BOSTON — The Boston Bruins went down 2-0 to the Detroit Red Wings just five minutes into Saturday’s game at TD Garden, but Boston knows it can rely on its captain to steer the ship in the right direction.
“He brought us together,” Garnet Hathaway said of Patrice Bergeron. “He’s a great leader. We lean on him a lot. I think it’s a huge testament to his character. You look around this room and you see guys of high character and guys working for each other so hard.”
It was the first time the Black and Gold faced a 2-0 deficit after the first period since Dec. 22 against the Winnipeg Jets.
But Bergeron rallied the team together during a TV timeout after the first 10 minutes of the game. It proved to be an effective motivator for the Bruins as they scored three unanswered goals to win the game, 3-2. Hathaway scored the game-winner, and the fourth line earned praise from the Boston captain and head coach Jim Montgomery.
“It was just a reset,” Bergeron said when asked what he told the team during the TV timeout. “It’s 10 minutes in. There’s a lot of time. Going back to just being in the moment, forgetting about what was behind us and look forward. Going back to playing our game and playing to our process and to our details. And that I believed in who we are and what we do.”
Bergeron scored a power-play goal in the second period, which was his 130th of his career. It put him ahead of Cam Neely for fourth in franchise history for most power-play goals.
But Hathaway took headlines when he scored the game-winning goal, which also was his first in a Bruins uniform.
Boston will have to hold off Detroit again when the sides play Sunday. Puck drop from Little Caesars Arena is scheduled at 1:30 p.m. ET, and you can catch the game on NESN, along with an hour of pregame coverage.
