Patrice Bergeron's Hall of Fame night last night pulled in everyone from Ray Bourque to Charlie McAvoy, and the Bruins' room is carrying it into this morning.
The ceremony is over, but the reaction from the people who played with him and against him is still coming in. For the current Bruins, it was a night spent in the stands watching one of their own franchise's standard-bearers get his place in history.
Earlier, we reported on Patrice Bergeron's speech to Bruins fans as he delivered it. This is the view from the seats.
Belle Fraser counted the turnout, and it was huge: Bourque, McAvoy, David Pastrnak, Marco Sturm, Cam Neely, Don Sweeney and Zdeno Chara, among many others.
That is the old guard and the present-day room in the same building. Sturm is the head coach now, Sweeney the general manager, and both showed up alongside the captain-era names who built the Bruins' reputation.
Brad Marchand was there too. The Hockey News pointed out that he and Bergeron combined for 2,016 points in 2,384 games with the Bruins.
Fraser also shared one of the lines from the room: "To be able to have played with him is something that I will tell my kids about one day. To be here tonight to support him is really an honor."
The Bruins themselves posted a photo from the night with a short message about being proud of 37.
Why Bergeron's night lands in the Bruins' room
It lands because the current team is living in the shadow of that standard and, so far, holding up its end. The Bruins are 13-4-1, first in the Atlantic, and they beat Florida 4-1 on Sunday for their fourth straight win.
McAvoy and Pastrnak were in the crowd for the man whose shoes they are trying to fill in the room. Nobody in that building was pretending the night was only about the past, and having the coach, the GM and the club's old pillars together makes that hard to miss. For those who want the full picture of who turned up, we also wrote about how Bruins legends packed the Hall for Bergeron.
Bergeron's own message tied it together. He described the Bruins as "part of Boston's identity," and the current group has a chance to prove that line is still true when Montreal visits on Thursday.
Quick hits
ISLANDERSBo Horvat had a blunt message after last night's shootout loss in San Jose: get back to the team you were early on. When the captain says that out loud, the room is paying attention.
TRADE BUZZPierre LeBrun added a new wrinkle to the Nikita Kucherov saga, and it involves a former Lightning defenseman and the Mammoth. The story keeps growing legs.
OTTAWA SENATORSCarter Yakemchuk is skating as the extra man, and fans want to know exactly where he fits. Running out of room is a tough spot for a young defenseman.
DETROIT RED WINGSDylan Larkin's forfeited salary passed $500,000 overnight, according to the Winged Wheel Podcast, with the Red Wings in St. Louis tonight. The standoff has real cost now.
TORONTO MAPLE LEAFSJames Mirtle says things are already getting intense around the organization as Colorado visits tonight. Early November and the heat is on.
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