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David Krejci line powers Bruins past Capitals |
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David Pastrnak is an important piece to the Bruins success; this you already know.
Whether it’s from his one-timer on the power play, some offensive creativity to dish the puck to a teammate or beating the opposing goalie with a quick wrist shot, Pastrnak often changes the course of the hockey game in a single shift.
As the Bruins kicked off their 2022-23 campaign in Washington Wednesday—a 5-2 victory—Pastrnak was the best player on the ice.
“He’s just a world-class player,” David Krejci said after making his NHL and Bruins return. “It’s crazy. That guy has no ceiling. He just keeps getting better.”
With a goal and three assists, Pastrnak was involved in all but one of the Bruins five goals.
"I'm feeling old but I'm still pretty young," Pastrnak said. “I definitely think I can get better. I'm trying to do that every day."
On a line with fellow Czech forwards Pavel Zacha and Krejci, the trio looked exactly as they did in the preseason, forcing you intently watch anytime the line had the puck in the offensive zone.
Sure, there were breakdowns on the defensive side of things and maybe permanent on-ice dates with the Bruins top d-pairing is in their future to balance things out, but what a start for the line.
“You’re going to make mistakes. In this league, you make a mistake, and you’re going to pay for it, and we did in the second,” Krejci said. “In this league, it’s how you respond and us as a line and us as a team we did that in the third, and we finished the game.”
If there was any concern about what a year away from the National Hockey League would do for Krejci, he put that to rest rather quickly with a three point night—one goal and two assist—of his own.
Krejci looked like, well, the David Krejci of old.
“It’s always going to be different going from the big ice to small. He already looked pretty good out there to me. There are things we can clean up as a team and as a line,” Pastrnak said.
“Obviously, it’s a good start, but there are many games ahead of us and some tough ones. So hopefully, we can build off of this game today.”
In 11:04 of five-on-five ice time, the Krejci line attempted 12 shots, four of those coming in high-danger areas. They generated eight scoring chances.
In that 11:04 of five-on-five ice time, the Krejci line allowed 10 shot attempts, four of those coming in high-danger areas. They allowed eight scoring chances.
The classic give-and-take examples. High risk/high reward if you will.
As the Bruins continue to learn and adapt to the style of play Jim Montgomery asks of them, there will be growing pains. No, the Krejci line is not going to dominate each night like they did Wednesday. No, the Krejci line is not going to be on the ice for two goals allowed per game.
The hope is that as things settle down in the coming weeks, the former is more the norm than the latter.
No reason to think it won’t.
“It’s going to take time for everybody to get used to it, but so far we’ve been working on it every day. The fastest way you get to know the system is in the games. That’s where you get the biggest tests,” Pastrnak said.
“Obviously a big start for our group. Have to make sure we fix a couple mistakes, wasn’t clean, but it was good for us that we are able to win these kind of games when we are short by a couple key players.”
With the injury to Brad Marchand, sidelining him to start the season, the Bruins will need all hands-on deck when it comes to offensive output. Factor in Jake DeBrusk leaving Wednesday’s contest with an upper-body injury —no update on his status— and the Bruins depth is already facing a big challenge.
Through one game, the Krejci line did their part.
Their part and more.
Boston Bruins Blogger • 
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