The Boston Bruins hardly had their ‘A’ game in their opening moments against the Tampa Bay Lightning. They relinquished the game’s first nine shots and trailed 1-0 8:57 in on Nick Paul’s first tally of the night.
In their opening tilt of a seven-game gauntlet, the Bruins appeared ripe for a letdown against a Bolts squad coming off their third straight Stanley Cup final appearance.
There was no letdown.
In the process, the Bruins witnessed another accolade for an all-time great during Monday’s 5-3 triumph.
Patrice Bergeron scored his 1,000th career point after notching a secondary assist at 15:08 of the second period on Brad Marchand’s sixth goal of the season.