Stop us if you’ve heard this before: David Pastrnak was the Boston Bruins’ offense Wednesday night.
Pastrnak tallied three points (one goal, two assists) in Boston’s 3-1 win over the Washington Capitals, scoring or assisting on every Bruins goal.
His goal was a snipe from just inside the blue line after he possessed the puck in the offensive zone for nearly 10 seconds, and his first assist was a perfectly-placed pass to a wide-open Elias Lindholm in front of the net. The icing on the cake was a feed to a streaking Morgan Geekie for an empty-net goal in the final minute.
What a feed from Pastrňák to Lindholm 🍝 pic.twitter.com/w46pVjjmAC
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) October 9, 2025
Pastrnak beginning the season strong is nothing new; the 29-year-old now has nine career goals in season-opening games, tied with Ray Bourque for second-most in franchise history behind only Cam Neely. Pastrnak’s 17 points in season openers also is second in Bruins history, tied with Johnny Bucyk and behind only Bourque (30).
Pastrnak serving as a one-man offensive band also is nothing new.
If you’ll recall, Pastrnak led the Bruins last season with 106 points — and no other teammate had more than 57 (Geekie). That 49-point discrepancy between Boston’s No. 1 and No. 2 offensive producers easily was the largest in the NHL last season, and Pastrnak’s lines were by far the team’s most productive.
Consider this: The line of Pastrnak, Geekie and Pavel Zacha scored 35 goals last season — good for seventh in the NHL, per MoneyPuck — while the Pastrnak-Geekie-Lindholm trio added 16 goals, which ranked 35th in the league. The next-most-productive line in Boston? That’d be Cole Koepke, Mark Kastelic and John Beecher, whose 10 combined goals ranked 78th in the league.
The Bruins brought in plenty of new faces this offseason, but not many who can provide significant offensive firepower behind the Pastrnak-Lindholm-Geekie line that was deployed Wednesday night (and contributed all three goals against Washington).
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DPmK27wAvD5/?utm_source=ig_embed
Viktor Arvidsson, acquired from the Oilers via trade, might have the highest offensive ceiling among Boston’s newcomers, but tallied a modest 27 points (15 goals, 12 assists) in a down year with Edmonton last season. Trade deadline acquisition Casey Mittelstadt, who skated on the Bruins’ second line Wednesday alongside Arvidsson and Zacha, also mustered 15 goals last season.
For the most part, however, general manager Don Sweeney loaded up on gritty, bottom-six forwards for new head coach Marco Sturm, with an apparent emphasis on physicality, defense and strong goaltending from Jeremy Swayman while Pastrnak’s top line carries the scoring load.
For one night, at least, the plan worked.
“It’s why he makes the big bucks,” Sturm said of Pastrnak after winning his Bruins head coach debut.
Sturm is being paid to sustain that success — and that may not be an easy task if Pastrnak continues to be most of the team’s offense.
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