Patrice Bergeron’s second-period helper gave him 1,000 career points as the Boston Bruins defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-3 on Monday.
Bergeron became the fourth Boston player and 94th in NHL history to accomplish the milestone with the second assist on Marchand’s 4-1 goal.
Marchand gestured to Bergeron after scoring, and the Boston bench cleared to celebrate with him.
“Bergeron claimed that was the highlight. “All the boys help out. Fantastic. I’ll remember it”
Ray Bourque (1,506), Johnny Bucyk (1,339), and Phil Esposito (1,012) all reached 1,000 points with Boston. Bergeron has 1,000 points with one team.
Boston coach Jim Montgomery: “The guys adore him.” “If he had a cheat, he may have 1,200 or 1,300 points already. He’s committed to performing well and helping the team win.”
Montgomery likened Bergeron to Montreal great Bob Gainey.
“Montgomery felt Gainey was the finest defensive player history. “I saw him in Montreal’s heyday. Patrice has so much more responsibility as a centre than Bob, he may be the finest ever.”
The Bruins moved to 17-2 with goals from Krejci, Foligno, Coyle, and Pastrnak. He made 32 saves.
Boston needs two victories to duplicate 1929-30’s 19-2 start.
Rudolfs Balcers scored the other Lightning goal. Vasilevskiy blocked 25 shots.
“When they faltered, they remained together,” said Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper. “We handled setbacks poorly. Excellent teams. It was a nice game, but they deserved more.
Four straight victories for Tampa Bay.
Boston led 3-1 after Foligno and Coyle scored 31 seconds apart.
Foligno scored a power-play goal on a rebound at 5:07.
Video review confirmed Coyle’s close-range goal. When the net came free before the puck crossed the goal line, it was considered no-goal.
In the third, Pastrnak and Balcers scored 11 seconds apart before Paul made it 5-3.
Pastrnak has 13 goals in 15 games versus Vasilevskiy and a seven-game point streak (4 goals, 10 points).
First-period goals by Paul and Krejci. Krejci’s goal streak is three games.
First eight minutes: Tampa Bay outshot 9-0.
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