boston – The Bruins got straight back into the record books on Tuesday night.
Just over 48 hours after securing the NHL’s all-time winning record, Boston’s historic season kicked off with a 5-2 victory over the Washington Capitals at the TD Garden. With a win – 64y Of the season – the Black and Golds scored 133 points, surpassing the 1976-77 Montreal Canadiens (132) for the most in a single season in league history.
“I don’t know if it means any difference from what we’ve done all year,” said coach Jim Montgomery. “It’s good to break the points record. The Montreal team that beat us has only played 80 games. I think [63] 80 wins in matches is a bit more important, but it’s a good year. I care more because we play the right way.”
For Montgomery, who grew up in Montreal, the importance of point scoring was put into perspective when he reflected on how dominant Canadian teams were in the 1970s.
“When you say it like that, yeah. I grew up watching those teams play all the time,” said Montgomery. “I remember the only tickets I got were when they played the California Golden Seals or the Washington Capitals and it was always 11-0, that’s how dominant they are.
“I think of all the Hall of Famers on those teams and then Scotty [Bowman] Behind the bench and going to the old Montreal Forum, thinking about how great these teams are and how we got past that total.
“It’s important because these were the dominant, dominant hockey teams.”
VIDEO: Montgomery speaks to the media after the game
Montgomery also revealed that he heard from Bowman and his friend, Tampa Bay Lightning coach John Cooper, after Boston broke the all-time NHL wins record on Sunday in Philadelphia. Bowman (1995-96 Detroit Red Wings) and Cooper (2018-19 Tampa Bay Lightning) were the coaches for the two teams with the previous record of 62.
“We’re in elite company,” Montgomery said. Call me John Cooper [Monday] Morning and my scotty and i text on sunday. It’s fun to have people like that… other coaches from around the league have texted me too. it is fun “.
With only one regular season game left on Thursday in Montreal, the Bruins also became one of only 33 teams in league history with one or fewer consecutive regulation-loss losing streaks, according to NHL Stats. This Boston’s only stretch was March 12-14.
The Bruins are also only 18y team in league history with two or fewer winless streaks (0-2-1 January 26-29 and 0-2-0 March 12-14).
“It’s something we’re proud of,” Brad Marchand He said of Boston’s record-setting drive. “We had our sights set on him in the last short period as we were locked in first. We needed something to play with for the rest of the regular season. It’s a goal we wanted to achieve. It’s not the all or end all. An incredible achievement. We’re very proud of this group and what we’ve been able to achieve.” .
“With the history of this league, the number of good teams, it’s special. And it’s something, I think, in the future we’ll be more proud of. We’re happy with it now, don’t get me wrong, but it’s a record regular season. The playoffs start and everything starts over again.” There will be 16 teams with the same goal in mind.
“What we’ve accomplished so far has no effect on that. We’re going to stop it. We’ve got another big game here in a couple of days and it’s our last chance to prepare before the qualifiers… I think that’s part of the reason we’ve been good this year – we park every day and worry About the next day and we continue to build.
“It’s great to have him, it says a lot about our group. We were ready to play every night. We have something much bigger to build for.”
Video: Marchand went 1-1-2, Bruins beat Kapp 5-2
Allmark makes history
There was also some single date tuesday night as Linus Ullmark He made 19 saves — before leaving the game in the third period with an injury — for his 40thy He won that season, tying Pete Peters (1982-83) for the most in Bruins history.
The goalkeeper also became the fastest goalkeeper in history to achieve the feat, having done so in just 49 minutesy season game. The previous record was held by Washington player Braden Holtby (52 games in 2015-16).
After the game, Montgomery said Allmark was having some pulled muscle and left the game “as a precaution” and “he’ll be fine.”
Video: WSH @ BOS: Ullmark saves it on Snively
100- Masoud
Having hung on 99 career points in his last five games, Thomas Nozick He broke through his 100th when he caught the puck high in the hole after a Washington turnover and grabbed a home run to give the Bruins a 3-1 lead at 4:13 of the third.
“It felt good,” Nosk said of the 100-point plateau. “It doesn’t happen often. So, try to enjoy the moment. Now it’s behind me, and our focus is on the next game and the big picture.”
“Good for him,” added Montgomery. “He’s a great teammate, he’s done a lot of good things behind the scenes and the little things that help build our team wins, it’s good to see him rewarded. And 100 points, that’s a good career for anyone in this league – maybe not Bastas, but most players “.
Later in the period, Nosek added the 101st point when he introduced an elegant dish on plate 2-in-1 to Agate Hathawaywhich ended if put Boston up, 4-2, at 7:49 of the final frame.
“We played together from the start,” Nozick said of his chemistry with his teammate. “I think he’s been good. He’s a solid guy. He goes hard on checking. You can easily read him. He’s been good so far.”
Video: WSH @ BOS: Nosek scores in the third round
Help from pasta
With his first assists against the Capitals, David Pasternak He became just the second player in Bruins history with 60 goals and 50 assists in a season (Phil Esposito, four times – last in 1974-75). The winger joined Edmonton’s Conor McDavid (64-87-151) as the only players in the NHL this season to accomplish the feat. According to NHL Stats, the last season that two players appeared to hit those marks was 1995-96: Mario Lemieux (69-92-161) and Jaromir Jagr (62-87-149).
It was also Pastrnak’s first career season with 50 assists, making him the third Bruin in the past 10 years to reach that number alongside Brad Marchand (three times, last in 2019-20) and David Krejci (three times, most recently in 2018-19).
Pastrnak also had two points on the power play to give him 202 of his career and pass Cam Neely (200) for the Bruins’ ninth all-time.
Video: The Bruins set another record with a 5-2 win over the Capitals
Wait, there’s more
- Boston scored power play goals in both of his opportunities with the man advantage and now has six of his 13 chances (46.2%) in six games through April which leads the NHL. “I thought we were really starting to play Washington and create a lot of good scoring opportunities that led to power play that led to goals,” said Montgomery.
- Marchand’s strong mark, opening the scoring at 8:32 of a second, was the 21ststreet Goal of the season and first since March 9 in Edmonton with 17 matches. “I’m about to laugh about that,” he said of the dehydration. “I think it gets frustrating but then it gets to a point where it’s laughable. You can’t take it seriously. I think that’s what it’s come to. It gets to a point where it’s not normal anymore and I know that. I have Much better and bigger expectations.But at the same time we win a lot of games and have a lot of fun.Let the frustration get in the way and see what we’ve had the last few here and how much fun we’ve had, it’s nothing to worry about.If we’re losing a bunch of matches, and those goals were required, I would have pushed a lot for that. We still won every night.”
- Boston again had the power play less than six minutes later when Tyler Bertuzzi A Pastrnak rebound off the top of the crease hit a home run to put the B’s ahead, 2-0. “It was working really well, we’re just trying to find each other,” Bertuzzi said of his chemistry with Pasternak. “I know he’s good at opening up and finding territory. I just try to support him as much as possible and [Pavel Zacha’s] It was really good in the middle of the road for us as well.”
- According to NHL stats, Marchand has 93 catchesResearch and development His career multi-assist game to pass Adam Oates for the ninth-most possession in Bruins history. The winger also scored 63Research and development Ken Hodge’s career three-point touchdown is tied for sixth in team history.
Video: Bertuzzi speaks to the media after their 5-2 win over WSH