make sure we create some momentum. We don't have to score on every power play, but we have to create the momentum for the team."
The Bruins being so dependent on Pastrnak to generate offense for himself and teammates is part of a larger discussion on roster construction. Pastrnak is the only elite forward on the team. If you look at the best teams in the league, they all have at least two such players, and several of them have more than that.
Pastrnak led the Bruins in scoring with 110 points last season, which was 43 more than Brad Marchand in second place. Only one other player in the league last season -- Nikita Kucherov of the Lightning -- led his team in scoring by a wider margin. Pastrnak scored at least 18 goals and dished out at least 25 assists more than any other Bruins teammate in 2023-24. He's the only reliable threat offensively.
It's tough to win long-term when that's the composition of the roster, as the Bruins found out in the second round of the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs when the Florida Panthers did a good job defending Pastrnak and no one else on the B's roster stepped up offensively. Boston scored two or fewer goals in each of the last five games of that series.
For the Bruins to be successful long term with this core of Pastrnak, Marchand, Elias Lindholm, Charlie McAvoy, Hampus Lindholm and Jeremy Swayman, they need to add at least one more elite-level forward. These players are expensive and difficult to acquire, but they are required to win the Stanley Cup.
The Bruins are relying too much on Pastrnak. At some point, general manager Don Sweeney needs to get him a little help.
