There was no bad blood between David Pastrnak and his head coach after the forward's benching on Sunday.
The Boston Bruins superstar spoke to the media after practice Monday and made it clear that he wants to take accountability for his own mistakes after head coach Jim Montgomery chose to bench him in the third period against the Seattle Kraken.
"Honestly, just have to be better. You have to take responsibility for being better," Pastrnak said. "But at the same time, I'm just moving forward, focusing on the game tomorrow. Yesterday was yesterday, I never look back."
Following the Bruins' 2-0 win over the Kraken, Montgomery told the media that Pastrnak remained on the bench for the final 20 minutes due to "a coach's decision" and wouldn't comment on the situation beyond that.
Over the previous 40 minutes of play, Patsrnak accumulated 14:21 of ice time across 14 shifts. He finished the night having recorded seven shots, one block, two giveaways and one takeaway.
The 28-year-old had a prime scoring opportunity in the first period with Joey Daccord sprawled on the ice, yet he shot the puck directly at the Kraken goaltender despite the open net.
He also committed a turnover late in the second period in what would be his final shift of that game.
"It was a bad turnover. I take responsibility for it, accountability," Pastrnak emphasized, taking the brunt of the blame. "I just want to move forward, I don't want any distractions for our team. The guys know how I feel about them. It was a bad play, I'll take accountability."
Pastrnak, an alternate captain for the Bruins, also explained the importance of being a leader for the team despite being forced to ride the pine.
"You have to be supportive of the guys that have to play one man short because of my mistake," Pastrnak said. "So you just try to support and stay in the game as much as you can and be vocal."
Montgomery spoke on Monday about how impressed he was about his star player's benching, touting his leadership capabilities.
"I'm really lucky to work with the leaders I get to work with," the third-year Bruins coach said. "I'm very fortunate. ... I'm lucky with the accountability that exists in this culture and the leaders that I get to deal with because that allows me to hold everybody accountable."
The Czech has 11 points (six goals and five assists) in 13 games this season, but he has a plus/minus of minus-four and is carrying a slightly lower shooting percentage than usual. He has now gone three straight games without scoring a goal.
Meanwhile, the Bruins are off to a slower start than expected, currently holding a 6-6-1 record and sit fourth in the Atlantic division.
COMMENTS
When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.