BOSTON – Patrice Bergeron scored his first four goals of the season, Brad Marchand had four assists and the Boston Bruins beat the Detroit Red Wings 5-1 on Thursday night.
Marchand assisted on all four of Bergeron’s goals, Mike Reilly scored his first of the season and added an assist, and Charlie McAvoy had a pair of assists for Boston. Jeremy Swayman finished with 14 saves for the Bruins, who remained unbeaten at home.
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Bergeron entered Thursday with three assists through the first seven games. He had a hat trick before the end of the second period, and finished with his second career four-goal game.
“When he gets on a roll, he really gets on a roll,” Marchand said. “Just because Bergie goes through a stretch where maybe he doesn’t score as much as he used to, he’s still so effective for our team and the heart and soul of our team.”
Lucas Raymond scored Detroit's goal, beating Swayman with a wrist shot with the Red Wings on a 5-on-3 power-play 7:46 into the third period. That made the score to 3-1, but Boston needed less than a minute before Reilly poked in a rebound and Bergeron added his fourth goal with 4:08 left to play.
Thomas Greiss finished with 32 saves for Detroit, which lost its fourth straight, the last three coming in regulation.
The Bruins outshot the Red Wings 12-3 in the opening period and held Detroit to just six more in the second period.
“Boston came out ready to go and playing with a lot of pace and tempo,” Detroit defenseman Marc Staal said. “We just caught ourselves defending a lot and then found ourselves in the box. It’s tough to climb out of a hole like that.”
Bergeron, the Boston captain who has played his entire career with the Bruins, had his seventh career hat trick secured before the end of the second period, beating Greiss on a wrist shot with 1:15 remaining.
It was also the third power-play goal of the night for the Bruins, who entered the game with three goals in 19 power-play opportunities.
“In the end, the game comes down to specialty teams,” Detroit coach Jeff Blashill said. “You’ve got to stay out of the box, but you’ve also got to kill the penalty. Their power play hadn’t been clicking a whole lot. Obviously, it clicked tonight. We’ve got to do a better job killing.”
Bergeron gave Boston its first lead 11:03 into the first with a shot from the slot off of passes from Marchand and McAvoy. Bergeron started the play with a face-off win and dropped the pass to McAvoy, who sent it back down to Marchand for a quick redirect to Bergeron for a one-timer that Greiss had little chance to stop.
“He’s able to make plays out of nothing and that’s what happens on those plays,” Bergeron said of Marchand. “You just want to stay with him and stay open.”
Marchand and Bergeron worked the puck around for another power-play goal 10:52 into the second, when Marchand slipped a pass from behind the net to Bergeron in the slot as Tyler Bertuzzi sat out an interference penalty after Swayman came up with a big save on one of the few times he was tested.
Bertuzzi made a steal just outside the blue line and skated in on the Boston goal with Mitchell Stevens, who got off a shot that Swayman was able to drive away before Bertuzzi drew a penalty for interference, which resulted in Boston’s second power-play goal of the night.
Bergeron picked up his third 18:45 into the second, set up again between the circles on a pass from Marchand for a wrist shot that beat Greiss and triggered a flurry of hats coming from the seats. It took a few minutes to clear the headgear from the ice and play out the final 1:15 of the period.
Detroit, playing the third of four straight on the road, kept up with the Bruins through a choppy opening 10 minutes, then Boston took control.
NOTES: The Bruins held a pregame moment of silence for Jerry Remy, the former Boston Red Sox player and longtime broadcaster who died last week at age 68 after a battle with cancer. … Detroit captain Dylan Larkin missed his second straight game because of “personal reasons.” … The Red Wings were without D Gustav Lindstrom, who was placed on injured-reserve Wednesday, retroactive to Oct. 24 with a lower-body injury. … Boston D Connor Clifton played in his 100th NHL game.
UP NEXT:
Red Wings: Visit Buffalo on Saturday, wrapping up a four-game trip.
Bruins: Visit Toronto on Saturday.
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