Canadian Olympic gold medalist Patrice Bergeron of L’Ancienne-Lorette, Quebec scored two goals for the Boston Bruins in their 4-1 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday night at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. Bergeron, who won a gold medal for Team Canada in men’s hockey at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver and the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, helped the Bruins tie their best out of seven second round Eastern Conference series with Columbus at two wins apiece.
Bergeron’s first goal was the game winning goal at 7:18 of the first period. The power play marker which was assisted by Brad Marchand of Halifax, Nova Scotia and Torey Krug, put the Bruins up 2-0. Then in the third period, Bergeron put the Bruins up 4-1 from Krug and David Pastrnak.
Bergeron was not the only Canadian to score a game winning goal on Thursday night. Nathan MacKinnon of Halifax, Nova Scotia scored the game winning goal for the Colorado Avalanche in game four of their best out of seven series. It came at 10:34 of the first period from rookie defenseman Cale Makar of Calgary. Alberta and Mikko Rantanen, which put the Avalanche up 1-0 at the time. The Avalanche went on to beat the San Jose Sharks 3-0 to tie their series at two games apiece.
On Friday night, the Carolina Hurricanes eliminated the New York Islanders in a four game sweep with a 5-2 win. Greg McKegg of St. Thomas, Ontario and Justin Williams of Cobourg, Ontario scored for Carolina. McKegg’s goal was the game winning marker as well. It came at 3:17 of the second period from Jordan Martinook of Brandon, Manitoba and Brett Pesce. Williams’s goal meanwhile was historic as he became the tenth active player in the National Hockey League to record 100 playoff points. Also on Friday, the Dallas Stars beat the St. Louis Blues 2-1 to take a three games to two lead in their series.
