David Pastrnak has been essential to the Boston Bruins’ lineup for a decade now, growing into an elite goal-scorer. He’s hit over 100 points in the last three seasons, including an incredible 61 goals in the 2022-23 season. This season, he surpassed the 400 career NHL goals mark, and is currently tied with Rick Middleton for fifth place on the all time Bruins goals list. By the time he reaches the end of his eight-year contract (he’s currently in year three), he should be challenging Johnny Bucyk’s 545 goals for the top spot.
Related: Revisiting the Bruins’ 2020 Draft Class After 5 Years
Things have not always gone too well for the Bruins when Pastrnak is injured, particularly when it comes to scoring. The 29-year-old hasn’t played since American Thanksgiving due to an undisclosed injury. He’s missed five games so far, and will be a game time decision on Dec. 9 against the St. Louis Blues.
Despite his absence, the Bruins have managed to win three out of five games, and most importantly, have continued to maintain a strong, goal scoring presence. A number of guys have stepped up and contributed in Pastrnak’s absence, a major reason why the team is playing well despite the major absence of Pastrnak.
Who Has Scored in Past Five Games?
Since Pastrnak’s injury, the Bruins have had nine different goal scorers in the last five games. They are: Morgan Geekie, Casey Mittelstadt, Jonathan Aspirot, Alex Steeves, Marat Khustnutdinov, Viktor Arvidsson, Pavel Zacha, Fraser Minten, and Andrew Peeke.
Geekie continues to be the biggest name on the scoresheet for the Bruins in 2025-26, scoring five goals in the last five games. He’s now at 22 on the season, trailing only Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche in the overall standings. He’s been the top and most consistent goal-scorer all season, and that has luckily not been affected by Pastrnak’s absence on the top line with him.
Morgan Geekie, Boston Bruins (Winslow Townson-Imagn Images)
Both Aspirot and Peeke have had their first goals of the season in recent matchups. Aspirot, a 26-year-old defenseman and call up from the American Hockey League (AHL), scored in the Bruins’ 5 – 4 loss to the Detroit Red Wings. It was his first career NHL goal after making his NHL debut earlier this season. With all the injuries this season, he’s appeared in 17 games and has been getting increasing opportunities, playing over 20 minutes in the last three games. Meanwhile, Peeke has been a solid, stay-at-home defenseman in Boston since his acquisition at the 2023-24 season trade deadline. He’s officially matched his goal total from last season.
Like Aspirot, Steeves was an AHL call up earlier this season and has certainly made a strong case to remain in Boston once the injury situation is sorted out. With Pastrnak’s injury, he was the one to get moved up to the top line with Geekie and Elias Lindholm. While there is a debate to be had about who should have been moved up to that spot, no one can argue with the fact that he has taken advantage of the opportunity and played well. He has three goals and an assist in the last five games. He now has six goals and eight points in 14 games. During their recent loss to the Red Wings, he was a bright spot in that game, scoring two goals.
Additionally, while Pastrnak has been out, three other players have returned from injury in that time and contributed in his absence. Mittelstadt returned on Nov. 28, the first game Pastrnak missed, after suffering a lower body injury against the Ottawa Senators on Nov. 6. He made an impact straight away as one of the two goal-scorers in their loss against the New York Rangers, and then scored the game winning goal in the shootout the following night against the Red Wings. Arvidsson went out on Nov. 15 with a lower-body injury, and returned to the lineup on Dec. 2. He contributed a goal and an assist in the Bruins’ victory against the Blues.
Finally, Zacha went out with an injury the same time as Pastrnak, missing the Rangers matchup, but was luckily able to return to the lineup the next night. He contributed two goals to the dominant victory over the Blues while continuing to be a stabilizing and essential presence down the middle for the Bruins.
To round out the goal scorers in Pastrnak’s absence are the two youngest players on the roster, Khustnutdinov and Minten. Both have scored once in the last five games while having two of the lowest ice time averages a night amongst guys on this list (Steeves is the only one lower). Minten has been centering the third line all season, and is averaging 14:22. Khusnutdinov is back on the fourth line after a stint on the top line, and is averaging 13:54 in 2025-26 so far.
Who Should be Contributing More?
The Bruins are holding up pretty well in Pastrnak’s absence and have had several guys step up in a big way, but there are a few guys on the roster that it would be nice to get a bit more out of.
Given the contract he signed this summer, there is always going to be a bit of extra scrutiny when it comes to Tanner Jeannot. He’s been fine this season playing a largely bottom-six role. But given the injuries, even beyond Pastrnak, he’s someone the team would probably like to see a bit more out of. He has had two assists in Pastrnak’s absence, one on the Minten goal against the New Jersey Devils and the other on Aspirot’s first career goal against the Red Wings. But he only has three goals so far in 2025-26, and his 24 goal season as a rookie in 2021-22 is looking more and more like a fluke each passing season. So while he hasn’t been bad, he hasn’t been particularly noticeable either, and sometimes that can be just as bad, especially in the first year of a five-year contract.
Utah Mammoth center Nick Schmaltz and Boston Bruins left wing Tanner Jeannot battle for the puck (Rob Gray-Imagn Images)
It’s been an interesting season for Mason Lohrei. In his young career so far, he’s been praised for his offensive skills and abilities while often being a defensive liability in his own zone. He had the most points by a defenseman last season, but was also a minus-43, the worst on the roster. Marco Sturm has been firm with him this season about being better in his own zone, even making him a healthy scratch for a stretch. Improvements are definitely being made, but his offensive game has not been quite the same, and has only had two assists in the last five games. The third-year defenseman is still figuring things out, and trying to strike a balance between being solid in his own zone and utilizing his offensive talents.
Finally, Mark Kastelic has proven to be a very solid fourth-liner, but has not made a huge impression since being moved up to the third line in light of the Bruins’ injury situation. He has one assist in the last five games while getting increased opportunities and ice time. He played almost 14 minutes in the last game and over 15 in the game before that, well above his career average of 9:42. It may be a better option to keep him on the fourth line and move Mikey Eyssimont back up to playing with Jeannot and Minten, or give Khusnutdinov more ice time.
Pastrnak Returning Soon
While Pastrnak is a gametime decision for their upcoming matchup against the Blues, he is traveling with the team on their three-game road trip, and is expected to return to the ice at some point in that time. It will be great to see him back on the ice, and hopefully the time to recover will be enough to help him reset and get back to normal as he was in the middle of a five-game goal drought leading up to his injury.
Boston Bruins right wing David Pastrnak fires the puck towards an empty net as Alex Tuch tries to defend (Winslow Townson-Imagn Images)
With Steeves making the most of his opportunity, it will be interesting to see who gets the boot from the lineup when he returns. There is a very strong case for keeping Steeves in, and he will most likely take Kastelic’s spot on the third line, or Arvidsson could be pushed down from the second. Either way, most likely, Kastelic will be back on the fourth line, meaning either Khusnutdinov, Eyssimont, or Sean Kuraly will be the one out of the lineup. If I were to make a bet, it’d be Kuraly on the outside looking in.
Related: Bruins News & Rumors: McAvoy’s Injury, the Emergence of Steeves & More
Luckily, it shouldn’t be long until we find out. The Bruins are set to begin a three-game road trip, first going to St. Louis to play the Blues on Dec. 9, then up to Canada to face the Winnipeg Jets on Dec. 11, and rounding out the trip against the Minnesota Wild on Dec. 14.
