Patrice Bergeron has been a leader for the Bruins even before he became the captain and he continued to prove that ahead of Boston’s first-round Stanley Cup Playoffs series against the Carolina Hurricanes.
The Bruins were down 2-0 heading into Game 3 at TD Garden. Bergeron finished with an assist in the much-needed 4-2 win.
After the game, head coach Bruce Cassidy talked about how Bergeron addressed the team before the playoffs started to share a message about adversity — something the Bruins know quite a bit about.
“Some of our guys have been through a lot. I am getting farther along myself with some different series. They take on all shapes and forms,” Cassidy told reporters after the game, per video provided by the team. “Bergy has addressed the group, even before the playoffs like, ‘Listen, you’re going to hit adversity sooner or later, and we happened to hit ours early.’ The Bruins went through it in ’11. They lost their first two at home and they battled, clawed back to win in a seven-game series.”
The Bruins haven’t been down 2-0 since that 2011 season which resulted in a Stanley Cup championship, which Bergeron was a part of.
Boston knew going into the series that it wouldn’t be easy to face a Carolina team that had its way with the B’s in the regular season before winning Games 1 and 2. But the Black and Gold showed new life Friday night.
“You can’t let what happened the night before affect your mindset,” Cassidy said. “I think that’s the difference with playoffs, where with regular season, you’re always kind of building and looking back at things, and in playoffs, you can’t look too far back, win or lose. You’ve got to get ready for the next one, anticipate maybe whatever changes you need to make, but be ready to go.
“I think our group is good at that because of the veteran guys that have been around. Even the young guys like (Brandon) Carlo, (Charlie) McAvoy, (Jake) DeBrusk and (David) Pastrnak, they’ve all been through playoff series. They know there are highs and lows.”
The Bruins look to tie the series 2-2 on Sunday afternoon. Puck drop from TD Garden is set for 12:30 p.m. ET on NESN.
