Bruins Coach with all teammates showers praises on a player for his vigor and no nonsenseness

Bruins Coach with all teammates showers praises on a player for his vigor and no nonsenseness

Bruins coach, teammates proud of star for fighting

David Pastrnak #88 of the Boston Bruins fights with Sam Reinhart #13 of the Florida Panthers during the third period in Game Two of the Second Round of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Amerant Bank Arena.

SUNRISE, Fla. — David Pastrnak admittedly hasn’t fought much in his NHL career, but when Matthew Tkachuk challenged the Bruins forward in the middle of Game 2′s contentious third period, he wasn’t going to back down.

“Definitely for the team. (Tkachuk) was asking me. The game was over at 6-1, so give it a go,” Pastrnak said. “There was a lot of emotions. I’m not afraid of him to be honest. I can take a punch and I’d do anything for these guys.”

Brad Marchand was impressed.

“It’s great to see him step up. He doesn’t fight often, but he’s actually pretty tough,” Marchand said. “You don’t want to see a guy like that get hurt, so hopefully he didn’t.

The Bruins star, who had just one fight in his career prior to Wednesday night, and Tkachuk were jawing at each other from the bench. Pastrnak appeared to turn around and let coach Jim Montgomery know he was going to fight the Panthers forward before he went back onto the ice and immediately dropped the gloves. Montgomery said Pastrnak wasn’t asking for permission.

“What I’m really proud of is Pasta. There are so many guys out there pushing after the whistles when the linesmen is going to be there,” he said. “They just went out there & fought. That’s what you like.”

Tkachuk got the takedown, but Pastrnak slipped out and tried to continue to tussle, but the officials broke it up and issued both players a major and a misconduct.