Bruins vs. Mammoth: David Pastrnak's Four-Point Night Sparks a Power-Play Breakout in a 6-1 Rout

The Boston Bruins walked into Thursday night 0 for 10 on the power play. They walked out having scored three power-play goals in one game, with David Pastrnak at the center of every good thing that happened at TD Garden.

Pastrnak scored his first two goals of the season, both on the man advantage, and added two assists as the Bruins routed the Utah Mammoth 6-1. Morgan Geekie had a goal and two assists, all on the power play, and Jeremy Swayman made 36 saves while Boston's penalty kill shut down a Utah unit that had been the best in the league.

A Forecheck, a Snipe and an Early Hook

The first goal came off the forecheck. At 10:06 of the first, Casey Mittelstadt found the short side on Sebastian Cossa from the left circle, with James Hagens and Elias Lindholm assisting.

Then the drought ended. Lawson Crouse went off for interference at 14:16, and six seconds later Pastrnak fired a wrister from the right circle that found the five-hole on a screened Cossa. Frederic Brunet, a defenseman in his third NHL game, earned his first career point on the play, per NHL.com, and Geekie picked up the other assist.

"You get one goal and all of a sudden you feel it," Bruins coach Marco Sturm said of Pastrnak.

Mason Lohrei made it 3-0 at 15:51, grabbing the puck at the blue line, driving the right side and beating Cossa with a quick wrister. Matthew Poitras and Mark Kastelic assisted. Utah pulled Cossa after that goal, three goals allowed on eight shots in 15:51, and sent in Karel Vejmelka.

Clayton Keller, the Utah captain, did not hide from it.

"We hung Cossa out there to dry a little bit," Keller said. "Just learn from it, but we got embarrassed tonight."

The Turning Point: Pastrnak's Second-Period Encore

If there was any doubt left, Boston erased it in the first 14:08 of the second. Vincent Trocheck took a high-sticking penalty at 3:29, and at 4:40 Geekie floated a saucer pass across the ice for Pastrnak, who hammered a one-timer over Vejmelka's glove for his second power-play goal of the night. Hampus Lindholm also assisted.

Geekie got one of his own at 7:57, scoring with a slap shot on yet another power play after Michael Carcone was called for hooking, with Pastrnak and Pavel Zacha assisting. Then Poitras made it 6-0 at 14:08 with a wrist shot off a Pastrnak feed. Per NHL.com, Poitras had taken a puck to the face in the first period and needed five stitches during the intermission, then came back and scored his first goal of the season. That is a hockey player's hockey player.

"That's the beauty of hockey. One night it doesn't go your way and the next night you're nearly perfect," Pastrnak said of the power play.

Pastrnak's Night, by the Numbers

Pastrnak's four-point night came in just 16:25 of ice time, and it pushed him into some serious company. Per NHL.com, he tied Brad Marchand (422) for fourth on the Bruins' all-time goals list, and it was his 19th four-point game, passing Adam Oates for eighth most in Boston history. NHL.com also noted it was his first goal as Boston captain.

"Everything was clicking today, and it was a big game for special teams," Pastrnak said.

Geekie was nearly as productive in 12:45, and the penalty kill deserves real credit too. Utah came in, per NHL.com, with the NHL's top-ranked power play, 8 for 13. The Mammoth went 0 for 7 on Thursday. William Borgen alone was sent off three times in the second period, and Utah still got nothing out of it.

"They have a lethal power play over there, so we knew going in that would be a key for us," Geekie said.

Swayman stopped 36 of 37 shots and lost the shutout only when Jack McBain scored at 9:48 of the third, with Dmitri Simashev and Barrett Hayton assisting. It was McBain's first point of the season, per NHL.com.

Vejmelka fared little better than Cossa in relief, allowing three goals on 14 shots. On the Boston side, Brunet backed up his first NHL point with four blocked shots in 18:42, and Mark Kastelic threw four hits to go with his assist on the Lohrei goal.

Stats That Matter

• 3 for 4: Boston's power play, after starting the season 0 for 10, per NHL.com.
• 0 for 7: Utah's power play, which entered the night ranked first in the NHL.
• 37-22: Shots, Utah over Boston. The scoreboard did not care.
• 23-6: Blocked shots, Bruins over Mammoth.
• 6-0: Boston's lead after two periods.

What It Means

Boston improves to 3-2-0 and 2-1-0 at home, snapping a two-game skid after consecutive 4-1 losses to Minnesota and Ottawa. More importantly, the power play finally looks like something other than a rumor.

Utah falls to 3-2-0 after winning at New Jersey on Tuesday. NHL.com noted that Nick Schmaltz's season-opening four-game goal streak (five goals) came to an end, and JJ Peterka, whom Boston acquired from the Mammoth in a June 26 trade, had no shots and finished minus-1 in 12:28 against his former team.

Utah coach Andre Tourigny pinned it on special teams.

"Their goalie played well, and obviously our special teams were really good from the start of the season for us, but that was not the case tonight," Tourigny said. "They won that battle and that's what tipped the scale."

Utah visits Buffalo on Saturday night. Boston hosts Philadelphia on Saturday.

The Takeaway

Power plays are like group chats: when they are dead, they are really dead, and when they come back, everybody suddenly has something to say. Boston's woke up in a hurry, and its captain was the one doing the talking. Utah, meanwhile, learned that the league's best power play does not mean much when it goes 0 for 7 and the other team's goes 3 for 4. Some nights, the math really is that simple.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Game details from the Associated Press and NHL.com; postgame quotes as reported by NHL.com.