Boston Bruins: Patrice Bergeron Ready For All-Star Game
The Boston Bruins lone all-star, Patrice Bergeron, is certainly enjoying his time with his family in Nashville as the NHL’s All-Star weekend is set to kick off on Saturday with the skills competition.When asked about how it sounds to be an All-Star, Patrice Bergeron was as modest as expected. “Sounds good I guess, I mean it’s just fun to be here. Happy to be here to enjoy the weekend.”
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Patrice Bergeron will be a part of the accuracy shooting competition for the second time in as many years and had this to say when asked if he would review his footage from last year. “Yeah I should probably do that. Maybe look at my footage from last year and see where it went wrong. I think it’s one of those things where I’m trying to have fun, last year was a first and I didn’t really know what to expect and this year I know a bit more so I’m going to try to enjoy the moment and hopefully do well at accuracy shooting.”
In Columbus last year, Patrice Bergeron completed his accuracy shooting in 17.038 seconds which failed to beat Nick Foligno‘s 13.674 mark.
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The veteran center is certainly no stranger to shooting the puck as he currently leads the team in shots with 173. Torey Krug sits in a distant second place with 148 and Brad Marchand rounds out the top three with 142 shots. In addition to shooting the puck so much, it should come as no surprise that Patrice Bergeron is second on the Bruins in scoring with 19 goals so far this season, which also ranks him 20th in the entire NHL.
In terms of the actual game and its new format Patrice Bergeron seemed to be in favor of the changes.
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“I think it’s going to be exciting for the fans,” Bergeron said. “Definitely, 20 minutes is a long time. It’s going to be demanding on the players. You’ll have to manage the shifts well and give everything you’ve got every time. I think that’s the whole point of this format, is to see more try in it, more work and effort going into it. In 3-on-3 you can’t just slough off. It’s definitely about coverage — that’s what it’s basically all about in 3-on-3.”
Additionally, Patrice Bergeron said “There’s a lot of skill out there. You’re going to see some great plays and some out-manned rushes wherever coverages are lost. Guys will be trying to make plays, and if you miss on a chance, it’s going to come back as a 2-on-1 or 3-on-1 the other way.”
The All-Star game is also a good way for NHL players to see each other and communicate more than they usually get a chance to do when playing for opposing teams. Patrice Bergeron mentioned that when saying “It’s going to be fun, there’s a few guys like (Jaromir) Jagr that I know, and (Roberto) Luongo I’ve played with at the Olympics. There’s guys that I’ve met before and it’ll be nice to see them in a more laid back situation and meet other guys.”
With no other NHL options throughout the entire weekend, it looks like all eyes will be locked on Patrice Bergeron and the NHL All-Star Game.
Follow Brandon Share-Cohen on Twitter @BShareCohen to discuss all things Bruins and sports