David Pastrnak finds new way to celebrate hat trick with fan's bear pelt

BOSTON -- David Pastrnak has tallied quite a few hat tricks at this point in his career. Tuesday night marked his 17th regular-season hat trick and 19th overall hat trick, to be precise. And along the way, he's collected some memorable lids from fans who were willing to part with their headwear in the celebration.

But nothing has quite been like what Pastrnak saw on Tuesday.

When the hats came raining down after Pastrnak's third goal early in the third period, a faux bear head/pelt made its way over the boards and onto the ice. Pastrnak knew with one quick nod to a staff member that this would be his keeper hat for the evening.

 "He immediately nodded the head, so I picked it up," Pastrnak said after the Bruins' 6-2 win over the Senators. "Definitely an interesting one."

Parting with such a prized possession could not have been easy for the fan who donated the unique bit of headwear to the cause. But Pastrnak said the former owner visited the bench area after the game and received a big of a thank-you gift.

"I really wondered how they got it all the way down there. Obviously credit to the one who threw it there," Pastrnak said. "They came after the game to the bench, so I gave them the stick as a thank you for the bear."

The hat trick moved Pastrnak past Cam Neely on the Bruins' all-time goal-scoring list, with Pastrnak now sitting at 345. He has a ways to go before catching Ray Bourque, who ranks sixth with 395, and Brad Marchand -- currently fifth with 399 -- is not finished adding to his total. Pastrnak ranks second in franchise history with the 17 regular-season hat tricks, behind Phil Esposito and his 26.

 Pastrnak particularly appreciated this one, though, as he said he didn't exactly get his "A looks" and had to improvise.

"It's definitely fun when your game is on. It's a fun feeling, especially because it was two backhanders and a high tip," he said. "I don't get many of those, so that was an interesting one."

A unique way of scoring those three goals led to a unique bit of memorabilia for Pastrnak, which was quite fitting -- just like the bearskin hat itself.

"Yeah," a smiling Pastrnak said. "It was cozy."