By Kevin Paul Dupont Globe Staff

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 game against 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.’’

Over the previous two seasons, Bergeron amassed 402 shots on net over 161 regular-season games, an average of 2.5 per game. Entering Friday’s game, he had 39 shots in 11 games, an average of 3.5, or a 40 percent increase. Eleven games may be a small sample, but it seemed at least to indicate a trend.

“There were times I thought he looked [too often] for the perfect play,’’ added Julien. “And it took not only an opportunity to score, but also a shot on net. It doesn’t always have to be scoring on an initial shot, but maybe creating a loose puck, a chance.’’

Bergeron, usually flanked by Brad Marchand (16 shots) and Tyler Seguin (34 shots), entered the night tied for fourth in team scoring with Nathan Horton (7 points). Julien added that he has told first-line pivot David Krejci to shoot more this season, and Krejci entered the night as the club’s top point-getter (4-7—11).

Krejci, in his sixth NHL season, has never finished a season with a point-per-game average. Prior to Friday night, he had 23 shots on net, an average of 2.1 per game. In the prior two seasons, he totaled 302 shots over 154 games, or 1.96 per game. His uptick has been but fractional.