Patrice Bergeron becomes fourth Bruins player to reach 1,000 career points
BOSTON -- Patrice Bergeron is a special player. He notched a special career milestone on Monday night, joining an exclusive group in Boston Bruins history.
Bergeron recorded the 1,000th point of his career late in the second period of Boston's 5-3 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday evening, becoming just the fourth Bruins player to reach the milestone. He now joins Ray Bourque (1,506), Johnny Bucyk (1,339), and Phil Esposito (1,012) in Boston's 1000-point club.
Bergeron picked up the milestone point off a secondary assist on a Brad Marchand goal, which put Boston on top 4-1 at the time. Even though the Bruins were in Tampa, chants of "Bergy! Bergy! Bergy!" began to echo throughout Amalie Arena.
Marchand has shared the ice with Bergeron for a long time, and immediately swarmed his linemate to celebrate the milestone. The rest of Bergeron's teammates followed suit, with the Boston bench taking the ice to mob their captain.
"That was probably the most special thing about it," Bergeron said of the on-ice celebration. "To have all the guys jump on and share that with them, that was great. Definitely something that I'll remember for a long time.
"As I've said many times, it's a special game that gives you a lot and obviously you go through a lot of ups and downs but all you remember is, really, those memories, those friendships, and the guys you go to battle with. It was a special moment, of course," he continued.
Bergeron said the point meant even more since it came off a feed to his good buddy, Marchand.
"Whatever way it happens, it's fine," he said. "But it means even more when it's a guy who has been on my side for such a long time and has such a big impact on the team but also on my career."
Bergeron is the 94th player in NHL history to hit 1,000 career points, and is now the eighth active player in the league hit the milestone.
The Bruins won 5-3 on Monday night to improve to 17-2-0 on the season.
