A few days after being honored by the Boston Bruins for his 1,000th point in the Bettman circuit, Patrice Bergeron proved he was still hungry by collecting four points in a 7-3 victory over the Florida Panthers on Monday at TD Garden.
Bergeron threaded the needle twice in the third period to nail the visitors’ coffin. He first beat Spencer Knight with a quick wrist shot, then jumped on a 3 min 26 s throw return. later to complete his double.
The young goalkeeper of the Florida team played one of his worst games in the National Hockey League. He never knew how to keep his teammates in the game, allowing seven goals in just 26 shots.
Bergeron helped Brandon Carlo and David Pastrnak to deceive his vigilance. Connor Clifton, Charlie Coyle and David Krejci completed the scoring for the Bruins.
The Panthers still gave their rivals a scare by reducing the gap to 4 to 3 in the second period. Sam Reinhart was the first to hit back, scoring in a fourth game in a row, then Eric Staal and Carter Verhaeghe capped off that attacking push that lasted just over five minutes.
With a 25-4-2 record, the Bruins sit atop the league’s overall standings. The Panthers (15-4-4), meanwhile, are still out of the playoff picture.
Ovechkin will have to wait
It was a great opportunity for Alexander Ovechkin, who could match Gordie Howe’s 801 goals against the Detroit Red Wings. He couldn’t find the back of the net, but his Capitals still won 4-3 in overtime in Washington.
“Ovi,” who scored his 800th career goal last Tuesday, hasn’t hit the target in his last three games. He was instead complicit in the first of two goals scored by Nic Dowd in the duel of the day.
Another Russian player, Dmitry Orlov, played heroes in overtime. He fired a powerful one-timer with 22 seconds left in overtime.
Erik Gustafsson also scored for the “Caps”. The former Montreal Canadiens defenseman has scored five goals and seven points in his last three games.
Quebecer David Perron, as well as Swedes Oskar Sundqvist and Lucas Raymond, fought back for the Red Wings.
Alexandre Carrier delivers the “Preds”
Quebec’s Alexandre Carrier ended a six-game losing streak for the Predators by putting the needle in overtime, as the Predators won 4-3 in overtime against the Edmonton Oilers in Nashville.
The native of the Old Capital defender received a long pass from Cody Glass in extra period. Carrier got it right by opting to throw him in a two-on-one downhill, demystifying Jack Campbell.
The Oilers never had the lead in the game. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins brought the game back to square one twice, each time helped by Connor McDavid.
Jesse Puljujarvi, with only his second goal in 33 games, was the first to beat Juuse Saros.
Mattias Ekholm, Jordan Gross and Matt Duchene flashed the red light in regulation time for the “Preds”.