By René Reyes/DFP Staff
Boston Bruins forward Patrice Bergeron would not be denied of his first career NHL hat trick Tuesday night against the Ottawa Senators.
Bergeron was credited with the Bruins’ fourth goal of the game at 14:07 of the second period, but after further review, the goal was rightfully awarded to forward Brad Marchand. Marchand’s centering pass from the left boards had indeed deflected off Senators defenseman Sergei Gonchar’s skate and into the net, and not off Bergeron’s, as it had initially appeared.
The B’s assistant captain, however, would eventually complete his hat trick at the 5:04 mark of the third period, as his three-goal performance led the Bruins (23-12-7) to a resounding 6-0 victory over their lowly Northeast Division rival Senators (16-21-6) before a sellout crowd of 17,565 at the TD Garden.
“It’s surprising that it’s his first one,” said Bruins forward Blake Wheeler of Bergeron’s hat trick. “I would have thought that he’d have five or six right now. But it’s a big night for him and he’s been playing unbelievable hockey for us.”
Less than four minutes into the contest, Senators defenseman Chris Campoli passed the puck from behind his own cage to teammate Mike Fisher, but the disk went off Fisher’s skate and between his legs. Bergeron took advantage of the turnover and rifled a wrister from the slot and into the top right corner to give the B’s the early 1-0 edge. Bergeron’s first-period goal extended his points streak to four straight games.
The Bruins would double their cushion at 6:14 of the first when Wheeler tapped home a nifty feed from center Tyler Seguin for his 10th goal of the season. The play went under review to see if Wheeler had deliberately kicked the puck into the net, but after a few short minutes, head referee Chris Rooney announced that the call made on the ice would stand.
“We did a good job forechecking,” Wheeler said. “You know Seggy did a great job being on the boards the first time. He tried to get me in the back door and then we got it back and you know eyes in the back of his head made a great play to me so those are the easy ones to score.”
The floodgates opened up in the second period.
Bergeron notched his second goal of the night with 17:10 remaining in the middle frame. Bergeron pounced on an Ottawa turnover in the neutral zone, tried to deke Ottawa defenseman Filip Kuba, batted the puck out of the air and slipped it past goaltender Brian Elliot (22 saves) for a 3-0 Bruins lead.
“Patrice is one of the best players on this team, and the reason why he is one of the best players is because he brings that work ethic and energy every game,” said B’s captain Zdeno Chara. “He works extremely hard and is a great example on and off the ice for a lot of us, and that’s why he is getting rewarded now.”
Fans at the Garden tossed their hats onto the ice after Marchand’s tally at the 14:07 mark of the second, thinking Bergeron had recorded a hat trick.
But they were mistaken. So was Marchand, the correct goal-scorer.
“I thought Bergy got the goal,” Marchand said. “I think it just hit a skate or something like that. It was lucky.”
Seguin would get in on the scoring action as well with five minutes to go in the second session. Bruins center David Krejci slid him the puck in the slot, and Seguin sniped it top shelf for his seventh on the year and Boston’s fifth goal of the evening.
“Blake Wheeler made a great rush to the net, you know, drove to the net far post,” Seguin said. “And Krejci saw me in the seam there and I just opened up for a few seconds. He hit me on the tape and I scored.”
Senators coach Cory Clouston replaced Brian Elliot with Mike Brodeur (11 saves) in net at the start of the third period, and it wouldn’t take long for Bergeron to welcome him into the game. Five minutes into the final frame, Bergeron fired a slap shot from the right face-off circle that beat Brodeur stick side for the Bruins’ sixth goal and capped off his first three-goal night in 418 career games.
“Everyone’s leaving the building with no hats on,” Bergeron said of how badly he wanted to earn the hat trick after his third goal was given to Marchand. “I guess I wanted to get it because everyone threw their hats on the ice.”
“He had a real good game tonight, and he’s been working so hard for us,” said Bruins coach Claude Julien. “Those kind of guys that you count on every night, that come to play, and you know what you’re going to get from them. When you see when they get those kind of nights where they score a hat trick or they are very successful offensively, it’s always good to see.”
The night undoubtedly belonged to Bergeron, but not to be overlooked in the Bruins’ rout of the Senators was the play of goaltender Tim Thomas (31 saves). Thomas continued his domination of the Senators with the sixth shutout of his career against Ottawa and is now 19-8-2 when he faces the Senators.
The veteran netminder used one word to describe his career-long success against Tuesday night’s opponent.
“Luck,” Thomas said. “We just seem to hit them a lot of times when I’m fresh and when the team is starting to gather momentum. That happens with certain matchups.”
Julien was impressed with the way his team was able to ride the momentum after Monday’s 4-2 road win over the Pittsburgh Penguins, in which the Bruins scored four unanswered third-period goals to steal the victory.
“I like the way we skated tonight,” Julien said. “I thought we had some good jump right off the start and we had some good clean breakouts and it allowed us to have some good speed through the neutral zone. We got pucks behind their D and took advantage of it. I thought our guys were well-focused tonight. As [one reporter] mentioned, it was important to build on last night and not sit on it.”
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