The Bruins miraculously survived their night without do-it-all center Patrice Bergeron in a 3-1 Game 4 victory, and have successfully set themselves up to deliver the knockout blow to the Maple Leafs in Saturday night’s Game 5 head-to-head at TD Garden.

And with Bergeron expected back in action, no less.

“He looked good this morning,” Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy said of Bergeron following a morning skate at Warrior Ice Arena. “Fine in pregame skate, so I anticipate he’ll play. We’ll make that decision after [the pregame] warm-up, but looking good.”

Dealing with an apparent upper-body injury, and unsuccessful in his attempts to talk his way into the Game 4 lineup, Bergeron himself remains ‘optimistic’ that he will return tonight. He did, however, note that it’s now about convincing the other side (coaches and doctors, you’d imagine) he’s good to go before he can jump back into the mix.

“Definitely not going to get into more details [of the injury],” Bergeron offered. “You guys have seen, I guess. Hopefully I’m back at it and we’ll see what happens.”

Bergeron has recorded five assists through three games this series (all on Boston ice), and his line as a whole has totaled 20 points in two home games in this series.

But even with Bergeron likely back in action, the Bruins know it won't be easy to put the Maple Leafs to bed.

“Well if they watched games last night, which we did address, we try to stick to the game in front of us but two teams that went to the Stanley Cup Final last year couldn’t close out,” Cassidy, referencing losses by and in Nashville and Pittsburgh last night, said. “So, it’s difficult. We talked about how it’s hard to win in this league. It’s especially hard to win in the playoffs. I think they are aware of it. Hopefully they don’t overthink it, just go out and play and play the we need to need to play and to have success.”

Loose pucks: The Bruins are 18-2 all-time in any best-of-7 series when they are up 3-1 entering Game 5. The Maple Leafs, meanwhile, are 1-14 all-time when entering Game 5 down 3-1... The Leafs will apparently shake their lines up a bit tonight, if their morning skate is any indication, as William Nylander appears to have been moved down to the fourth line, while Connor Brown has been promoted to Auston Matthews' right side on the first line.

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