BOSTON — Boston Bruins forward Tyler Bertuzzi fully committed to the playoff experience in his first-ever postseason game Monday night against the Florida Panthers at TD Garden.
That included participating in some of the antics that come with playoff hockey.
Midway through the third period as Bertuzzi skated past Nick Cousins on his way to the bench, Bertuzzi took the stick out of the hands of the Panthers forward. And Bertuzzi played finders keepers with the piece of lumber.
Bertuzzi took Cousins’ stick all the way to the Bruins bench even as Cousins followed him there and tried to get it back. But the Bruins winger never surrendered it and instead attempted to break it.
Bertuzzi addressed the situation following Boston’s 3-1 win and chalked it up as an event that can occur in the emotionally charged atmosphere of a playoff game.
“I mean, it’s the playoffs. There’s going to be some stupid things that happen,” Bertuzzi said. “That was one of them.”
Bertuzzi also had some battles with Panthers star Matthew Tkachuk, but none escalated the way things did with Cousins. The 28-year-old Bertuzzi, who spent the first six-plus years of his NHL career with the Detroit Red Wings, believes he’ll have plenty of encounters with Tkachuk going forward.
“That’s going to be going on all series,” Bertuzzi said. “Just kind of try to stay out of it as much as I can or be smart about when I do it. Not try to take a penalty. Just going to keep working hard.”
When Bertuzzi wasn’t being an agitator, he was an offensive weapon for the Bruins with his exceptional vision and playmaking ability. Bertuzzi dished off a slick pass to David Pastrnak on the power play to open the scoring and recorded his second assist on Jake DeBrusk’s second-period goal.
By making those plays plus getting under the skin of Cousins, Bertuzzi showed playoff hockey suits him well.
“He did great,” Bruins star winger Brad Marchand said. “He’s a competitor. He battles extremely hard. I don’t think there’s any question marks about him.”
