Bergeron scores four goals in Bruins win against Hurricanes

BOSTON -- Patrice Bergeron scored four goals and tied an NHL career-high with five points to lift the Boston Bruins to a 7-1 win against the Carolina Hurricanes at TD Garden on Saturday.
The Bruins are 8-0-2 in their past 10 games.

Bergeron scored the second hat trick of his NHL career and became the 16th Boston player to score four goals in a game, the first since Dave Andreychuk against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Oct. 28, 1999. The Bruins have never had a player score five goals.
WATCH: [All Hurricans vs. Bruins highlights]
Riley Nash, David Pastrnak and Jake DeBrusk scored, and Brad Marchand had a NHL career-high four assists for the Bruins (23-10-6), who have won three straight games and five in a row at home. Anton Khudobin made 27 saves.

"For sure I think it was one of those nights where the puck was going in, but also I was finding that slot, it seemed like it was open," Bergeron said. "And Brad kept finding me there, so he was doing a good job of making those plays. And it seemed like I had a lane so I was trying to take it."
It was the second four-goal game in the League this season (Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin, Oct. 7 against the Montreal Canadiens).
Jordan Staal scored for the Hurricanes (19-14-8), who lost for the second time in regulation in their past eight games (5-2-1). Cam Ward allowed two goals on two shots before he was pulled and lost in regulation for the first time in 13 decisions this season (10-1-2). Scott Darling made 23 saves in relief.
Bergeron scored his first goal shorthanded at 3:14 of the first period to make it 1-0. The Bruins went ahead 2-0 on Nash's goal at 5:43, and Hurricanes coach Bill Peters replaced Ward with Darling.
Staal scored a power-play goal to make it 2-1 at 7:09, but Pastrnak (9:04), DeBrusk (10:22) and Bergeron (14:34) scored before the end of the first to give Boston a 5-1 lead.

"There wasn't a whole lot of good," Staal said. "Obviously when you're (trailing) 2-1, you still think you're close. It was a slow start and a slow finish and slow middle. It was all of the above. We weren't good."
Pastrnak's goal, his 16th of the season, was set up by Bergeron and ended a 10-game drought.

Bergeron got the hat trick with a shot from the slot at 5:36 of the second period to give the Bruins a 6-1 lead. He made it 7-1 with his fourth goal on a one-timer from the slot at 10:45.
"It's just amazing to see [Bergeron] get his shot off from there," Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said. "If you're at [Warrior Ice Arena, where the Bruins practice] enough, you'll see him working on it every morning skate, getting that quick release. Usually [assistant coach] Jay [Pandolfo] is out there feeding him pucks, or [assistant coach] Joe [Sacco]. And he had four, he may have been able to have six too. He had some really quality looks."
Forward Sebastian Aho, whose 33 points are tied with Teuvo Teravainen for the Hurricanes lead, did not return after sustaining a lower-body injury late in the first period. There was no update on Aho, whose six-game point streak ended.

Goal of the game

Bergeron's goal at 5:36 of the second period.

Save of the game

Khudobin stopping Teravainen at 18:17 of the first period.

Highlight of the game

Bergeron's goal at 10:45 of the second period.

They said it

"Every night is going to be tough, and we can't expect to come in like we did tonight and have any fighting chance against any team." -- Hurricanes defenseman Justin Faulk
"It's pretty impressive, yeah. Anytime you can get four goals in a game, three is impressive, so being part of this one and seeing him have the game he had, it was definitely up there. But I think [winning] the Olympics, and winning the [Stanley] Cup and just being Patrice Bergeron's above that." -- Bruins forward Brad Marchand

Need to know

Bergeron's second goal made him the seventh Bruins player to reach 700 career points. … Bergeron's other NHL hat trick was Jan. 11, 2011, against the Ottawa Senators. … Bergeron had five assists in a game against the Senators on Dec. 19, 2005. ... Boston's 10-game point streak (8-0-2) is its longest since it went 15-0-1 March 2-30, 2014. ... The Bruins scored five goals in the first period for the first time since an 8-2 win against the Washington Capitals on Jan. 2, 1994. It was Boston's first five-goal period since a 7-5 win against the Philadelphia Flyers on Jan. 13, 2011.

What's next

Hurricanes: At the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday (7:30 p.m. ET; SUN, FS-CR, NHL.TV)
Bruins: At the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday (7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, NHL.TV)