Boston Bruins
“It’s weird. Score a goal and end up in the penalty box. Whatever.”
David Pastrnak wasn’t happy after Sunday’s loss to Tampa. (AP Photo/Chris O’Meara)
February 2, 2026 | 7:59 AM
4 minutes to read
TAMPA — A roller-coaster night for the Bruins rife with swings of momentum, a parade to the penalty box, and a goalie fight seemingly ended on a high note in overtime for David Pastrnak.
Just 22 seconds into the extra frame of Sunday’s Stadium Series showdown against the Lightning, Pastrnak capped off a 2-on-1 rush by rifling a puck past Andrei Vasilevskiy — securing another valuable two points in the standings against arguably the best team in the Eastern Conference.
Pastrnak’s revelry at Raymond James Stadium was short-lived.
Before he could even celebrate with his teammates, he was instead ushered to the penalty box for a slash — with the officials not only waving off his tally, but instead giving Tampa an extra skater for the next two minutes of overtime.
It was the latest tough break in what was ultimately a frustrating night for the Bruins — ultimately ending by way of a 6-5 shootout loss against Tampa.
“That hurts. It hurts a lot,” Charlie McAvoy said postgame. “The way that we lost it is just brutal, spending half the game in the penalty box.”
It was a long night in the sin bin for the Bruins, who let a 5-1 lead in the second period slip through their grasp due to a flurry of Tampa power-play tallies.
In total, the Lightning were awarded seven straight power-play opportunities to close out the game — with Tampa erasing that sizable deficit with three strikes on the man advantage in the second period, including a pair of 5-on-3 scores.
As Morgan Geekie stressed repeatedly, the Bruins were guilty of rather blatant penalties amid that second-half implosion.
But what the Bruins took umbrage of on Sunday was the lack of calls against Tampa during that sustained stretch of chaos — as well as the frantic sequence involving Pastrnak in overtime.
“We didn’t get any calls,” McAvoy said.
“I think that made us more mad than the calls,” Geekie added of the play involving Pastrnak.
Seconds before Pastrnak seemingly ended the game in overtime, the officials ruled that Pastrnak had slashed Tampa’s J.J. Moser — with one ref raising his arm up. But as Pastrnak and the Bruins pushed the puck down the ice, no whistle was heard.
As such, even Jeremy Swayman started to make his way to Boston’s bench as the sequence played out — thinking that the penalty was against Tampa given that the Bruins had possession of the puck and play hadn’t stopped.
Instead, it was a slash against Pastrnak — who only realized it after he had already fired a puck past Vasilevskiy.
Pastrnak didn’t mince words postgame about the call.
David Pastrnak on being called for a penalty after apparently scoring an OT goal:
“I’ve never seen something like that. To me, it’s a joke. … It’s weird. Score a goal and end up in the penalty box.” pic.twitter.com/lUkE3JXzRz
— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) February 2, 2026
“I have no clue what happened,” Pastrnak said postgame. “It’s a freakin’ turnover, we’ve got a 2-on-1, the referee has his arm up, he’s letting me go, Sway’s going to the bench, we finished the play, score a goal and all of a sudden I’m in the penalty box. It’s a joke. I don’t understand.
“I’ve never seen something like that. To me it was a joke. I don’t care if that’s a bad answer, but that’s how I feel. It’s weird. Score a goal and end up in the penalty box. Whatever. We gave them two points and that’s what matters. Tough on us.”
For Geekie and McAvoy, it was the optics of Pastrnak making it down the ice and Swayman leaving the net that further infuriated them.
“Just the fact that Sway was out of the net and we carried it all the way down the ice and we scored without anyone blowing the whistle,” Geeke said. “So, he [the ref] obviously saw something that none of us did, but we might’ve been watching two ice sheets.”
“I’m skating up the ice with the ref and his hands in the air, and I was like, ‘on who?’ Couldn’t believe he called another penalty, and we go down with the puck,” McAvoy added. “So I was like, ‘Oh, it’s on them. Sway made it halfway to the bench, and then he just blew it dead.”
Charlie McAvoy on if the Bruins got an explanation from the officials on the Pastrnak OT goal:
“We didn’t get anything. He came over and said, ‘Sorry.’ You’ll have to ask him.” pic.twitter.com/yujbfzYfLZ
— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) February 2, 2026
McAvoy was asked if the officials gave them any explanation for the call.
“No, we didn’t get anything,” McAvoy said. “He came over and said, ‘Sorry’. I don’t know how. I don’t know — you’ll have to ask him. I don’t know. I don’t know what he what he was thinking or seeing there.”
As frustrating as Sunday’s game was, even Pastrnak harped on the Bruins own self-inflicted miscues that turned what was looking like a statement win into an ugly loss.
“The game was over. It was in our hands. We had them,” Pastrnak said. “We made the mistakes. We let them, let them back in the game with our mistakes, and [you] can’t afford it against a team like Tampa. They are heck of a team. … We left the points, again, on the table.”
Conor Ryan is a staff writer covering the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox for Boston.com, a role he has held since 2023.
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