Bergeron is thinking quickly

Rookie Patrice Bergeron was held out of the lineup against the Canadiens last night because of a bruised left shoulder but he doesn't think he'll be out long.

The 18-year-old forward was injured when he collided with Islanders defenseman Eric Cairns early in the first period of Tuesday's game in New York. He was examined by team doctors yesterday and last night said the prognosis is positive.

"I feel good," said Bergeron. "It's a bruise on my shoulder and it's day to day, but I feel pretty good."

Bergeron said it was difficult to put a timetable on his return.

"It's going to be pretty soon, as soon as I can," he said. "I want to play soon. It's no big deal. They didn't want to take a chance [last night] and I'll just be ready as soon as I can. We'll see how it goes, but it won't be long."

Bergeron was not concerned about structural damage to the joint. It was painful and uncomfortable but he was able to maintain his range of motion.

"I've seen the doctor and when he told me [the prognosis], I was happy," he said. "But I didn't feel like it was bad so I wasn't worried too much."

With 17 games remaining in the regular season, Bergeron is eager to play but doesn't want to be foolish, either.

"You just don't want to take a chance," he said. "You don't want to go out there and [risk] it getting worse."

Green steps in

Travis Green was in the lineup after missing 18 of the previous 20 games because of torn cartilage in his ribs. He wasted no time getting into the mix, scoring the second goal of the game just 38 seconds into the middle period of a 3-2 OT Canadiens win . . . Defenseman Nick Boynton, who missed Tuesday's game because of a bruised shoulder, was back in action as well. He assisted on each of the Bruins' goals . . . The Bruins ended a 152-minute-52-second scoring drought at 15:34 of the opening period on Marty Lapointe's power-play goal . . . Defenseman Jonathan Girard, out all season because of injuries sustained in a car accident last July, was a visitor in the press box. Girard will remain in Boston the rest of the season to continue his rehabilitation. Goaltender Andrew Raycroft said it was nice to see Girard. "It's absolutely amazing," he said. "Just some of the stories he's told us about how bad of an accident it was. It's a real great story to see him coming back the way he is." . . . Montreal center Yanic Perreault, who has won 64.5 percent of his faceoffs (486 for 753) went into last night a team-worst minus-8. Because of a knee injury to Jan Bulis, which will sideline him for about four weeks, Perreault was moved to left wing on a line with Saku Koivu and Richard Zednik. He scored the Canadiens' first goal at 10:26 of the first . . . The Bruins host the Flyers in a matinee tomorrow.