Bergeron's Presence Still Being Felt from Afar

SUNRISE, Fla. - Patrice Bergeron did not travel to South Florida for Games 3 and 4 of the Bruins' opening-round series against the Panthers.
The Boston brass felt that the Black & Gold captain was better suited to remain home under the watchful care of the team's rehabilitation staff - the same one that returned Brad Marchand, Charlie McAvoy, and Matt Grzelcyk to game action far ahead of schedule earlier this season - as he works his way back from an undisclosed injury suffered in the regular-season finale in Montreal.
"It was better for him to stay back physiologically," said coach Jim Montgomery.

Psychologically, however, it was undoubtedly a significant challenge for the 19-year veteran - who prior to this season had missed just three of 163 playoff games since 2009 - to watch from 1,500 miles away on Friday night as the Bruins buckled down for a 4-2 victory over the Panthers in Game 3 to regain the series lead.
But while he was stationed a three-hour plane ride north, Bergeron made sure to make his presence felt, just as he had during the series' opening two games in Boston when he watched from the coaches' offices and delivered feedback to the dressing room in between periods.
"You could tell that he was pretty pumped up of the way we were playing," Montgomery, speaking at the team's hotel on Saturday afternoon, said of the text messages Bergeron was sending assistant coach Chris Kelly during Game 3. "You feel helpless. It's like the first time you retire and you become a coach. You don't have any impact on the ice so it's like, how do you help?
"One, he's an incredibly bright mind for the game. And the stuff he shared, whether it was stuff on neutral zone or O-zone or D-zone, it was poignant."
So poignant that Montgomery joked he hopes Bergeron isn't looking for a head coaching gig anytime soon because he might be out of a job.
"He's a superstar player who is a superstar because of the details that he has in his game," said Montgomery, who said that Bergeron is still skating on his own in Boston and remains on track to return for Game 5. "In order to be so detailed oriented, you have to study and he's a student of the game…Bergeron is so detailed that all three areas, he can help anyone. He can help a power-play player, he can help a fourth-line center, a winger, and he knows everybody's responsibilities within our structure."

He also knows the Bruins' dressing room and culture better than anyone given that he helped build it alongside Zdeno Chara, Mark Recchi, Shawn Thornton, and others over a decade ago.
"Yeah, I do," Marchand said when asked if he viewed Bergeron as a "genius" hockey mind. "Everyone knows I love him. What I think separates him from other leaders and part of what makes him such a great leader is he's got a natural gift of observing. He's always watching. When you go day to day, a lot of people focus on what they have going on and what they do and what they want to achieve. But he has much bigger aspirations for our team. He does everything so well and he's so prepared, but he is always worried about, 'how do I help you, how do I help you, how do I help the next guy?'
"It's not an easy thing to do. The more I'm around him, the more I see how he does it. I've tried to do it and it's very difficult to do because, again, you're always trying to improve your own game and to then have to take on another 25 guys and worry about how you're helping them improve and achieve success, it's impressive."
Especially now that Bergeron is aiming to get healthy as quickly as possible with the Bruins in the midst of critical playoff run.
"It's got to be tough for him," said Marchand, who noted he often gets his own personal texts from Bergeron with tips and observations about his play. "He's a playoff player. He thrives at this time of year. It's got to be hard for him to have to watch and not be in the mix. But that's why he's such an incredible leader because no matter the position he's in, he's always trying to find a way to help.
"We're very fortunate to have a captain like him to lead the way even when he's not here with us…we would not be the team that we are if we didn't have him leading the way because he really spends a ton of time bringing our group together."
And while Bergeron is doing his best to contribute from afar, he is not there for the heat of the battle in the dressing room or on the bench to deliver one of his patented motivational speeches or an encouraging tap on the helmet. That hands-on leadership, right now, is falling to Marchand, who with David Krejci also out with injury for Friday night's Game 3, is Boston's longest-tenured player in uniform.
"I definitely feel a little bit more pressure in that leadership standpoint," said Marchand. "When they're around, I definitely feel a lot more comfortable being in my role. When they're not, it's hard to fill that void. They're two incredible leaders on and off the ice. And they're big holes that you're not gonna fill. That falls on the rest of us that are kind of stepping into that role here at some point to try and take over and lead a little bit more by example and take care of that room.
"It helps having guys like [Nick Foligno] who have been captains before, and Chucky McAvoy trying to take that next step to be a good leader. It helps having him back on the D corps to do that. But you do it by committee. That's why you see guys like [Charlie] Coyle step up and [David Pastrnak] had a big night, [Taylor] Hall had a big night. When you do it by committee it makes it a lot easier to fill that void."

When asked if Game 3 might have been somewhat of a sign of things to come with questions abound when it comes to whether the careers of Bergeron and Krejci will continue beyond this season, Marchand was not prepared to entertain such a thought.
"When they retire, I'm retiring. I can't play without those two," Marchand said with his trademark smirk.
"I honestly try not to think about that…that day we know is gonna come but I'll be very grateful when that day does come that I've had leaders like them to follow and learn from…I know that I won't be Bergy and Zee and Krech and Rex and guys that have come before but I do know that I've learned a lot from them and hopefully I can pass it on to the next guys.
"That just means that Chucky and Pasta and Coyle and those guys are all gonna have to come together as a group and lead as a group. Hopefully, that's not for a long time."

Wait, There's More

• Montgomery said that Krejci remains "questionable" for Game 4 with an upper-body injury.
• Boston's bench boss also said that he is contemplating going with Jeremy Swayman between the pipes on Sunday afternoon. "Yeah, there is thoughts of going with Jeremy," said Montgomery. "One, Jeremy's excellent. And two, after tomorrow's game there's three games between the next one, between 4 and 5. [The goalies have] gone to the rink and when they get back, I'll huddle with Goalie [coach] Bob [Essensa] and he'll let me know."
• Montgomery added that the decision will take into account where Linus Ullmark is at both physically and mentally after starting the first three games of the series. "We thought Linus had a good game," he said. "We didn't think he was overly taxed last night as far as the amount of time we had to spend in our own end."
• The Bruins held a limited skate on Saturday afternoon with several players remaining off the ice. "Some guys have bumps and bruises and they're just better off getting treatment here at the hotel where we have better facilities to do that…it's better for our athletic trainers. Then there's other players that need to get on the ice," said Montgomery.
• Marchand acknowledged that despite the Panthers' best effort to engage him after the whistle, he's trying to remain out of the fray given the dire nature of the postseason. "Playoff time and the regular season are just different animals," he said. "When everything is on the line and you're playing at this level and one penalty or one bad play after the whistle can cost a game or a series, it just means more. You've got to skate away from that stuff…we're best as a group when we just play. We haven't got caught up in that stuff all year. If we stick to that now it's gonna benefit our group. We're best when we play between the whistles."