With five games left before the playoffs, the Bruins are on the verge of making history. Only the Canadiens (60 wins in 1976-77), the Red Wings (62 wins in 1997-98) and the Lightning (62 wins in 2018-19) have won as many or more games in a single season.
The Bruins have a really special group
, describes Bergeron, but do not count on him to play the game of comparisons with the great teams of other eras. NHL rules have changed over time, he points out. The number of matches and teams as well.
Nevertheless, the hockey player from Quebec is well placed to know that the current season of his people is not normal.The older you get, the more you realize how difficult it is to win. A season like that, of course I savor it enormously
relates the author of 27 goals and 57 points in 74 games.
A decision that changed everything
Patrice Bergeron will never say it himself, but it is primarily thanks to him that the Bruins are making their place in the record books. Defeated in the first round of the playoffs last spring, the team seemed ripe for a rejuvenation. Several experts were already announcing the end of an era.
Patrice Bergeron celebrates his team’s victory in the 2011 Stanley Cup Final. (File photo)
Photo : Getty Images / Harry How
The captain thought about hanging up his skates. His decision to return for a 19th season put off any reconstruction plans. General manager Don Sweeney therefore took the opposite route, bringing veteran David Krejci back to Boston, a year after letting him leave for the Czech Republic.
Since then, everything the team touches turns to gold. Bergeron, Krejci and the other Bruins veterans seem to have swum in a fountain of youth. Youngsters David Pastrnak and Charlie McAvoy confirmed their place among the NHL elite. Goaltender Linus Ullmark has become the unlikely favorite for the Vezina Trophy.
We have good chemistry together. There are plenty of players who may not have had their best season last year who have come back strong
points to Bergeron to explain the successes of his family.
Montgomery and the present moment
However, the contribution of new head coach Jim Montgomery should not be underestimated, he said. The Montreal driver instilled in the team a philosophy tailored to his captain.
Something that Jim brought to us a lot was to focus on the present moment, on every little detail, on the way we do things rather than the result of the match
explains the five-time winner of the Selke Trophy awarded to the best defensive forward on the circuit.
Jim Montgomery
Photo : usa today sports / Jerome Miron
Staying in the moment will become all the more important when entering the playoffs, believes Patrice Bergeron. After all, the last team to reach 60 wins, the Tampa Bay Lightning, was then upset in the first round of the playoffs by the Columbus Blue Jackets.
« We know very well that arriving in the playoffs, the counters fall to zero and the work will be extremely difficult from the first round to the last. »
Captain’s Wisdom
In the context, the Bruins have decided to give Bergeron a few games off in recent daysmatches. I have to be aware that I’m getting older, that I’m not invincible and that sometimes I have to take a moment longer to rest”,”text”:”It was to heal the bruises and the body a little bit after a season of 75 matches. I have to be aware that I am getting old, that I am not invincible and that sometimes I have to take a moment longer to rest”}}”>It was to take care of the bruises and the body after a season of 75 games. I have to be aware that I am getting old, that I am not invincible and that sometimes I have to take a moment longer to restdescribes the veteran of 1,290 NHL games
However, do not expect the scenario to repeat itself in the playoffs. We’re talking about a player who has already played in Stanley Cup Finals games with a punctured lung, fractured ribs and a separated shoulder.
Patrice Bergeron speaks to media representatives after a 2013 playoff game. (File photo)
Photo : Getty Images / Jared Wickerham
Bergeron is also one of the last two Bruins players, with Brad Marchand, to have experienced the conquest of 2011. Of that year, the native of L’Ancienne-Lorette remembers the character, the combativeness and the perseverance that we had shown in the playoffs
.
Each team has its own story, says the future Hockey Hall of Famer, but the best ones always end in lifting the Stanley Cup.
The Bruins and Patrice Bergeron haven’t finished writing theirs yet.