BOSTON — The Bruins had a great night on Thursday, so Patrice Bergeron had a great night, too.


It wasn’t an easy night, however, for the Bruins’ No. 1 center, who had to sit out Game 4 of the best-of-7 series — a 3-1 victory over the Maple Leafs — with an unspecified upper-body injury.


"I was definitely confident" that his teammates could prevail without him, Bergeron said, "but at the same time, you’re a lot more nervous when [...]

By Mike Loftus The Quincy Patriot Ledger

BOSTON — The Bruins had a great night on Thursday, so Patrice Bergeron had a great night, too.

It wasn’t an easy night, however, for the Bruins’ No. 1 center, who had to sit out Game 4 of the best-of-7 series — a 3-1 victory over the Maple Leafs — with an unspecified upper-body injury.

“I was definitely confident” that his teammates could prevail without him, Bergeron said, “but at the same time, you’re a lot more nervous when you’re not playing the game than when you’re playing.”

Bergeron wasn’t as nervous on Saturday night. He was back in the lineup, helping the Bruins try to close out the series in Game 5.

Bergeron’s return was nearly as sudden as his departure. After playing in Monday night’s 4-2 loss at Air Canada Centre, he took Tuesday off with the rest of the team. He practiced on Wednesday — although he was replaced in some drills by Riley Nash. When he arrived at ACC on Thursday morning, he expected to play that night.

“I hoped,” he said. “It was a game-time decision. The doctors and training staff kind of thought it was better (not to play). It was a big discussion with the training staff.”

Bergeron, who skated hard on Friday morning and participated in Saturday’s morning skate, declined to go into specifics about the nature of his injury.

“It’s something that popped up,” he said. “I’m definitely not going to get into more details. Hopefully I’m right back at it.”

Change on D

What amounted to an attempt to form a clear-cut No. 2 defense pairing of Torey Krug and Kevan Miller has apparently been shelved for the time being, leaving a 2A-2B approach.

Coming off a Game 3 performance in which both were minus-3 in a 4-2 loss, head coach Bruce Cassidy pulled the plug on the Krug-Miller pairing when it was on the ice for Tomas Plekanec’s goal 7:43 into Game 4. Miller went back to playing with rookie Matt Grzelcyk, who had missed Game 3 with a lower-body injury, and Krug was re-teamed with long-time partner Adam McQuaid. Krug-McQuaid and Grzelcyk-Miller were the pairings behind Zdeno Chara-Charlie McAvoy again on Saturday night.

“It was just a gut-instinct move, to have a little better balance,” Cassidy said. “I thought in Game 3 in Toronto, they (Krug and Miller) were … victimized a little.”

Cassidy said he’d be comfortable playing either Krug-McQuaid or Grzelcyk-Miller against any of the Maple Leafs’ lines, although “Yeah, (Chara and McAvoy) are going to play, generally, against the other team’s top line, or the most dangerous. But they can’t play against every line.

“We’ve talked about not chasing matchups. We trust all six (defensemen). Maybe if one (pairing) is having a better night than the other, you may see them a little more, but … I think they can all play.”

Warning shot fired

Cassidy thought some of Friday’s playoff results should serve to remind his team of how difficult it can be to close out a series, even when playing at home.

“Two teams that went to the Stanley Cup final last year (Penguins, Predators) couldn’t close out,” Cassidy said. “It’s difficult.”

The Penguins, shooting for their third straight Cup, try to end their series in Game 6 on Sunday at Philadelphia, while the Preds take a 3-2 lead into Game 6 on Sunday night at Colorado.

Around the boards

David Krejci played his 100th career playoff game — all with the Bruins — in Game 4 on Thursday. He’s just behind Bergeron (104 entering Saturday) on the list of current Bruins who haven’t played postseason games for any other team, ahead of Brad Marchand (76) and McQuaid (60). … Defenseman Nick Holden and forwards Brian Gionta, Ryan Donato and Tommy Wingels were the Bruins’ healthy scratches. Gionta is the only Bruin who hasn’t appeared in the series. Wingels played Games 1 and 4, Donato made his NHL playoff debut in Game 2, and Holden subbed for Grzelcyk in Game 3.