The Bruins cruised to a third straight win Wednesday night, beating the reeling Islanders 4-1 on Long Island despite not playing anywhere close to their best hockey for the game's first 25 minutes or so.
A good first period from New York wasn't nearly enough to put a scare into the Bruins, but Boston did survive quite the scare in the third period.
A little over four minutes into the third, the Bruins went on the power play and quickly set up a David Pastrnak one-timer. Unfortunately, the shot deflected off an Islanders stick and right into the face of an unsuspecting Patrice Bergeron, who immediately dropped to the ice and clutched his face.
With some help from Pastrnak, Brad Marchand and a trainer, Bergeron quickly left the ice and went straight down the tunnel to the visitor's dressing room.
Fortunately, Bruins fans didn't have to hold their collective breath long. Showing the toughness he has his whole career, Bergeron returned to the bench just a few minutes later with his right nostril plugged up and a nose/cheek bone that looked very red and sore.
Bergeron wound up missing not even three minutes of game time before hopping back over the boards. He didn't quite take his regular number of shifts the rest of the way (just three over the final 13 minutes, and none in the final six), but the Bruins didn't need him to either. Marchand scored on the same power play Bergeron got injured on to make it 3-1, and then Trent Frederic added a fourth goal to put the finishing touches on the win.
Bergeron is no stranger to facial injuries, especially to the nose. He suffered a broken nose last season and said at the time that it was probably the sixth or seventh time he had broken it. He needed to undergo a procedure to help his breathing and wore a full face shield for a couple weeks afterwards. He also joked at the time that, "I think the modeling career is over by now anyways."
It's unclear exactly how serious the injury is this time around, but coach Jim Montgomery did say after the game that Bergeron was getting some X-rays done.
"How much respect I have for him coming back after -- I know the puck got deflected, but it hits him up high, in the face," Montgomery told NESN. "The admiration I have and everybody has for him coming back to try to help the team win after that is immense. We're hoping that all the X-rays come back good."
The Bruins turn right around and play again Thursday night against the Rangers. With no morning skate scheduled, there likely won't be any sort of update on Bergeron until Montgomery's pregame media availability later in the afternoon.
