David Pastrnak On What He'll Do First When He Gets Back To Boston: 'Get Tested For COVID'
BOSTON (CBS) -- Bruins forward David Pastrnak has been riding out the NHL's coronavirus break in Prague. He's still there as of Monday, but is hoping to get back to Boston when the Bruins and the rest of the NHL open up training camps in early July.
Pastrnak isn't sure what things will look like when he returns, but he knows what is going to be No. 1 on his to-do list.
"Get tested for COVID?" he responded when asked what he'd do first when he gets back to Boston on a Monday afternoon conference call with Bruins reporters.
Sounds like a pretty good plan, Pasta. It was just last week that we learned that a Bruins player tested positive for COVID-19, though that player has since tested negative twice. He said he'd arrive back stateside with enough time to get tested, get cleared, and get in a few individual sessions before training camp. Pastrnak said he's been skating twice a week since arriving in Prague, and is excited to rejoin his teammates in the near future.
Pastrnak and his Bruins teammates haven't played since March 10, and while some have returned to Warrior Ice Arena for some individual workouts the past few weeks, Pastrnak remains out of the country for a bit longer. And though he hasn't had the opportunity to light the lamp in over three months, Pastrnak did take home some hardware during the NHL's stoppage. With the league ending the regular season, jumping back with the playoffs, Pastrnak and his 48 goals for the season earned him the Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy (which he'll share with Capitals scoring machine Alexander Ovechkin) as the NHL's top goal-scorer.
Pastrnak would have liked to have gotten a shot at a 50-goal season, but that isn't the biggest disappointment stemming from the shortened regular season.
"To be honest it's a little sad, but I was actually more mad about [missing out on] 100 points," said Pastrnak, who finished 2019-20 with 95 points with 12 regular season contests left.
As for the Bruins, who sit atop the NHL standings with a league-best 100 points on the season, Pastrnak likes the team's chances to avenge last year's Stanley Cup Final loss.
"I think we're a better team than last year," he said. "We'll see, we need to get back to work. ... It's really exciting and I can't wait to start the playoffs. The playoffs are the best part of hockey."
