Bruins’ David Pastrnak Admits This About Looming Trade Deadline

BOSTON — Bruins star David Pastrnak extended his point streak to 15 games by lighting the lamp twice and adding an assist in Boston’s overtime loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs at TD Garden on Tuesday night.

The 28-year-old forward has recorded 29 points (13 goals and 16 assists) across the last 15 games and is up to 30 goals on the season. It’s the seventh time and fourth straight that Pastrnak has recorded 30-plus goals in a season.

Despite Pastrnak’s individual success in the game, he knows the Bruins left a much-needed point on the table.

“The most frustrating thing is we take the lead 4-3, and we still weren’t able to close,” Pastrnak said. “… It’s tough to have this second point hanging on the table and let them grab it.”

With the March 7 trade deadline looming, Pastrnak admitted that it can creep into the players’ minds during the game.

“Our job is to focus on hockey and winning hockey games for this club,” Pastrnak said. “We are the players and management is management. They do their jobs, and we’re doing ours.

“These times around the trade deadline are never fun. That’s the business side of it. Every guy can talk about how much he wants (to stay), but it’s always back in your head. But, this is the job we have. It’s always the same around the trade deadline.”

Pastrnak continued: “Those last couple of weeks, you can be in your head a little bit. But again, it’s up to us players to focus when we have a game to throw these things behind, and then focus on winning hockey games and don’t focus on what’s going to happen after the game … just stay in the moment.”

With the Bruins in a dogfight for a spot in the postseason, general manager Don Sweeney addressed the club’s approach to the trade deadline, stating they would be less aggressive than they have been in the past.

Boston has 23 games remaining on its regular-season schedule and is at risk of missing the postseason for the first time since the 2015-16 campaign. Next up is Thursday night’s clash with one of the few teams below them in the Eastern Conference standings — the New York Islanders.