Patrice Bergeron barely misses any time after taking Pastrnak slap shot to face
BOSTON -- We've known for a long, long time that Patrice Bergeron is one tough dude. He's taken quite a few hockey-related beatings over his 19-year career, but they never seem to keep him down for long.
And given that Bergeron played through a broken rib and a hole in his lung during the Stanley Cup Final in 2013, nothing should really surprise us with the Bruins captain. But his toughness was once again on full display Wednesday night during Boston's 4-1 win over the Islanders in New York.
With the B's on the power play early in the third quarter, Bergeron took a deflected David Pastrnak slap shot right off the face. It left Bergeron bloodied and he immediately made his way to the Boston dressing room, with the assistance of teammates and the team's medical staff.
It looked like an early end to Bergeron's night, and no one would have blamed him for watching the rest of the game with a giant ice pack on his nose. But he's Patrice Bergeron, so he was back on the bench a short time later, and back on the ice a short time after that. With blood on his jersey and a hunk of gauze jammed up his nose, the tough guy played three more shifts to close out the Boston victory.
The B's responded too, with Brad Marchand netting his 15th goal of the season a short time after Bergeron went down to give Boston a 3-1 lead. Marchand said after the win that he wasn't surprised to see Bergeron return to action shortly after the injury, but he did feel a little bit concerned for his captain.
"It was definitely a relief when he stepped back on the ice again. We were all nervous when he left," said Marchand. "He's gonna play through anything.
"It makes you want to go through a wall when you see a guy like that come back, who literally will play through anything and sacrifice any part of his body to win a game," Marchand added. "He could easily walk away from that and rest up for the next one, but it says a lot about his character and who he is as a player and a captain and that's why he is who he is."
Marchand has had a front-row seat for Bergeron's toughness for years, but head coach Jim Montgomery is still getting used to it. He was simply amazed, once again, by his team's captain on Wednesday night.
"Really, I can't say enough words," said Montgomery. "We're up in the game, 3-1, and he knows that. He's back in the locker room and, still, he comes back out right away. Just a tremendous amount of respect for his pride wearing the Spoked-B."
Bergeron is probably going to have a pretty nasty bruise for a while. He's set to undergo X-rays on Thursday, and it's unclear if he'll play in Thursday night's road tilt against the Rangers in New York.
Montgomery said that decision will be left up to Bergeron -- which likely means he'll be out there as the B's go for their fourth straight win.
