Bruins show off depth, win Game 1 without Bergeron against Panthers

BOSTON --There have been Boston Bruins teams in the past for which the news that came down Monday would have been a dagger. Patrice Bergeron, the captain, the top-line center, would not play in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference First Round against the Florida Panthers because of illness.

Those were the versions of the Bruins that relied, almost exclusively, on the uber-line of Bergeron, Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak, the teams that were top-heavy enough to topple over.
That is not this Bruins team.
They took the news of Bergeron's absence in stride, turning in an effective -- if not always pretty --
3-1 win
against the Panthers at TD Garden on a sports-filled Monday here that ranged from the Boston Marathon to the traditional Red Sox matinee to the Bruins' opener in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
"That's all the trust we have for each other," goalie Linus Ullmark said. "We believe in ourselves. We believe in our depth that we have, the team that we have. It doesn't matter who is out. There is always another guy that is able to step in and fill the shoes of it. Now we've just got to keep it rolling here and bring those guys that are out, back."
They got goals from Pastrnak, the 61-goal man this season, from Marchand, and from Jake DeBrusk. And, while those three names might qualify as the usual suspects, it was notable that some of the best performances came from players who have generally played supporting roles.
There was the slick no-look backhand pass from Tyler Bertuzzi that made Pastrnak's job easy on his goal, at 5:58 of the first period on the power play. There was the workhorse night from third-line center Charlie Coyle, whose line can create matchup nightmares and the first-ever playoff point for Pavel Zacha, a secondary assist on the greasy goal scored by DeBrusk at 17:32 of the second period. There was the monster shift from the fourth line in the final minutes that resulted in a disallowed goal by Garnet Hathaway, but more importantly, killed time off the clock and any chance of a Panthers comeback.
"It speaks of the leadership underneath Patrice and it also speaks to our depth," coach Jim Montgomery said. "We're very confident with Zacha in the middle. We know in the future he's going to be an excellent top-two center for us and he showed that tonight."
RELATED: [Complete Bruins vs. Panthers series coverage]
This is a team that relies on its entire lineup, the way that it has succeeded despite injuries to big names all season. These were, after all, the Bruins who were supposed to start slowly this season after offseason surgeries to Marchand and defensemen Charlie McAvoy and Matt Grzelcyk were going to have them out until November or December.
They did the opposite.
In fact, in the four regular-season games Boston played without Bergeron this season, it went 4-0-0 and scored 15 goals.
Now make that 5-0-0.
"We've showed it all year," Bruins president Cam Neely said Sunday about Boston's ability to win at less than full strength. "We've had a lot of players in and out of the lineup this year. Our record speaks for itself. Our depth is as good as it's ever been."
They showed it Monday. They served notice that they're not going to be cowed, no matter who is out of the lineup. Even their captain.
"He was around all day and kind of talked to us before the game," DeBrusk said. "He was watching here in the room. Obviously such a presence. You could tell how bad he wants to be out there. He can't wait to get back in the mix. … It's one of those things where we want to do it for him. That was a main goal at the start of the year."
And so before the game, after the game-time decision on Bergeron had been made, the Bruins weren't concerned.
The mood was, as McAvoy put it, "the same as it's been all year, knowing that we trust in our depth and we trust in each other that whoever's going out there is going to get the job done. We believe in one another and we believe that whoever it is, they're going to help pull the rope."
The Bruins entered these playoffs as the prohibitive favorite, after a regular season in which they set the NHL record for wins with 65 and points with 135. They were dominant, whoever was in the lineup on a given day. And that was why it was so gratifying for the team to get a win in Game 1, a game in which they had their future Hockey Hall of Fame captain out of the lineup.
But for these Bruins, it was just a start.
"That was nice," Ullmark said. "Now we've just got to get 15 more."