The Boston Bruins players and staff have been saying for months that they did not try to break the record for most wins in a season back in April. Their focus was on winning the Stanley Cup in June. But try or not, they did it anyway.
Heading into the final week of one of the most outstanding regular seasons ever, the Bruins defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 5-3 on Sunday for their 63rd win, beating the 1995/96 Detroit Red Wings and the 2018/18 Tampa Bay Lightning. 19 surpassed for most wins in a season.
They did it with their usual flair too, as David Pastrnak hit a hat-trick, scoring 60 goals in the season and 300 in his career. Pastrnak, elated to reach the goal for the first time, noted that it came in support of a record the Bruins see as just a prelude to their true ambition.
That is, to become the first team with the best regular-season record to win the Stanley Cup since Chicago did so in the 2012–13 season (shortened to 48 games by the lockout), and to overcome the fate of the record-breaking Red to avoid Wings and Lightning, who both lost in the playoffs.
“Obviously the record is great,” Pastrnak told reporters in Philadelphia, “but we’re building something bigger than the NHL record. That’s our focus.”
The Bruins have two games left in the regular season, so the tally could grow, and it doesn’t seem to matter that they’re likely to sideline some players to rest them for the approaching postseason.
They had done so in several recent games, allowing tired, elderly or injured players to recover, and they continued to win, despite five consecutive weeks of back-to-back matches every Saturday and Sunday. They won nine of those ten games.
Since a pair of mind-boggling losses to the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks in March, the Bruins have won 13 of their last 14 games, many while resting key players. Patrice Bergeron, Boston’s top midfielder, has played just three of the last six games. David Krejci, the second-line center, played in only two of the last six and Charlie McAvoy, their top defender, missed two of the last four.
All three missed Sunday’s game in Philadelphia, as did defenseman Dmitry Orlov, who has been a revelation since being traded to Boston from Washington in February. Taylor Hall, the former Hart Trophy winner, who returned to action against the Devils on Saturday after missing 20 games with a knee injury, also sat out Sunday’s victory.
“They had some people gone,” said John Tortorella, the Flyers coach, “but that’s still a really good hockey team.”
The Flyers are a terrible team, with only 29 wins. But since capturing the top seed for the playoffs, the Bruins have also continued to beat good teams, teams that have already qualified for the playoffs or are fighting to make it. On Thursday, they defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs, the second-best team in their division, and on Saturday, they defeated the Devils, the second-best team in the Metropolitan Division.
No matter who they put on the ice, or their opponent, the Bruins usually come out on top, thanks in part to their remarkable roster depth.
“You care every night and every day and that slowly adds up,” says Charlie Coyle, the Bruins center.
Coyle explained the Bruins’ end-of-season consistency by noting that team leaders set benchmarks throughout the year, cutting out parts of the season, such as a long road trip or a particularly difficult stretch of tough opponents, and challenging the group to to achieve a certain goal. level of success.
He said once they were sure of the top seed and only a handful of games remained, they turned to setting the win record as another valuable pursuit and means of motivation.
“We hope this is just the beginning,” Coyle said, “but it’s definitely something you can be proud of and it shows what we’ve accomplished this year.”
While this Bruins team has a deep roster – four solid lines and three defensive pairings, each with a formidable point presence in McAvoy, Hampus Lindholm and Orlov – Pastrnak has been the offensive star.
He is four goals behind Edmonton’s Connor McDavid for the league lead, becoming only the second Bruin to score at least 60 goals. Phil Esposito did it four times, including 76 goals in 1970-71. It is the first time since 1995/96 that two players have scored 60 goals in the same season. That year it was teammates, Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr, who had 69 and 62 for the Pittsburgh Penguins.
On Sunday, after Boston fans threw hats on the ice in Philadelphia to commemorate Pastrnak’s hat-trick, the Czech winger recounted how Boston’s Brad Marchand, Pastrnak’s former linemate, told him years ago to always aim for 10 goals over he thinks. is able to. Pastrnak indicated that he had seen 50 as achievable.
“So yeah, I was aiming for 60, but I didn’t really think I was going to get there,” he said.
As for the playoffs, which begin on April 17, the Bruins don’t yet know their first-round opponent. That will be determined this week as four teams – the Panthers, Islanders, Penguins and Sabers – battle for the final two spots. And the Bruins could set another record in their next two games.
They have 131 points, just one behind the 1976–77 Montreal Canadiens for most points in a season. At the time, teams played 80 games and got one point for a tie (the Canadiens went 60-8-12). Teams now play 82 games and are awarded two points for an overtime win or a shootout win, and one point if they lose in overtime or a shootout.
But winning the most games and earning the most points seems unfulfilled if the Bruins don’t win the Stanley Cup.
“Looking too far ahead creates fear,” said Jim Montgomery, Boston’s freshman coach. “We believe in staying present. We are not looking at June. We are looking at April 17.”