David Pastrnak doesn’t mince words about building chemistry amid line changes – Source: Imagn

Fans reacted as the Boston Bruins fell 3-2 in overtime to the Ottawa Senators on Saturday night, dropping to 7-7-2 on the young season. The loss showcased Boston’s ongoing offensive struggles, as they only mustered 16 shots compared to the Senators’ 34.

Star winger David Pastrnak, who had signed an eight-year, $90 million contract extension last offseason, gave his blunt assessment of the team’s chemistry amid recent line changes.

“We are all NHL players, professional. We’re on one team here. We all know each other, and we know what the guy next to you can do,” said Pastrnak. “So I have no problem finding chemistry with anyone on the team.”

I asked #NHLBruins David Pastrnak if it’s been hard to build chemistry with line changes:

“We are all NHL players and on one team here. We all know each other and we know what the guy next to you can do. I have no problem with finding chemistry with anyone on the team.” pic.twitter.com/w2jiP5GizV

— Jason Cooke (@cookejournalism) November 10, 2024

While preaching patience, Pastrnak acknowledged the team’s need to improve quickly.

“You obviously want to score goals and obviously get your offense going, and right now they aren’t going in … we have to start working on it and we have to get to the net and put the pucks there at the right times,” he added.

Brad Marchand and Pavel Zacha scored for Boston, while the Senators got goals from Josh Norris, Michael Amadio and Brady Tkachuk, including the overtime winner by Tkachuk.

Bruins HC Jim Montgomery reflects on OT loss to Ottawa

Bruins coach Jim Montgomery was clearly disappointed with his team’s performance, particularly on the power play.

“Our lack of execution on the power play was not good enough to generate any kind of scoring chances,” Montgomery said. “I don’t know if that fed into the third period and our lack of a better choice of words, intensity.”

Montgomery made it clear that the Bruins need to address the issues on the power play.

“Talk about it. We’ll look at what we’re doing sports science-wise, and we’ll come up with answers,” Montgomery said. “Right now, I don’t have an answer for you.”

He told reporters that he doesn’t think his players are unfit and is not blaming the conditioning for Boston’s offensive struggles. He ended his post-game press conference by asking the media to ‘come up with a reason’ for the loss and admitting the Bruins are ‘just not playing well enough.’

The Bruins next face off against the St.Louis Blues on Tuesday.