Bergeron leads Bruins to 3-1 win over slumping Blues

BOSTON (AP) — Patrice Bergeron scored a power-play goal with 7:15 remaining and the Boston Bruins beat the slumping St. Louis Blues 3-1 on Monday night.

Trent Frederic and Jake DeBrusk also scored for Boston, and Brad Marchand had two assists. Linus Ullmark finished with 25 saves as the Bruins improved to 7-0-0 at home and won for the eighth time in nine games overall.

“It wasn’t necessarily their best or our best but it was one of those things where it was a grind of a game and we found a way to get through it,” DeBrusk said.

Brayden Schenn scored and Jordan Binnington had 34 saves in the Blues’ seventh straight loss — all in regulation.

With the score tied 1-1 deep into the third period, St. Louis captain Ryan O’Reilly was whistled for tripping with 8:28 left to put the Bruins on the power play, and they capitalized.

Binnington stopped two shots by Marchand and managed to cover a rebound during an extended scrum in front of the net. However, the Bruins won the faceoff and worked the puck around to Bergeron in the slot for a one-timer that put Boston back on top with his fifth of the season.

“I think it’s always fitting that Bergeron comes through,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said. “There’s not enough words that I can say about how much he means to the team culture and to the team productivity. He’s a player that gets the job done night in and night out.”

Frederic helped seal it with 3:32 left with his third.

The Blues had a pair of power-play opportunities in the first eight minutes of the game but couldn’t capitalize, finishing with just five shots on goal in the period.

“We just didn’t create enough momentum for the team in the first period. The second period, we were better. I thought the whole night we worked, we competed,” Schenn said. “In the D-zone, we got running around there in the third. They kind of took it to us quite a bit obviously and they were able to capitalize and win the game.”

The Bruins led 1-0 after DeBrusk scored on a power play with 6:26 left in the first period, taking a backhand feed from Pastrnak in the slot and slipping it between Binnington’s legs for his fifth.

Schenn tied it for St. Louis on a one-timer with 8:23 left in the second off a crossing pass from Jordan Kyrou. It was his third. Former Bruins defenseman Torey Krug also assisted on the goal.

The Bruins scored on both of their power-play opportunities and killed off all three chances when the Blues had the advantage.

“The effort’s there. We showed up tonight. We competed hard. That’s a good team over there,” Schenn said. “We’ve just got to find a way to score goals and get the results we want.”

WE’RE SORRY

Earlier Monday, Bruins president Cam Neely said the club “dropped the ball” in signing Mitchell Miller without properly vetting the decision to bring the 20-year-old defenseman on board despite a conviction for bullying a Black classmate with developmental disabilities in middle school.

The Bruins drew widespread criticism before rescinding the offer Sunday night, then held a news conference Monday when Neely apologized to the victim and his family.

“I’m extremely upset that we have made a lot of people unhappy with our decision,” Neely said. “I take pride in the Bruins organization and what we stand for. And we failed there.”

SAAD RETURNS

Blues LW Brandon Saad was back on the ice for the first time since an upper-body injury caused him to miss six straight games.

PRODUCTION

Marchand’s assists gave him seven points (four goals, three assists) in five games since returning early from hip surgery.

UP NEXT

Blues: At Philadelphia on Tuesday night.

Bruins: Host Calgary on Thursday night.

___

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.