Patrice Bergeron's Hat Trick Leads The Way In Brooklyn
PUBLICATION
MarcO
January 18, 2018 (10:01 PM)
On Wednesday night, Patrice Bergeron was held without a shot on goal for the first time in 114 games.
He responded by scoring a hat trick in a 4-2 victory tonight to help complete the season sweep of the New York Islanders.
The Islanders opened the scoring at the 7:35 mark with Jordan Eberle's second goal in as many games against the Bruins. Brandon Carlo tried to be cute with a drop pass to Torey Krug while exiting the zone, but it was picked off by Matt Barzal, who feathered a saucer pass across to Eberle for a relatively easy goal.
The lead only lasted about six minutes as Brad Marchand entered the zone and found Bergeron in the right circle where he went bar-down over Jaroslav Halak's right shoulder. David Pastrnak picked up a point with the secondary assist on Bergeron's 17th goal of the year.
Ryan Spooner gave the Bruins a 2-1 lead with an unassisted goal midway through the second period as he got to a loose puck off an offensive zone draw and quickly backhanded it past Halak for his seventh goal on the season.
The Bruins doubled their lead with a power play goal at 13:49 of the second period. Torey Krug's shot from the point hit Adam Pelech in the leg and bounced right to the stick of Bergeron, who quickly swept the puck into the New York net. Spooner was credited with the secondary assist.
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Bergeron completed his second hat trick within the last month about four minutes into the third period. Marchand set up the play by spinning off the boards and finding Bergeron in the slot while falling down.
Bergeron missed a quick backhand attempt, but he was able to spin around and put the puck past Halak. Charlie McAvoy picked up the 20th assist of the season with the secondary helper.
The Islanders took advantage of another Bruins turnover for their second goal at 14:24. This time Josh Bailey picked off a McAvoy pass below the goal line and got it out to John Tavares out in front of the net for the quick tap-in goal. However, it was too little too late for the Isles.
Don't look now, but the Bruins 15-game point streak has them putting the pressure on the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Bruins are know just five points behind the Bolts for first place in the Atlantic Division with a game in hand.
Bruins are back in action in Montreal on Saturday night. Seems like the Bruins only play the Habs these days and that is a good thing!
