BOSTON — Patrice Bergeron was bruised, battered and all sorts of banged up when he spoke to the media after the Bruins ‘3-2 loss to the Blackhawks, but it’s clear his most painful injuries were a broken heart and a crushed soul.
Bergeron took the ice on Monday, playing with a broken rib, torn cartilage and some pulled muscles. As if those injuries weren’t enough, he also happened to suffer a separated shoulder during Monday night’s defeat.
While doctors and nurses can patch those up in a matter of weeks, it might take a bit longer to overcome the heartache No. 37 and his teammates suffered in the third period of Chicago’s series-clinching win.
“There’s not many words that can be said right now,” Bergeron said among a sea of reporters. “It’s definitely tough to lose, especially at this time, after everything we’ve been through. There’s not many words that can be said right now. It’s tough.
“You work so hard just to get to this point and give yourself a chance to get the Cup,” he added. “And you feel like you’re right there, and you have a chance to force Game 7, and definitely it hurts. It doesn’t work your way. Have to give credit to Chicago. They played a great series. But at the same time, it’s the last thing you want to say. It hurts to see them hoisting the cup.”
Bergeron played 17:45 on Monday night, just two days after leaving Game 5 in an ambulance with what team doctors feared to be a spleen injury. After skating in pregame warmups, it was clear Bergeron wasn’t going to let anything get in the way of joining his teammates.
“Yeah, it was good,” David Krejci said of Bergeron being out there on Monday night, playing through the pain. “Obviously, we’re a close team here, and we knew he was going to play. No matter if he plays five or twenty minutes, just to have him on the bench, it gave us a lot of energy. We love each other here. We want to play for each other, and to have him on the ice and on the bench was great. I was really happy that he was able to play. It wasn’t easy. He’s a warrior, and he loves the team.”
“I think even when he was getting dressed in the locker room before the game, you could feel the boys’ spirits lifted,” Tyler Segiun said. “The year we won he was doing the same thing; fighting through everything. Obviously guys have bumps and bruises, but he’s a guy that you obviously say is the heart and soul of our team. He wears that ‘B’ with a lot of pride.”
Bergeron had four goals this series and 15 points overall this postseason.
