Boston Bruins first line center, Patrice Bergeron has silenced any doubters questioning his performance in the Stanley Cup Final with a three-point night in Game 3.
Whilst it’s fair to say the doubters were probably quite fair in their judgement of Patrice Bergeron after a very lacklustre (for him) Game 2, resulting in a Boston Bruins’ loss; it’s always been clear that he’s not a player to get down about a couple of bad performances.
It would appear that Patrice Bergeron, as many hockey players do, has been playing at least some of the Stanley Cup injured; his maintenance day the day prior to Game 3 is a testament to that fact.
Through the first two games of the Stanley Cup Final series, Patrice Bergeron was a -2 plus/minus; the usually unflappable face-off man for the Boston Bruins coming unglued against Jaden Schwartz in the dot, posting very average numbers for a player that prides himself on face-off wins.
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With a goal and two assists, all on the powerplay for the Boston Bruins he turned any narrative about lacking form completely on its’ head. Whilst he still does have a -2 plus/minus to his name, he now is rocking point-per-game numbers across the Stanley Cup Final match-up against the St. Louis Blues.
His points in Game 3 not only shook any doubters off his back, but it also moved him to second all-time on the playoff point-scoring list for the Boston Bruins. Directly alongside Patrice Bergeron on that list is Phil Esposito, who matches Patrice’s 102 points, albeit with more goals. Only a certain Ray Boruque sits above Bergeron for play-off points in Boston colors now. He even overtook current teammate, David Krejci who joined the ‘100 Club’ very recently himself.
Despite a couple of average games thus far this Stanley Cup Final series, Patrice Bergeron is still rocking an elite 59% face-off winning percentage; the sort of numbers that are pretty much unrivalled across the league this generation. That is how he drives the team.
It’s not necessarily a silky play you expect from Patrice Bergeron, nor a booming shot or anything like that. It’s more likely the Boston Bruins stealing an offensive zone face-off and dropping it back to the likes of Torey Krug or Zdeno Chara.
Or it’s that key defensive zone draw that he wins when the Boston Bruins find themselves on the penalty-kill, as they did plenty in Game 3, with the physicality and intensity ramping up.
Whilst it’s unfair to place such pressure on one man’s shoulders, it’s fair to say that the Boston Bruins, as much as any other player on the ‘Perfection Line’, rely upon Patrice Bergeron to safe-guard their wins with his face-offs and general all-round play below the puck.
If this version of Bergeron remains around for the rest of the Stanley Cup Final series, it’s a pretty safe bet that the Cup is being handed to the Boston Bruins very soon.