Czech forwards David Pastrnak and Pavel Zacha teamed up with James van Riemsdyk on a line that produced four total goals in a 6-2 win against the latter's former team, the Philadelphia Flyers, on Saturday.
Czech forwards David Pastrnak and Pavel Zacha teamed up with James van Riemsdyk on a line that produced four total goals in a 6-2 win against the latter's former team, the Philadelphia Flyers, on Saturday.
Slow starts were becoming a problem for the Boston Bruins. After putting just three shots on goal in the first period of Thursday’s 3-2 overtime win against the Ottawa Senators, the Bruins had just five shots through 14 minutes against the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday.
Then the floodgates opened. In a span of just 4:14 in the first period, the Bruins scored four goals, three coming from the James van Riemsdyk-Pavel Zacha-David Pastrnak line en route to a 6-2 win.
With Jake DeBrusk (undisclosed) out of the lineup and Trent Frederic moved up to the top line with Charlie Coyle and Brad Marchand, Pastrnak moved down to reunite with Zacha, and the new-look line clicked immediately.
Pastrnak scored twice and Zacha had two assists in the first period alone, and Charlie McAvoy added a goal and an assist while on the ice with Zacha’s line.
With Boston leading 4-0 entering the second period, van Riemsdyk got on the board just 1:15 into the frame by tapping in a Pastrnak feed from behind the net to extend it to 5-0.
The other three Bruins forward lines were outshot by a combined 22-8 at 5-on-5, but it didn’t matter. Zacha’s line was just too dominant. In addition to outshooting Philly 12-7, the line generated 11 scoring chances while allowing just two, including an 8-1 edge in high-danger chances, according to Natural Stat Trick.
Tyson Foerster scored twice for the Flyers – at 15:23 of the second and 11:24 of the third – to cut it to 5-2, but the damage was done. Charlie Coyle pushed it to 6-2 at 14:45 of the third, with van Riemsdyk picking up his second point of the day on the secondary assist.
The Bruins enter the All-Star Break with a league-best 31-9-9 record and a top-six that appears capable of carrying the team through the second half.
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