TORONTO – On this day, the rookie core for the Boston Bruins carried a victory all the way home for ailing veteran Patrice Bergeron.
You know why? It was out of respect.
If Bergeron isn’t able to play in a postseason game, it must be something big. Here’s a guy that played Game 6 of the Stanley Cup finals with a collapsed lung, separated shoulder, broken rib and torn rib cartilage. If he’s not able to play, his teammates know it must be serious enough to keep him off the ice, and the best way to support their teammate is with a victory.
Mission accomplished.
Bruce Cassidy knew during Wednesday’s practice there could be a chance the team would be without Bergeron for Game 4, but the coach never made it known until the Bruins came out for pregame warmups Thursday night at Air Canada Centre.
So, without the top-line center, Cassidy was forced to tweak the lineup for the pivotal game in this series. To a man, the Bruins responded with a 3-1 victory and now have a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.
On a night when the Bruins weren’t at their best overall, goalie Tuukka Rask stood on his head and made his share of timely saves to grind out the win. But, the performances from rookies Jake DeBrusk, Danton Heinen and Sean Kuraly were critical. It was also important that Matt Grzelcyk was back in the lineup after missing the previous game due to a lower-body injury.
During Boston’s dominating 7-3 win in Game 2, Cassidy was seen giving DeBrusk an earful on the bench. The coach wasn’t pleased with DeBrusk’s defensive efforts and let him know it. When asked about it after the Game 4 win, he jokingly said he didn’t remember the incident and it took him a few seconds to think about his answer before responding.
“He’s pretty hard on me. He’s pretty hard on some guys, and he has been the whole year,” DeBrusk told BostonSportsJournal.com. “At the same time, there are multiple times during a game when he’s doing that to other guys as well. It wasn’t the last time he yelled at me in that game, and I’m just trying to limit those as much as possible.”
Every time Cassidy has challenged a younger player this season, they’ve responded. DeBrusk, specifically, takes it to heart and handles it as a true pro. He doesn’t sulk; he doesn’t complain. He puts his head down and puts forth a better performance, which has been the case the past few games. He was reliable all over the ice and was rewarded with a goal to give the Bruins a 3-1 lead at 4:17 of the third period.
JAKE DEBRUSK! THE BRUINS DOUBLE THEIR LEAD!#NHLBruins 3 - 1 #TMLTalk
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— NHL Daily 365 (@NHLDaily365) April 20, 2018