David Pastrnak said Game 4 was weighing on the Bruins players.
In addition to all the obvious reasons for wanting to win Game 5, they didn’t want Sunday’s 6-1 embarrassing loss to the Sabres to be the final impression they left on their home crowd this season.
So after he scored the game-winning goal in overtime to give the Bruins a 2-1 win that ensured they’d return for Game 6 at TD Garden on Friday, he thought of the fans.
“That was our focus to get the game back to Boston to show our fans we’re not going to quit. We never quit,” he told NESN’s Adam Pellerin after the game. “We love each other. We’re going to battle until the last drop. We don’t know what happened last game at home, but we wanted to bring it back. ... We have a big game to play in front of our fans. Happy we’re going back.”
Pastrnak had a message and a request for those fans, who’ll be at the game which starts at 7:30 p.m.
“Just be loud, please, and be patient,” Pastrnak said, seemingly referencing fans, who implore them to get shots off more. “We’re gonna shoot the puck, don’t worry.”
“It’s going to be a different Boston Bruins at home here the next game. We’re going to keep playing this type of hockey and make it hard on them,” he said. “We’re going to keep playing like we’ve been playing at home. We have the best fans in the league. It’s going to be real tough for Buffalo to close out the series. We’re going to make it hard on them.”
NEWCOMERS REWARD STURM’S FAITH —With his season on the line, Marco Sturm turned to three players who not only hadn’t played in the postseason, but had barely played in April.
Mikey Eyssimont (four), Alex Steeves and Henri Jokiharju (two each) had played a combined eight games this month, before the Bruins coach tabbed them to be part of a season-saving effort.
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It could have been risky. Only Eyssimont had ever played in the postseason before, but all three delivered solid efforts.
Eyssimont and Steeves played first with Elias Lindholm and then Fraser Minten between them on the third line. They were both physical and aggressive.
Jokiharju was solid alongside Hampus Lindholm in defense.
“Joki did a good job today. Really good. He didn’t play for a while,” Sturm said. “It wasn’t easy for him to come in like that. He kept it really simple.”
SABRES PESSIMISTIC ON INJURY — Noah Ostlund, whose return from injury sparked the Sabres early in the series, suffered a leg injury when Casey Mittelstadt appeared to fall on his leg in the first period.
“The fact he couldn’t come back. He came back and tried,” he said. “It doesn’t look good.”
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