Bruins' David Pastrnak still making his presence felt amid goal drought

Boston Bruins winger David Pastrnak has gone 15 games without scoring a goal and he’s still tied for 11th in the NHL goal scoring race.

That illustrates how dominant Pastrnak, 20, was earlier in the season when he tallied 19 goals in his first 26 games.

“He’s getting points – it’s not like he’s not producing,” Boston coach Claude Julien said. “Goals aren’t coming as easy. Young guys have to figure out how to deal with these situations.”

Pastrnak, 20, has seven assists in his past seven games, and 47 shots on goal during his goal drought, which dates to Dec. 14. Most NHL players would be thrilled to average more than 3.3 shots per game.

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“I think he’s doing a lot of great things, getting a lot of chances,” Bruins center Patrice Bergeron told USA TODAY Sports. “This happens during the course of the year, it’s one of the things you go through, especially at a young age.”

Pastrnak isn’t panicking. He said he needs to “stick with my game, keeping things simple.”

“At some point, (the puck) is going to go in,” said Pastrnak, who has 33 points in 40 games. “We are going to start winning and then goals will come. I have to stick with it.”

An elbow injury and a two-game suspension for an illegal hit have also undermined Pastrnak’s offensive karma.

“(It) kind of took him off his pace a little bit,” Julien said. “So that’s why he has to find his confidence and groove again.”

Because of Pastrnak’s early offensive show, opponents are giving him extra defensive attention. The 23-19-6 Bruins are ranked 23rd in goals-per-game average entering play Wednesday (2.45), and shutting down Pastrnak goes a long way toward neutralizing their attack. He has been the team’s most dangerous player.

“Maybe he is forcing things right now,” Julien said.

But the Bruins aren’t fretting about the goal drought because they know inexperience is playing a role.

“We can’t say we are really disappointed, because we are not,” Julien said. “He’s still producing, still competing, still working hard. The older, more experienced, player would probably deal with it in a better way. He will someday, but he has to go through it first.”

Bergeron said veterans will do what they can to guide Pastrnak, but they don’t want to overburden him with too much to think about.

“Sometimes you give him advice, but you also don’t want to talk to him too much because he really just needs to go out there and keep playing,” Bergeron said. “He’s been amazing all year. Not much more needs to be said.”