BOSTON — Patrice Bergeron is the best shut-down forward in the NHL, and he showed why in Wednesday night’s season-opening win against Philadelphia by winning his matchup against Flyers captain Claude Giroux.
The Brad Marchand–Patrice Bergeron–Reilly Smith line combined for two points (one goal, one assist) and seven shots on goal, compared to one assist and just two shots on goal by the Flyers’ top trio of Brayden Schenn–Claude Giroux–Jakub Voracek.
“He’s one of the best centermens in the league,” Bruins head coach Claude Julien said of Bergeron. “At the same time, he’s got two pretty good wingers alongside with him. They take pride in being a better line than the line that they’re facing up against. It’s just a trait that they have. They worked hard. You have to give them credit, too, for how they checked against that line because it had a lot of potential to be dangerous offensively.”
“But those guys did a pretty good job of taking away those opportunities. Accept for maybe in the second period, we got caught there a few times with some long shifts and some tough changes. Other than that, I thought overall that line, and our team, played a pretty good game.”
Giroux is one of the best players in the league and scored at over a point-per-game rate last season (86 points in 82 games). The Flyers were an impressive 34-15-4 when Giroux scored a goal or picked up an assist last season, which made Bergeron’s job especially important for Boston on Wednesday night.
The reigning Selke Trophy winner dominated the puck-possession battle against Giroux. Bergeron earned a 77.78 5-on-5 corsi-for percentage, much better than Giroux’s horrendous 20.69 5-on-5 CF%. The B’s averaged 26.90 percent more shots when Bergeron was on the ice, while the Flyers averaged 30.22 percent less shots when Giroux was skating.
Bergeron, as usual, dominated in the faceoff circle and won 18 of his 23 draws (78.3 percent). Giroux won just four of his 21 faceoffs (19 percent).
This is the kind of impact Bergeron can have against elite players. It’s similar to the way New England Patriots cornerback Darrelle Revis shuts down the opponents’ top wide receiver. Bergeron’s ability to limit the offensive production of the opponents’ top line puts that team in a difficult spot, and forces lesser skilled players to play a larger role in the outcome.
— Adam McQuaid led the Bruins with 21:41 of ice time. Andrew MacDonald led the Flyers with 21:51.
— Boston was 1-for-2 on the power play. Philadelphia was 0-for-3.
— Dougie Hamilton had a poor performance, and took too many risks in the attacking zone that created odd-man rushes for the Flyers.
“He had a tough night tonight,” Julien said. “That’s going to happen to everybody. But it doesn’t change my opinion on the player. I think there was a couple times where he might have forced it and we didn’t have four guys coming back. Normally, Doug will read those plays much better. It’s a tough night and he has a chance to bounce back (Thursday). I have no issues with that. I could see he was having a tough night. But those things are going to happen.”
— Bobby Robins made his NHL debut at age 32. He also took part in his first NHL fight when he dropped the gloves with Flyers D-man Luke Schenn in the second period (click here to watch the bout).
“I just saw a good opportunity to get a good run at (Zac) Rinaldo there and he’s known to be a pretty big hitter and took a few runs at our guys,” Robins said. “So I was hoping to get a good bump on him and one of his teammates came in and stuck up for him.”
Photo via Greg M. Cooper/USA TODAY Sports Images
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