David Pastrnak was one of the best players at the 2024 NHL All-Star Game tournament held in Toronto. The Czech sniper scored two goals and collected four points in two games. The Boston Bruins’ star also personally eliminated Tom Wilson’s Team MacKinnon, scoring the game-ending shootout goal.
Wilson made sure to specifically congratulate his longtime friend, giving Pastrnak a hug after the game. Wilson also saluted Pasta on his Instagram Story on Sunday, writing “I think you’re the best goal scorer in the league @davidpastrnak…”
The comment is a callback to a viral tweet published by Pastrnak in 2020 during the NHL’s Bubble Playoffs.
In my opinion Tom Wilson is the best goal scorer in the league
— davidpastrnak (@pastrnak96) July 29, 2020
Wilson responded gratefully on Twitter, but countering that Ovi was.
Appreciate it Pasta! But I think @ovi8 https://t.co/CWOKalLh7M
— Tom Wilson (@tom_wilso) July 29, 2020
Of course, it all was a big joke. Back then, Wilson would only tell the press that Pastrnak lost a bet with him, which resulted in the tweet. He would not elaborate on what the bet actually was.
“He’s a man of his word,” Wilson said. “It’s just funny. He’s obviously a character. We’ll see. Maybe I’ll give him the follow after that compliment. It was nice of him to say.”
Nearly a year later, Pastrnak explained the bet broadly on the Spittin’ Chiclets podcast, seeming to eventually confirm that it was over a beer-chugging contest.
“I obviously lost a bet, okay, which I was really confident going into,” Pastrnak said. “And the bet was basically, if I lose, I’m gonna make this tweet. And if I win, me and Tom Wilson, because we played the round robin, right? We played against Washington. So, this bet happened before round robin. And if I would won, we would drop gloves and basically, I would throw a punch and knock the sh*t out of Tommy. That’s why he was saying, ‘I knew I was going to have to win this bet.’
“He gave it (his) all and he beat me by a mile. Not really gonna get into what the bet was, but he beat me by a mile. And yeah, so I tweeted out and it was kinda funny and it’s crazy. I still get the tweets to this day, you know, every goal he scored, I just get mentioned all night and that I was right. So yeah, I got absolutely roasted in that bet.”
Ryan Whitney, one of the hosts of the podcast, responded, “I know, he chugs beers so fast.”
The group laughed.
“He’s pretty good, man,” Pastrnak said. “I was feeling [good] going into that, man.”
Both teams stayed in Toronto’s Hotel X for the playoffs. The Capitals were upset in the first round by the New York Islanders. After the series ended, the team was subject to rumors that they turned their bubble experience into a vacation and that “they had no interest in being there.”
Regardless, at least Tom made a friend for life out of the experience.
