Patrice Bergeron Bursts Out Of Scoring Slump With Four-Goal Night

BOSTON (CBS) -- Patrice Bergeron had zero goals heading into Thursday night's showdown with the Red Wings at TD Garden. But by the end of the second period, the Bruins captain had already secured his seventh career hat trick.

As is the case with just about everything that Bergeron does, he made it all look so easy. Even with a goose egg next to his goal tally entering the night, he knew that he'd eventually light the lamp this season. So did his teammates and his head coach.

"Honestly, I think it's one of those things where I have been in the league long enough to know it's going to come back, right?" Bergeron told reporters after Boston's 5-1 victory. "I have the experience that I can rely on. I think it's about making sure you don't force plays and you don't try to think about the end result but really go back to the details and begin to play the right way and put yourself in a good position."

"He's such a dominant player in the league," said linemate Brad Marchand, who assisted on all four of Bergeron's goals Thursday night. "Everything he touched tonight went in.

"When he gets on a roll, he really gets on a roll," added Marchand.

Bergeron put on an absolute clinic on the power play Thursday night, with each of his first three tallies coming on the man advantage. He scored just five seconds into Boston's first power play of the evening, a beautiful tic-tac-toe goal with Marchand and Charlie McAvoy. Bergeron won a faceoff in Detroit's zone, which was common practice Thursday night as he was 16 of 19 at the dot. Bergeron sent it back to McAvoy, who fed it Marchand, who fired it on to Bergeron. Bergy sniped it by Red Wings netminder Thomas Greiss to give Boston a 1-0 lead with 8:57 left in the first period, and the Bruins never looked back.

For his second tally, Bergeron found himself all alone midway through the second period with the Bruins on the power play. That's a big no-no for opposing teams, as Marchand easily found his lonely teammate from behind the net and Bergeron took care of the rest.

Hats were on the ice just eight minutes later when Bergeron once again found the back of the net with the Bruins on the power play.

Bergeron is now up to seven career hat tricks, six of which have come since 2018. Thursday night was his second career natural hat trick.

But three wasn't enough for Bergeron on Thursday, as he added a fourth goal late in the third quarter off a Bruins rush. He now has two four-goal games in his career.

"He's too good of a player to keep him down for long," Boston head coach Bruce Cassidy said after Thursday's win. "Sometimes you get one and it snowballs a little. You knew that sooner or later that would happen."

After entering the night with zero goals, Bergeron is now tied with Marchand for the team-lead at four. Not a bad evening of work for the Bruins captain.

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• Boston Bruins
• Patrice Bergeron
• NHL
• Brad Marchand