Patrice Bergeron Takes Matters Into His Own Hands -- And Fists -- Vs. Winnipeg
By Michael Hurley, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- There's no way to gloss over the Bruins' embarrassing 9-2 loss to the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday night. But the team, and alternate captain Patrice Bergeron, ensured history would not repeat itself when the team took to the ice Thursday night in Winnipeg.
Just a minute-and-a-half into Thursday night's contest, Bergeron got himself in the right position as Brad Marchand dangled his way around the slot. Marchand hit Bergeron on the tape, and the B's had themselves an early lead.
While goal scoring is nothing new for Bergeron, he stepped for his team in a unique way during the second period. Earlier, Bergeron took exception to a Blake Wheeler slash in the neutral zone, though Marchand stepped in between the two to make sure Bergeron didn't end up in the penalty box.
But later, when confronted by Wheeler, Bergeron took care of business himself.
It was just the fourth bout of Bergeron's professional career, and frankly, he didn't skate away a winner. But it was that rarity, along with Bergeron's fearlessness in taking on a much bigger player, that made it such a noteworthy occurrence.
"I thought it was great," Marchand told NESN during second intermission. "It just shows that he's willing to stick up for himself. Wheels kind of gave him a bad hack there, and he did a great job. [Wheeler] is a really big guy, and [Bergeron] did a great job. It just shows his character."
In the fight, the 6-foot-2, 194-pound Bergeron was giving up size to the 6-foot-5, 205-pound Wheeler. But that's nothing new for Bergeron, who took on the 6-foot-8, 219-pound Tyler Myers in December 2013.
His other fights include a little scuffle with Evgeni Malkin in the 2013 playoffs, and the famous unveiling of his left hook on Josh Gorges in the 2009 playoffs.
Thursday night's fight was not a reason for complete celebration, though. Bergeron suffered what coach Claude Julien deemed a "ding," perhaps when falling to the ice under the weight of Wheeler. It was enough to limit Bergeron's ice time for the remainder of the night ... but it didn't prevent him from scoring his second goal of the game and 21st goal of the year, which iced the victory early in the third period.
All in a night's work for Bergeron, who just does everything for the Bruins. He has a history with concussions, and he's simply too valuable to his team to be spending five minutes in the box on a regular basis, but he has a knack for knowing when the time is right.
Of course, Bergeron didn't win the game alone. His linemate, for one, played a major factor, as Marchand scored a goal himself and assisted on two more. David Pastrnak scored off his own rebound after carrying the puck into Winnipeg's zone on a 2-on-1 early in the third, and Loui Eriksson scored on a strong move to the net from the corner. Tuukka Rask was immense early, too, finishing the night with 34 saves on 36 shots.
It was a team win, but it wasn't difficult to see that the engine that can drive the Bruins out of their low spot wears No. 37 on his back.
"We talked about learning from that [L.A.] game and kind of putting it in the past also and moving forward," Bergeron said after the 6-2 win. "And that's all we can really do. I thought tonight was a great response."
