BOSTON – Now that they’re close to the NHL winning record, the Boston Bruins aren’t afraid to say they’ll try.
“I think that’s an incredible accomplishment,” forward Taylor Hall said Saturday night after the Bruins set an NHL record with their 62nd win of the season. “And it’s okay to say that.”
Pavel Zacha scored twice in the first five minutes, and the Bruins, who won the Presidents’ Trophy, beat the New Jersey Devils 2-1 for their fifth straight win and their 12th in 13 attempts.
Boston has three games left to try and beat the record for regular-season wins set by the Red Wings in 1995-96 and surpassed by Lightning in 2018-19. Neither of these teams won the Stanley Cup and the Bruins insist that this remains their ultimate goal.
But coach Jim Montgomery also said trying to win the remaining games can help them stay fit for what will hopefully be a long postseason.
“Every time you talk about putting your team’s name – and our ‘Spoked B’ – in the history books for the most-ever wins in a regular season, that’s special,” he said. “Our regular season was great, but we have to win our last game of the season. And that’s what we’re building on.”
The Bruins have already won their third Presidents’ Trophy since 2014, making it their No. 1 pick of the postseason. They also have 129 points and a shot at the record 132 set by the 1976-77 Canadiens, the played an 80-game season and earned no points for overtime or penalty shoot-out wins.
They have their first shot at the winning record on Sunday in Philadelphia before returning home to play Washington on Tuesday and then Montreal on Thursday.
“You have to charge, also charge for tomorrow’s game. Because there are no freebies,” said Linus Ullmark, who stopped 29 shots. “And as happy as we are with that now, we can give each other a little pat on the back. But tomorrow is a new day.”
Jesper Bratt scored a goal and Mackenzie Blackwood made 38 saves for the Devils, who remain a point behind Carolina and two ahead of Rangers in the Metropolitan Division title race. Jack Hughes assisted the goal, giving him 96 points for the season to tie Patrik Eliáš’s franchise record.
The Devils earned a penalty about a minute later when Ryan Graves was called upon to knock Brad Marchand down while chasing a loose puck headed for the net. Graves didn’t think much of the call and tried to reach Marchand to let him know, but was held back by the officer.
A minute into the power play, Zacha tipped a shot from Hampus Lindholm into the net. Five minutes from the end of the first minute, Zacha scored again, converting a rebound off Blackwood’s padding with a backhand into the net to make it 2-0.
The Devils pared it to 2-1 a minute later when a turnover released Bratt all alone on Ullmark. In the second half, they had another duel with the goalkeeper, but Ullmark repelled two shots from Hughes and a rebound attempt from Yegor Sharangovich.
The Bruins killed a double-minor that spanned the break between the second and third periods.
Blackwood stopped David Pastrnak on a breakaway in the second third. Pastrnak also had a wraparound attempt on an empty net in the final seconds, but it appears to have been cleared from the goal line by Nico Hischier.
NEXT
Devils: Host Buffalo in their home finals on Tuesday night.
Bruins: Face the Flyers in their penultimate away game of the season on Sunday night.
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