David Pastrnak sat for the shootout as the Boston Bruins lost to Florida, and Marco Sturm’s explanation triggered instant backlash.

Wednesday’s Bruins vs Panthers game had chaos, goals, and a real chance to steal two points.

Boston trailed 4-2 late, then clawed all the way back to force overtime.

Mark Kastelic made it 4-3, then Casey Mittelstadt tied it on the man advantage.

Pastrnak had the primary assist on that tying goal, his 49th helper of the season.

Overtime solved nothing, and the game went to the skills contest with the Bruins’ best pure finisher watching.

Sturm chose other options, and Florida eventually took it 5-4 in the shootout.

That alone would have been a talking point, but Sturm made it worse with the explanation.

David Pastrnak benched during the shootout

Despite Pastrnak's struggles in the shootout this year, you never bench your top, most offensively skilled forward.

Sturm had this to say on why Pastrnak was benched: “I haven’t seen him score yet. I haven’t seen any of our top guys score yet.”

You never know what could happen. Maybe Pastrnak goes out there and scores to help the Bruins win.

Instead, he sat on the bench and watched his teammates go out there, and ultimately the Bruins lost.

Along with that, Sturm stated that this is an area that the Bruins need to work on, and will do following the break.

But it’s hard to sell “process” when your most dangerous scorer is glued to the bench.

Now the Bruins head into the break with a loud question hanging over them, because you only get so many chances to win a coin-flip finish.