Patrice Bergeron Dominant In Bruins Return, But Health Status Unclear Going Forward
By Michael Hurley, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- Boston's Mr. Perfect was as good as can be on Thursday night.
Playing in his first game of the season after missing time with an undisclosed lower-body injury, Bergeron looked every bit like the player who's made two All-Star Games and has won four Selke Trophies since 2012. He was two seconds shy of skating 21 minutes, registering a goal and three assists in a 6-3 home win over the Canucks.
His rust may have shown in the form of an uncharacteristically mediocre 50 percent faceoff win rate, but the line of Bergeron centering Brad Marchand and Anders Bjork was by far the best trio on the ice for either team all night.
For a team that needed a win in a big way, it was jubilation for the Bruins. It came, however, with a word of caution from the Bruins' best player.
"That's the million dollar question, right?" Bergeron answered when asked if he was "over the hump" of his injury. " I don't know what to say to that. I guess yeah, I mean, I'm feeling good, but there's … we might manage a little bit for quite a while. But I'm feeling good and tonight was no issue."
So while Bergeron may have looked like his normal self on Thursday, he left open the possibility that a setback could still come at any moment.
Perhaps he's being overly cautious, or perhaps he's just being realistic. Whatever the case may be, his importance to a Bruins team that entered the night with a 2-3-0 record on the year was clear to see.
"I mean it's pretty evident, you know, the way he played out there tonight. He just, it's incredible the way he came back and dominated the game after being out for that long," said linemate Marchand, who had a goal and two assists. "He's just such a big part of the group. He's able to calm things down in the room, on the bench, and he leads by example. You know, he just does everything that a top guy does."
Veteran winger David Backes, who made his own season debut on Thursday night after battling diverticulitis, marveled at the way Bergeron and Marchand function together.
"His brain, it's ridiculous. He and Marchy, they might be twins like the Sedins. They always know where each other are, and that comes from playing together forever," Backes said. "That they're able to have that sixth sense of they know where they are. Maybe it's just a little yell and they know, hey he's been there before and put it right in the wheelhouse, and it's in the back of the net."
In typical Bergeron fashion, nothing he did on Thursday was particularly flashy -- unlike, say David Pastrnak's Bobby Orr impression. Midway through the second period with the Bruins leading 4-1, Bergeron decided he was simply going to take the puck from Ben Hutton in the corner. He did. Bjork grabbed the free puck and fed on to Marchand for a goal that took about 3.5 seconds to transpire from beginning to end.
In total, Bergeron was on the ice for five of the Bruins' six goals (including, of course, his own), and he was on the ice for just one of Vancouver's goals.
And after Bergeron scored the putaway goal to give the Bruins a 6-3 lead in the third, his nonchalant "celebration" was of the typically understated variety.
"He does it everywhere," Marchand said of Bergeron. "The amount of turnovers he creates and opportunities he creates off of those loose pucks and won battles. And then Bjork, he did a great job at getting in there and making the good plays, so you know, it just shows, again the little things [Bergeron] does that mean so much for our team."
It was a typically dominant night for one of the best players in the sport. The Bruins now just have to hope whatever that mystery ailment may be, it's kept in check for the season.
You can email Michael Hurley or find him on Twitter @michaelFhurley.
