"We’re hopeful that he’s ready tomorrow. We’ll see how he presents tomorrow.”
But the star winger is reportedly dealing with his fair share of bumps and bruises ahead of the team’s five-game road trip out west.
Pastrnak did not participate in Monday’s practice at Warrior Ice Arena, with interim head coach Joe Sacco noting that the 28-year-old forward is currently dealing with an injury.
“He’s dealing with an upper-body issue so we held him off today,” Sacco said. “He’s going to be traveling with us. We’re hopeful that he’s ready tomorrow. We’ll see how he presents tomorrow.”
Sacco’s optimism about Pastrnak’s availability for Tuesday’s road matchup in Winnipeg was buoyed by the fact that the Bruins don’t expect to call up an extra skater ahead of Tuesday’s game as additional insurance.
Tyler Johnson skated in place of Pastrnak during Monday’s practice, logging reps on a line with Zacha and Morgan Geekie.
Pastrnak did not look hindered during Saturday’s matchup against the Flyers, logging a team-high 23:57 of ice time and recording the primary helper on Zacha’s game-winner.
However, Pastrnak’s production has tailed off this year when compared to recent seasons — especially when it comes to lighting the lamp.
Even though Pastrnak has recorded nine assists in his last nine games, he has only scored one goal over that same stretch. Pastrnak is currently on pace for 25 goals and 76 points this season — a 22-goal and 34-point dropoff from last year.
“I know I haven’t been scoring that much, but at the same time, there’s a lot of parts of my game that I wasn’t happy with,” Pastrnak said last week. “Honestly, I didn’t even think about scoring. I feel good now, confidence is coming back. So I’m pretty sure I’m gonna be a little bit better.”
Pastrnak did suffer an injury while playing for Czechia during the World Championships over the summer, which did hinder some of his offseason regimen.
However, Pastrnak stressed last month that whatever ailment limited him over the offseason had not carried over into the 2024-25 campaign.
“It didn’t interrupt much. I still could train, just couldn’t do everything,” Pastrnak said on Nov. 11. “Probably a couple weeks — three, four weeks. I still had plenty of time to do my trainings. Honestly, that was the first time I was dealing with something in the summer. You have your routines, you know? You have your schedule you usually follow. It was something new, but no concerns.”
