When he woke up on Saturday morning, David Pastrnak I didn’t want to believe that he was real.
“When I woke up today, I honestly thought it was a dream,” said Pastrnak.
But Bruise He had marketed three basic pieces: Brad Marchand, Charlie Coyle and Brandon Carlo, with whom he had been teammates and friends for most of his career.
“Yesterday, with so many things, this morning the reality really affected,” he said. “It was a bit harder this morning.”
“It’s a very hard pill to swallow,” said Pastrnak. “Obviously, we have not only lost the great leaders in this team, but the older human beings, boys with families they were very close to. I have been here from day one with them.”
But as he continued to process -when he arrived on the court in Florida before the game on Saturday in Tampa Bay, Pastrnak prepared to lead.
Marchand, the captain had gone. Coyle and Carlo, who had been filled as alternates. Charlie McAvoy, the other alternative captain rehabilitated an injury.
Pastrnak was the only player to remain, who had never brought a letter for the Bruins and the only one who brought a Saturday.
“No matter who has a letter. In this room, everyone has a voice. We assure you that we are together. I recognize that I am one of the oldest boys in the group,” he said. “We lack Chucky and Hampus (Lindholm) here, which are an important part of our group. I certainly lost them yesterday in difficult times like this. But we recognize that we have many jobs to do and more responsibility.
“ It’s the worst side of the business we are in, ” said Pastrnak, “but we must keep -together in difficult times. On the other hand, it is the beauty of sport. You have 20 friends in which you can trust. We are together. We are not losing any hope. We will miss those guys as crazy and we wish them nothing but the best. But we have a job to do here.”
Porter Jeremy Swayman, which was dramatically raised on the team’s old graph with shops, he went through many of the same stages as Pastrnak.
“I love these guys,” Swayman said. “The fact that we cannot continue to play together, memories and pushing is devastating. So the message was right here:” We still have work to do. “They did a lot for this organization. They left the foundations because we build ourselves. It’s our job, the boys still in this room, to continue their legacy.
“It’s about complete and unexpected things,” Swayman added, “I know that none of these boys wanted to go out and wanted to see it here. We had the ability to see it here with these boys. This is the most devastating part, I think. It was a roller coaster of emotions. The human side of me was crushed.”
When the game started, there was much out of uncertain on how they would play. Would the emotions weigh them? Having four new players in the programming would you leave them out of synchronization? Even the national television stations were asked.
Bruins instead seemed to channel what they felt in a strong effort against a flat lightning team en route to a victory for 4-0.
“We have some great additions and we have a lot of hockey,” said Pastrnak. “So we have to play for the rest of the year. We will win more games than we will lose if we play like that. … it was important that we did not lose this step. Really proud of the group with the effort with everything that happens. “
Swayman, who had one of his best games of the season to win –
“To achieve it today, with what happened yesterday, he will show what we have in this locker room,” he said. “A emotional day and an emotional victory today. This is what we signed up. The boys in this locker room have a job to do. Especially the boys like me and pasta and PAV (Zacha), who have been here for several years here what is needed to be a bruin. (We have) to ensure that culture is maintained. “”
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