After a disastrous 2024–2025 season, David Pastrnak and the Boston Bruins appear to be headed for the NHL postseason (fingers crossed).
A year ago, even with Pastrnak’s third consecutive season of 100-plus points, Boston earned themselves an eighth-place finish, last in the Eastern Conference’s Atlantic Division. The team’s 76 points remain a stain on the reputation the Bruins have built in more than 100 seasons in the NHL.
After a nearly 20-year-worst team finish and missing the Stanley Cup playoffs, bouncing back was a mandate heard from management at all levels of Boston hockey.
A reset is clearly underway.
Firing coach Jim Montgomery after a slow start in November 2024, and replacing him with interim bench boss Joe Sacco stopped the proverbial bleeding. With the hiring of former Bruins’ center Marco Sturm as the new head coach, team general manager Don Sweeney took a big gamble on a rookie leading the team out of the division cellar. Sturm had spent just three seasons as coach of the Ontario (Calif.) Reign, the Los Angeles Kings’ American Hockey League affiliate, but Boston took a chance on him as their new leader. So far, for a coach who led his AHL team no higher than the second round of the AHL’s Calder Cup postseason, Sturm is making a good first impression with the Bruins.
Having Pastrnak at right wing flying down the ice with a puck on his stick is a major reason for Sturm’s success. It’s no secret in “Beantown”: As Pastrnak goes, so go the Bruins. Locking him down in March 2023 to an eight-year, $90 million contract that runs through the 2031 season, was a necessity for management. The Bruins’ offense has been built around their Czech Republic star since his arrival in the 2014–2015 season. Three seasons into his time with the Bruins, it was clear that Pastrnak was the skater that the franchise needed in order to get to the next level of success.
“Our goal was, all along, to make [Pastrnak] a lifelong Bruin,” said Sweeney in 2023 to NHL.com after inking his all-star winger to the largest contract (annual average value of $11.25 million) ever given to a Boston Bruin.
Boston’s 5–2 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday at the United Center is their sixth in a row. The Bruins’ 23 shots on goal kept Chicago’s goalie Arvid Soderblom chasing pucks from post to post. Pasternak, 29, was one of the culprits keeping Soderblom guessing through three periods. Skating in his 800th NHL game (all with Boston), Pastrnak tallied two assists.
On Jan. 10 at TD Garden, the Bruins gave the visiting New York Rangers a 10–2 thrashing, with Pastrnak earning six assists. He contributed to five different teammates scoring.
With 59 points so far this season, Pastrnak is keeping the Bruins in the Stanley Cup postseason hunt. Currently, Boston is in fourth place in the Atlantic Division and is qualifying for a Wild Card berth in the Eastern Conference. With 33 regular season games remaining, barring any serious injuries, Boston should be in a postseason opening-round series. Bruins’ fans as well as management will be holding their collective breath when next month’s Winter Olympic Games begin in Italy. As he did in the 2022 Winter Games, Pastrnak will play again for Team Czechia.
Missing the postseason last spring was difficult for everyone who identifies with the Bruins, particularly the players. It will be seven years this coming spring since Boston lost Game 7 to the St. Louis Blues in the Stanley Cup Final. Eighty-one regular season points from Pastrnak wasn’t enough firepower to propel the Bruins to win the NHL’s top prize. Getting back to the Final no doubt is on Pastrnak’s “to do” list. He has appeared in four NHL All-Star Games and was elected to the Bruins’ All-Centennial Team in 2024, but as individually rewarding as these accolades are, earning a Stanley Cup ring is what drives Pastrnak.
Beginning on Tuesday with a game against the Dallas Stars in Texas, the Bruins then have four of their next five contests at TD Garden. On Feb. 1, Boston will play the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Stadium Series. This outdoor game is scheduled at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, home to the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Shortly after playing in the Florida heat, the Bruins will begin their sprint to the regular season finale.
Boston is winning as a team: Center Morgan Geekie leads the Bruins with 25 goals; left wing Viktor Arvidsson, obtained by trade from the Edmonton Oilers last July, has chipped in 25 points; and Pavel Zacha, now in his fourth season with the Bruins, has 35 points.
With Pastrnak guiding the offense, the Bruins’ chances of returning to the postseason are solid.
