Bergeron Battles Through as Bruins Win in New York

NEW YORK - David Pastrnak thought it was a joke.
When Taylor Hall tapped him and told him that Patrice Bergeron had returned to the bench, Pastrnak didn't even bother to turnaround.
"[Wednesday night] was not a great moment sitting on the bench when you know he had to leave," Pastrnak said of Bergeron taking his deflected slapshot square in the face during Boston's win on Long Island. "Hallsy kind of turned towards me and said, 'He's back.' I thought he was joking because I couldn't believe that he's back."

Hall, of course, was quite serious. Just moments after leaving the ice bloodied and needing attention from the Bruins' medical staff, Bergeron was back alongside his teammates to help finish off their victory over the Islanders.
"I looked and I was so happy that he was back and it wasn't serious," said Pastrnak. "But I couldn't believe it."
After monitoring the swelling in his nose and cheek overnight and into Thursday, Bergeron opted to give it a go against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden and, of course, made himself a factor as his second-period tally proved to be the deciding goal in a 3-1 victory.
"It was more making sure that everything was fine depending on the swelling, how I was gonna feel today," said Bergeron, who admitted that when it happened, he was expecting a far worse result. "I was hoping that it was gonna stay, I guess, manageable and it did. There's no issues for me on the ice."
Bergeron did acknowledge that the coaching staff has discussed lightening his workload a bit over the second half of the regular season, particularly on back-to-backs. Boston's captain added that, ultimately, if he sits, it will be the call of the coaching and medical staffs.
"That's something that they've talked about," said Bergeron, who has 17 goals and 36 points in 45 game this season. "Those are decisions that they need to make - that's what I told them. They need to make that decision if that's what they want. If they leave it up to me, obviously you want to play as a competitor. When it was up to me, I felt good enough to play."

Coach Jim Montgomery echoed the sentiments of his captain, saying the pivot has "earned the right" to be part of the decision-making.
"Absolutely it is," Montgomery said when asked if it's possible that Bergeron gets some time off even if healthy moving forward. "It's a consideration later in the year, too, when we're going back-to-backs…1,200 games, he knows his body better than anybody else. We asked him if he thought he was ready to go and he said, 'I'm 100 percent ready to go.'"
And he was, as Bergeron looked just fine on what turned into the winning goal when he took a feed from Brad Marchand and ripped a wrister by the blocker of Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin to put Boston ahead, 2-0, at 4:42 of the second period. The tally was his 78th career game-winning goal, moving him past Phil Esposito for sole possession of second place in Bruins history.
"That was a great play, a great entry," said Bergeron. "I thought [Craig Smith] had his legs tonight. He made some really good plays on the forecheck, on the entries. He was seeing the ice well. He actually hit me right before that and I missed on my shot. I was kind of happy to get a second look there and able to capitalize."

Swayman Shines Again

Jeremy Swayman was just 4:23 away from his second consecutive shutout, but despite the Rangers striking for one late in the third, the netminder extended his personal point streak to eight games (6-0-2) with his 31-save performance. It is the second-longest active streak in the league behind former Bruins goalie Daniel Vladar (7-0-3).
"He's been terrific, honestly," said Bergeron. "He's been poised and seeing every shot and always in position. Can't say enough about him and his demeanor between the pipes. He's ready every time he's asked upon and gives us a chance to win every time. Obviously, it's great to see. When he's having a game like he was having tonight, it gives you confidence and you want to put it all out there for him."
Swayman made a bevy of Grade-A saves, including two sensational left pad stops in the first period - the first on Alexis Lafreniere as he kicked out the forward's chance while falling backward and the second on a point-blank deflection from Chris Kreider, which came during a flurry of chances from the Rangers after they killed off a 5-on-3 power play for Boston toward the end of the opening frame.
"I thought that was a big moment," said Montgomery. "I thought the last four minutes of the first period, the Rangers pushed on us, and they had momentum from not scoring on the 5-on-3. I thought Swayman had to make two or three excellent saves."
In the second period, Swayman - who stoned Artemi Panarin on at least two other point-blank chances earlier in the game - turned away the winger's breakaway chance with a calm and collected left pad stop.
"He's been fantastic and he just keeps getting better and better," said Montgomery. "What I like was how he was reading everything. He made really hard saves look pretty easy, like the Panarin breakaway. Panarin's looking to go five-hole and he read it. His puck play was really good too helping us break pucks out."
For the season, Swayman is now 11-3-3 with a 2.27 goals against average and .916 save percentage - impressive numbers after a bumpy opening month of the season, which included missing some two and a half weeks with injury.
"It says a lot about the inner drive in him," Montgomery said of Swayman's stellar outing in the back-to-back situation. "He wants to be challenged, he wants to help the Bruins win hockey games. I think the luxury we have with both goalies is both of them have won games for us on the second end of back-to-backs."
"He was incredible," added Connor Clifton. "We have so much confidence in those goalies [Swayman and Linus Ullmark]. They're both playing incredible. Really comfortable with them behind us. Knowing that they're the last layer, it's pretty great."

Clifton Pots One

Clifton kept the Boston blue line's offensive outburst rolling on Thursday night when he stepped out of the penalty box and quickly found himself breaking in on a 2-on-1 with Brad Marchand. The winger zipped a pass across the slot to Clifton, who waited patiently before ripping a wrister over the glove of Shesterkin to put the Bruins ahead, 3-0, just 28 seconds into the third period.
"I think our defensemen ever since we went on the West Coast have gotten back to being more assertive offensively," said Montgomery. "I think because of that their gaps have been really tight. They've been really good."
The Bruins' defense corps has now scored six goals in the last six games with five of the six blue liners finding the back of the net (Matt Grzelcyk, 2; Charlie McAvoy, Derek Forbort, Hampus Lindholm, Clifton, 1).
"I think when we played Seattle, [assistant coach John Gruden] let us know that their D are leading the league in goals - it was like 25, we were at like 12 or 14 or something like that, so we're like, 'Hey, why aren't we scoring more, you know?' And they started going in for us. The forwards are finally giving us the puck.
"These good times are contagious, you want to just keep having them. Obviously Monty's really process driven. We're taking it one day at a time, putting our best foot forward and we're all contributing."

Zacha Stays Hot

Pavel Zacha opened the scoring 1:19 into the contest when he tipped home a David Krejci slap pass from just inside the blue line. Zacha now has five points (three goals, two assists) in three games since signing his four-year contract extension on Saturday night.
"It was really important, I thought. We get up, 1-0, and we're a good team playing with the lead. I think it allows us to get to our game a little easier," said Montgomery. "I think those three [Zacha, Krejci, and David Pastrnak] really enjoy playing with each other and they really read off each other really well.
"Some of the goals they've scored this year are really creative. I think Pavel enjoys that brand of hockey and he's learned how to be a little more selfish and get his own shots off instead of looking for Pastrnak - everyone in our dressing room looks to get the puck to him."

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