Boston’s Patrice Bergeron recorded his 1,000th NHL point as the Bruins equaled their longest winning streak at seven games, defeating the host Tampa Bay Lightning 5-3 on Monday night.
Bergeron, 37, dished out the secondary assist on Brad Marchand’s second-period tally for his milestone. He became the fourth Bruin to do so — joining Ray Bourque (1,506), John Bucyk (1,339) and Phil Esposito (1,012). He is the eighth active NHL player to reach that milestone.
Marchand scored with 4:52 remaining to make it 4-1. He immediately pointed at Bergeron, and the Bruins mobbed the 19-year veteran against the end boards in celebration of the achievement.
David Krejci had a goal and an assist, and Nick Foligno, Charlie Coyle and David Pastrnak (seven-game point streak) scored for the Bruins, who won for the 14th time in their past 15 games and are 9-0-1 in November.
Jake DeBrusk and Charlie McAvoy had two helpers apiece. Goaltender Linus Ullmark stopped 32 shots to move to 13-1-0.
The Lightning’s Nicholas Paul scored twice and Rudolfs Balcers tallied, while Pat Maroon had two assists and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 25 saves. But they lost for the first time in five games and first time in four against Atlantic Division opposition.
In the first matchup of two of the Eastern Conference’s hottest clubs, the Lightning registered the first nine shots on goal and found the net on the 10th. Steven Stamkos whipped a feed from behind the Boston net to Paul, who fired home his seventh goal at 8:57.
The visitors answered when McAvoy sent a long diagonal pass to Krejci. The second-line center ripped a long shot from above the right circle for his sixth tally at 15:36.
In the second period, Boston used a 31-second span to net twice against Vasilevskiy and take control of the match.
On their second power play, the Bruins grabbed their first lead when Foligno — who was struck in the mouth by a puck in morning skate and required stitches — cleaned up a shot by Pavel Zacha for his fourth goal. Coyle padded the lead shortly thereafter with his sixth marker before Marchand pushed it to 4-1.
In the third, Pastrnak’s 12th goal — a power-play tally — added some insurance, but Balcers notched his third goal overall and first with the Lightning. Paul’s second brought it to 5-3 on the power play at 10:38, but Ullmark held firm for the Boston win.
–Field Level Media