Bergeron line on fire once again for the Bruins
Jan 27, 2014; Uniondale, NY, USA; Boston Bruins left wing Brad Marchand (63) celebrates his goal against the New York Islanders with Boston Bruins center Patrice Bergeron (37) during the second period of a game at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
The Bruins are on a four game winning streak at the moment. While they struggled behind the Krejci line earlier in the season, the Bruins Bergeron line has come into its own and the only way to describe their play right now is ‘on fire’. Their consistency, and their battle have been so outstanding, the Bergeron line has put up twenty four points in the last five games. Twenty four points. There are players in the NHL who won’t have that their entire season.
Reilly Smith has two goals, four assists, is a +6 and has thirteen shots on goal. Patrice Bergeron has three goals, five assists, is a +7 and has fourteen shots on goal. Brad Marchand has dug down deep and has shut up every critic with his recent performance. Six goals, four assists, a +8 with fourteen shots on goal. (We can go on about his league leading four short handed goals and other stats but that’s another story.) Marchand’s performance has been a total one-eighty since Bruins GM Chiarelli emphatically stated that he wasn’t trading Marchand.
A thought here, when Marchand wasn’t be Marchand, he wasn’t playing well. Once he told the Vancouver Canucks to kiss his ring (and if you watch the game, he suggested that they kiss other places), once he began the chirping, pesky, borederline obnoxious Marchand we know and love, his game took off again.
Whatever combination of motivation and mojo it is, other teams that they have been playing against haven’t found any counter for the Bruins second line and tonight was no exception. The New York Islanders weren’t able to respond to Marchand, Bergeron and Smith. Everyone on the second line earned a goal tonight. Marchand assisted on each of his linemates’ goals, as well as one by Zdeno Chara in the third period. Both Bergeron and Smith had assists as well.
It’s not often you get to say your team is on a hot streak. It’s even rarer when that streak includes players having a four point game. Right now the Bruins streak on that little milestone is two. The Bruins know that they’ve got to grab every point they can going into the Olympic break. March will be an incredible tough month for the Black and Gold, and the team will need those points in the grind to come.
“We’ve got to keep that going,” Bergeron said. “We’re feeling good right now. We have some good confidence, and we’re moving the puck well. When we do that, we’re creating some chances for ourselves.”
On a little side note, Bruins captain Zdeno Chara earned his 500th career point tonight with a fantastic shot from just inside the blueline. It was a great shot for Chara, and the final straw for Kevin Poulin. (Poulin ended with 36 stops, six goals against, and a beer league .833 save percentage.)He was pulled for Evgeni Nabokov, but the damage was done. The Bruins plowed through the Islanders, 6-3 in Nassau Coliseum.