Boston Bruins set NHL record with their 63rd victory of the season

The big concern about the Boston Bruins entering the season was how far back they might be by the time injured Brad Marchand and Charlie McAvoy returned to the lineup.

Instead, the Bruins were 6-1 when Marchand came back on Oct. 27 and 11-2 when McAvoy made his season debut on Nov. 10. 

The Bruins built from there, and on Sunday, they set an NHL record of 63 wins in a season. David Pastrnak scored a hat trick to give him 60 goals this season and 300 for his career as Boston defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 5-3 despite sitting out six regulars.

The previous record of 62 was set by the 1995-96 Detroit Red Wings and matched by the 2018-19 Tampa Bay Lightning.

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“It’s hard to win in this league and there’s a reason why this record is at 62 because not many teams can get there, so it’s a special honor,” said goaltender Jeremy Swayman, who made 34 saves. “These guys in this room are more than deserving.”

fastest to 100 points on March 2 then the fastest to 50 wins 10 days later, the same day they clinched a playoff berth. They clinched the Presidents’ Trophy as the top regular-season team on March 30. They have 131 points, one shy of the record-setting 1976-77 Montreal Canadiens with two games to go.

Here’s how the Bruins did it: 

fired by the Dallas Stars and entering rehab.two goals against his former team Saturday as the Bruins tied the wins record and had a goal and an assist on Sunday.

David Pastrnak and Hampus Lindholm

Pastrnak boosted the offense in Marchand’s absence and Lindholm helped the Bruins weather the absence of McAvoy. Pastrnak had 17 points in nine games in October and has kept it going. He’s the Bruins’ first 50-goal scorer since Cam Neely in 1993-94, their first 60-goal scorer since Phil Esposito in the 1970s and their second 100-point scorer since Joe Thornton in 2003-04. If Edmonton’s Connor McDavid weren’t having such a spectacular season, Pastrnak would be a front-runner for the Hart Trophy. Lindholm had been signed to an eight-year extension after he was acquired in a trade last season, and the Bruins rewarded Pastrnak on March 2 with an eight-year, $90 million extension.

Goaltending tandem

Goaltenders Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman split time evenly last season but had that routine disrupted by the short-lived return of Tuukka Rask. But this year, the net has been all theirs. The Athletic reported that a small tweak by goalie coach Bob Essensa helped Ullmark reach elite status as a Vezina Trophy front-runner. Ullmark got most of the starts early in the season, but they have mostly alternated games since Christmas. Ullmark has a league-best 39 wins and Swayman has 23. They have only six losses a apiece. Their enthusiastic greeting of each other after each win shows that they’re great teammates.

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