The Boston Bruins enter Thursday’s game against the Seattle Kraken with a 43-8-5 record, good for 91 points. The Bruins have an NHL-best 37 regulation wins, and a goal differential of +92. Only three teams are above +40 (Carolina and Toronto +44, New Jersey +43).
With the Toronto Maple Leafs acquisition last weekend of former Conn Smythe winner Ryan O’Reilly from the St. Louis Blues, we could be counting the days until another Boston/Toronto playoff series. This would be contingent on the Leafs getting out of the first round for a change.
The NHL record for points in the standings is 131, set by the 1995-96 Detroit Red Wings. The Bruins are 40 behind with 26 games remaining. Losing out on a mere eight points separates the Bruins from immortality. Boston’s greatest season was 1970-71, where their 57 wins accrued 131 points. The Bruins were bounded in the first round by Montreal, en route to another Canadiens’ Stanley Cup.
The last team to win the Presidents’ Trophy, awarded to the team with the best regular season record, then win the Stanley Cup, were the 2012-13 Chicago Blackhawks.
Boston has everything lined up in front of them to certainly chase down their franchise record. David Pastrnak will finish in the top three for the Hart Trophy as league MVP, and still might be able to run down Edmonton’s Connor MacDavid for the Rocket Richard Trophy as top goal scorer. “Pasta” has 41 on the season, to go along with 36 assists (77 points). His +27 plus/minus is sixth-best in the league. However, he ranks second on the Bruins with 15 power play assists, one behind Brad Marchand.
That’s it…trade him!
“The Rat” is a whole different story. “The Rat” turns 35 during the playoffs this year, and continues to torment the NHL by being the dirtiest player in the league. A few years ago, Marchand was considered a top-10 player in the league, despite all the fines and suspensions he racked up with his play. Amazingly enough, Marchand has not been fined or suspended this season, compared to the nine games he was forced to sit last year, along with $545,046 worth of salary forfeited. Since 2011, Marchand has been suspended for 28 games and fined nearly $1.5 million. Five times he was suspended at least three games for an on-ice penalty.
However, Marchand summed up all the talk about chasing down Detroit’s record perfectly when asked by ESPN on Wednesday.
"People have talked a lot about some of these records, that we could potentially hit or we have hit. Nobody cares about those in this room. We could care less about any of these regular-season records. Because they really don't mean anything."
Boston’s success is a perfect mix of veterans like Marchand, David Krejci and Patrice Bergeron, combined with homegrown youth in Brandon Carlo, Jake DeBrusk and Matt Grzelcyk.
However, Boston’s greatest attribute is maximizing the ability of players cast off by other teams. Goaltender Linus Ullmark was originally supposed to be the future between the pipes with the Buffalo Sabres. Instead, Ullmark is the front-runner for the Vezina Trophy, regardless of how Boston’s season ends. Ullmark sports a 1.88 goals against average…the next closest player (Minnesota’s Filip Gustavsson) is at 2.16. His 29 wins and .936 save percentage are also an NHL-best.
Taylor Hall was traded near the end of the 2020-21 season, after just 37 games in Buffalo. A former Hart Trophy winner, Hall signed a 4-year, $24 million extension with the Bruins after that season. Hall would be a top-six forward on more than half the teams in the NHL, but is on the third line under head coach Jim Montgomery.
Taylor Hall was traded near the end of the 2020-21 season, after just 37 games in Buffalo. A former Hart Trophy winner, Hall signed a 4-year, $24 million extension with the Bruins after that season. Hall would be a top-six forward on more than half the teams in the NHL, but is on the third line under head coach Jim Montgomery.
In a season of milestones that saw Krejci reach 1,000 games played on January 16, and team captain Bergeron reach the 1,000 point mark on November 21, the Bruins would love nothing more to hoist Lord Stanley this summer, sending their hated rivals in Toronto home for a 56th consecutive year along the way.
-JC24