BUFFALO — Long the Bruins’ top faceoff man, Patrice Bergeron these days tops the club’s chart for shots on net. Patrice the Thief, adept at clipping pucks off the sticks of fellow centermen throughout the league, increasingly is making life miserable for goalies.

“We emphasize that probably with most of our players,’’ coach Claude Julien said prior to Friday night’s 4-2 loss to the Sabres, noting an overall urgency for his players to take shots. “And [Bergeron] is a guy, you know, he has to shoot a little bit more.’’