Bergeron Breaks Through with Four-Goal Outburst vs. Red Wings

BOSTON - In the midst of yet another lengthy break in the schedule, the Bruins arrived at the rink on Thursday morning having practiced three times in four days. As such, coach Bruce Cassidy declared the pregame skate an optional one for his club.
Most of the Bruins took their option, leaving only a handful of players on the ice for the session at Warrior Ice Arena, including the expected scratches and two goaltenders.
One of the players that took to the sheet for some extra work could have easily joined the majority of his teammates and skipped the workout in favor of a longer pregame nap. After 18 years in the National Hockey League, he's certainly earned that right.
But Patrice Bergeron is wired a bit differently.

The B's captain instead was out on the ice early, parked in his familiar bumper position, taking feeds from assistant coach Joe Sacco, burying one after another into the net.
It proved to be a sign of things to come.
Some nine hours later, Bergeron erupted for a franchise record-tying four goals - his first four of the season - including three on the power play from his familiar office in the slot to pace the Bruins to a convincing 5-1 victory over the Detroit Red Wings at TD Garden.
"He's worked on it a ton," longtime linemate Brad Marchand said of Bergeron's quick release from the bumper position. "He spends a lot of time before practice, after practice getting in that spot. He's spent years taking shots before and after practice, so it's been a long time in the making. But he's the most dangerous bumper guy in the league now because of it.
"He worked tremendously hard, as he does at everything, and he worked himself into the best bumper player in the league. Got to give him a lot of credit there. He's a threat now even 5-on-5 because he's worked on that.
"The amount of goals he's scored every year from finding that hole...it's impressive."

Everything that Bergeron did on Thursday night was impressive. The 36-year-old registered his seventh career hat trick (six of which have come since 2018) in the second period before capping off his second career four-goal game (his first came on January 6, 2018, against Carolina) with a nifty tally off the rush late in the third period.
Per NHL Stats, Bergeron is the fifth player in Bruins history to record a hat trick at 36 or older, joining Johnny Bucyk (six), Jean Ratelle, Dit Clapper, and Dave Andreychuk and the 12th oldest in league history to score four goals. It was his second career natural hat trick (three straight goals).
"He's such a dominant player in the league," said Marchand, who picked up the primary assist on all four of Bergeron's goals. "He's had a lot of good looks earlier on…sometimes they go in, sometimes they don't. Everything he touched tonight went in…when he gets on a roll, he really gets on a roll.
"He's still so effective for our team and the heart and soul for our team."
Bergeron entered the contest without a goal through the first seven games of the season, but left TD Garden on Thursday tied with Marchand for the team lead. As Cassidy explained earlier this week, he was hardly concerned about his captain's production and believed that once the dam broke, the goals would come in bunches.
"He is too good of a player to keep him down for long, and that whole line, to be honest with you," said Cassidy. "I think Bergy has had some looks that haven't gone in - not as many as we'd all like...sometimes you get one and it snowballs a little when it hasn't gone well. You knew that sooner or later than would happen."
Bergeron was convinced, too. After nearly two decades in the NHL, the four-time Selke Trophy winner relied on his experience to get him through his scoreless stretch without pressing, while also zoning in on making sure that the other areas of his game remained up to his standard.
"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?" said Bergeron, who also won 16 of 19 faceoffs in18:51 of ice time against Detroit. "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.
"That's how I was approaching it…obviously you want to produce, but that being said, I think the last thing you can do is put pressure on your shoulders. It's going to make it worse for yourself. But doing the right things and making sure you are doing things to help your team win."

Bergeron said that, ultimately, his most important focus remained on contributing to team success over his own individual achievements.
"We were too spread out as a line," Bergeron said of the top trio's struggles over the previous few games. "Before that, we were creating a lot. Maybe I wasn't getting the goals, but we are still creating some things and getting some wins as well. Remember, that's why I am playing the game.
"Sometimes you have to take a step back…my game is not about just scoring goals. You have to go back to what you want to do to help [the team] win…do those things and worry about details and the rest will fall into place."
Things certainly fell into place against the Red Wings, particularly on the man advantage where Bergeron put forth a dominating performance by matching a franchise record with three power-play goals. Bergeron opened the scoring just five seconds into Boston's first power-play of the night when he won a faceoff back to Charlie McAvoy (two assists) and immediately got in position at the top of the right circle.
McAvoy zipped a feed down to Marchand at the hashmarks before the winger one-touched a feed back to Bergeron, who rifled his first of the year far-side by the blocker of Detroit goalie Thomas Greiss to put Boston up, 1-0, with 8:57 left in the first period.
"I think the way Detroit killed set up well for us," said Cassidy. "We like to start in the slot, slot plays around the net. They kind of take away the elbow shooters, so we hoped it would be a good night if we were able to execute. We did."
Bergeron doubled the Bruins' lead with 9:08 left in the second when he drifted into the slot, took a dish from Marchand, and quickly ripped a wrister by Greiss while fading away back toward the boards.
"I saw him," said Marchand, who came out from behind the Detroit net. "I mean, he's always right there anytime that puck comes from the other side. I know he's gonna be around that area and luckily their winger was cheating around the wall.
"But he's so good at finding that open space and getting open and putting himself in a position to score and did that again."

And again. And again.
Bergeron finished off his power-play trifecta with another bumper bomb off a pass from Marchand to put the Bruins ahead, 3-0, with 1:15 to go in the second. At first, it appeared that the Red Wings had finally blanketed Bergeron in the bumper so he quickly one-touched a feed up to McAvoy at the point. But as soon as McAvoy shuffled a pass over to Marchand, the Red Wings' killers moved just enough to open up a lane for the winger to find Bergeron once again at the top of the slot.
"I think you always want to be a play ahead," said Bergeron. "Especially in the position when you don't have much time to really make a decision on what is going to happen and there's going to be a guy or two on you. I think today we were trying to play a little bit more in the middle, so [I] backed off a little bit. It seemed to be creating some problems.
"You always want to be better on the power plays. When you are unpredictable, it helps. I think on that play…it was a lot of shots coming from me. I was trying to give it back quickly to Chuck."
Bergeron capped his sensational showing with a pretty marker off the rush as Marchand, once again, found his centerman, this time as he was trailing through the slot. Bergeron corralled the feed and deposited a wrister through Greiss to make it 5-1 with 4:08 remaining.
"The three games before [Thursday night], we were playing some really good teams," said Bergeron. "I thought it was some hard battles and it's good for us to learn earlier that it's hard to win in this league. You have to stick with it and keep improving as a team.
"There are a lot of guys who are new to the locker room. It has been good to have less games and more practice time. Time to get together and really bond."
And time to put it some extra work - which always pays off.