BOSTON — When the Bruins learned they were going to be without forwards Taylor Hall and Nick Foligno due to injuries down the stretch of the season, Boston’s general manager Don Sweeney acquired Tyler Bertuzzi from the Detroit Red Wings to give the team more depth up front.
Monday night, the seven-year veteran made his first postseason appearance and made an immediate impact with two assists to go along with two blocked shots and two hits in 18:41 minutes of ice time in Boston’s 3-1 win over the Florida Panthers.
“This is his first opportunity playing in the Stanley Cup playoffs,” Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery said. “And I think you can see he’s a playoff performer.”
Bertuzzi earned his first assist on a beautiful no-look, behind-the-back pass to David Pastrnak when the pesky forward was planted in front of Florida Panthers’ goalie Alex Lyon on the power play in the first period.
“His hockey sense, he has real elite poise in around the net,” Montgomery said. “… A lot of guys would have taken that and tried and stuff it in the net on the backhand, and he just pops it over for an empty net.”
Bertuzzi may have been in unfamiliar territory skating in his first playoff game, but he said he felt good after getting a couple of shifts under him, especially with the TD Garden crowd into the game right from puck drop.
“The fans here are unbelievable. So it was a fun building to play in tonight,” Bertuzzi said. “… I was saying I kind of felt like my first game as a Bruin all over again, but first few shifts kind of get out of the way and then went from there.”
Bertuzzi added: “The crowd, they’re waving their towels. It was pretty surreal. It was a cool place to be a part of, and I know they’re gonna be behind us the rest of the way.”
Bertuzzi said not making it to the postseason during his time with Detroit was something that always nagged at him and motivated him while watching the playoffs from home.
“I mean, this is everyone’s dream when you’re playing the NHL to chase this trophy,” Bertuzzi said. “So you can’t take these moments for granted.”
With Patrice Bergeron out of the lineup, Pavel Zacha slid up to the top line, and Bertuzzi played with Pastrnak and David Krejci, who returned after missing the previous seven games.
