Bruins step up with Bergeron down for key victory over Leafs

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TORONTO -- It was a shock for just about everybody in the building when it was announced shortly after the beginning of warmups for Game 4 that Patrice Bergeron, suffering from an upper-body injury, wouldn't be playing for the Bruins.

The home fans at the Air Canada Centre celebrated it as a good sign for the Maple Leafs. On the Bruins side, there certainly was an unsettled feeling that their best player was missing from the lineup.

But the B's slid Riley Nash into Bergeron's spot in the middle, as they did so many times this season, and then went out and played strong hockey to earn a gritty 3-1 win that gave them a commanding 3-1 series lead.

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Boston responded the way it did during the regular season, when Bergeron missed 19 games to injury (including 13 in a row late in the year because of a broken foot). The B's were 12-5-2 without Bergeron, and -- in the short haul -- were able to withstand his absence once again.

"We understand how much [Bergeron] means to this team, [especially since] we lost him during the regular season," said rookie Jake DeBrusk, who sealed the deal with a third-period goal that gave the Bruins a two-goal lead. "Obviously, it's magnified in the playoffs. [But] Riley has played there a bit, so those guys have chemistry from before.

"We knew we'd need a good effort from top to bottom and I thought tonight we showed a good example of that. We had some big players make some big plays, and it was nice to be a part of."

It's still unclear exactly what's wrong with Bergeron, though there were at least a couple of heavy, physical hits in Game 3 that might have caused an injury. He participated in practice in Wednesday -- though there were a couple of instances where Nash hopped into line rushes and drills -- and spoke to the media Thursday morning with no indication that anything was amiss. The first sign there was a problem was when he wasn't present when the Bruins took the ice for pregame warmups Thursday.

Coach Bruce Cassidy said the decision to hold him out of Game 4 was made shortly before the start, but "hopefully he's better and ready to go on Saturday" in Game 5 at TD Garden.

"We were managing [an undisclosed injury] and he wasn't able to go, so we're classifying it as day-to-day," said Cassidy.

Now the question becomes whether the Bruins, with a 3-1 series lead, should rush Bergeron back into the lineup for Game 5. An injury that sidelined him for a playoff game after two off days has to be considered fairly significant, and it might be a better long-term move to let him continue healing.

For now, though, the B's can draw a great deal of satisfaction for circling the wagons and securing a crucial road playoff victory without their best player.

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