By Joe Haggerty
CSNNE.com
BOSTONIt was an encouraging first step, but thats all it was at this point in time for the Bruins. Two-way center Patrice Bergeron skated lightly with the Black Aces on the TD Garden ice around 9 a.m. Saturday morning, and took the first small step toward potentially returning to the Stanley Cup playoffs. Bergeron has been out eight days with a mild concussion suffered in a collision with Flyers forward Claude Giroux, and the 25-year-old must have enjoyed a rapid recovery. The Bruins use a uniform protocol for concussion and there must be seven day absence of concussion symptoms before a player is allowed to engage in physical activity.A source close to the team told CSNNE.com that Bergeron would attempt strenuous skating or raising his heart rate prior to the teams departure for Tampa on Wednesday and theres a real possibilitybarring any setbacksthe valuable center could return around Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Lightning.Chris Kelly said that Bergeron had a little bit of a sweat going when he saw the center in the Bs dressing room following the skating session, but Bs coach Claude Julien downplayed Bergerons activity level.He went out and had a light skate this morning, said Julien. Thats where hes at right now. It was just a light skate on his own. This is something thats just protocol. Hes going through the normal stuff. He just got off the ice and we went on.It goes without saying, however, that any setback in Bergerons progress would likely rule him out for the series, and could very well take place given the centers history of three concussions in the last 3 12 years.Joe Haggerty can be reached at jhaggerty@comcastsportsnet.com. Follow Joe on Twitter at http:twitter.comHackswithHaggs