An already great second period had a grand finish for the Bruins Monday night.
With 4:52 left in the period, Patrice Bergeron picked up a secondary assist on a Brad Marchand goal for his 1,000th career point.
Bergeron became just the fourth player to record 1,000 points in a Bruins uniform, joining Ray Bourque (1,506), Johnny Bucyk (1,339) and Phil Esposito (1,012). He became the 94th player in NHL history to reach the milestone.
Marchand seemed to realize the significance of the goal even before Bergeron did, and the Bruins captain was quickly swarmed by his teammates, with the whole bench emptying out to celebrate.
Bruins fans in Tampa gave Bergeron a loud ovation when the milestone was shown on the jumbotron, and there was even a "Bergy! Bergy!" chant that broke out.
"It was kind of a surreal moment, actually," Bergeron told NESN after the game. "Cool to see everyone jump on like that. I'm very thankful for all those games. They're a big part of what makes it fun to play this game."
"It is a special moment," Marchand told NESN. "Doesn't happen often. Obviously it couldn't be with a better guy, so just a great opportunity to be out there and have the whole group celebrate with him. We were happy to be there and be part of it. I'm just so happy for him. It's just another milestone in such an incredible career, obviously a Hall of Famer, so it's fun to see."
Taylor Hall also had high praise for his captain when he was asked about the upcoming 1,000th point before Monday's game.
"It's amazing," Hall said. "There's not much left to be said about Bergy. How good of a hockey player he is first and foremost, but as a captain and as a leader. It's been incredible to share a room with him the last couple years. To be so strong at one end and to be able to contribute 1,000 points at the other, it's really icing on the cake for what's been an incredible career for him. Like I said, we're all lucky to be his teammates."
The goal from Marchand was the Bruins' third of the second period and gave them a 4-1 lead over the Lightning. They went on to win, 5-3, to improve to 17-2-0 on the season.
Watch the milestone point and some of the celebrations below, as well as a video shared by the Bruins of other 1,000-point club members congratulating him: