I’ve got to be honest, I’d never have picked this team to do it at the start of the season. The Boston Bruins have added more historical significance to their fantastic season as they have become the fastest team to reach 50 wins in a season.
I don’t think there’s ever been such a unique team in NHL history.
For those who don’t know yet (which I’m sure is not many), the Bruins 3-2 win over the Detroit Red Wings yesterday was their 50th win on the season, even though they only played 64 games at that time (they lost today to Detroit in their 65th game). Thus, in the over 100+ year history of the NHL, the Bruins have become the fastest team to win 50 games in a single season (and 100 PTS), giving them a record that is not going to be broken anytime soon.
To go from being the worst playoff team in the Eastern Conference the year prior (the Bruins finished in 8th place last season) to being on the verge of the greatest single-season team of all-time (the Bruins are predicted to beat the 2018-19 Tampa Bay Lightning and 1995-96 Detroit Red Wings) has to be an uber-unique phenomenon. Right?
Sure, I could name a half dozen great NHL teams in the past 50 years (2018-now Tampa Bay Lightning, 2010’s Chicago Blackhawks, late 1990’s Detroit Red Wings, 1980’s Edmonton Oilers, early 1980’s New York Islanders, 1970’s Montreal Canadiens), but I don’t believe any one of these teams went from being the statistical worst playoff team in their, respective, conference the year prior to being an all-time great squad.
Moreover, I know for a fact that there’s never been an all-time great team to have an all-time great single season in the midst of a perceived decline. All the teams I mentioned above were coming into the peak of their powers when they set single season records, but that’s not the case for this Bruins team.
In the past five regular seasons, the Bruins have finished 2nd in the Atlantic with 112 PTS (2017/18), 2nd in the Atlantic with 107 PTS (2018/19), 1st in the Atlantic and NHL with 100 PTS (2019/20), 3rd in the East (COVID Divisions) with 73 PTS (2020/21), and 4th in the Atlantic with 107 PTS (2021/22).
Clearly, with core players like Patrice Bergeron (37), Brad Marchand (34), David Krejci (36), Zdeno Chara (retired), and Tuukka Rask (retired) all either getting older or retiring in said span, such a decline in season standings would traditionally indicate that this team was heading down the scariest path in all of sports: the rebuilding road.
Yet, not for this team as with a couple of new additions in the offseason (ex: HC Jim Montgomery, Pavel Zacha, resigned Bergeron and Krejci), the Bruins have had the single-most impressive season since the Tampa Bay Lighting’s record-breaking 2018-19 season.
Then, with the additions of Tyler Bertuzzi, Garnet Hathaway, and Dmitry Orlov at the deadline, the Bruins haven’t looked back as they’ve gone on a 12-3 run in February and March thus far. It’s simply incredible how consistent, determined, tough, explosive, compact, and utterly ruthless this team has been as not only have they broken the fastest single season record of getting 50 wins, but they’ve yet to lose more than 2 games in a row in regulation.
In fact, they’ve only had one 3-game losing streak all year long (middle loss was in OT), despite the fact they’ve played 65 games. Such dominance is unheard of as not even the Tampa Bay Lighting of a few years ago were this good…and that was a team many thought the greatest single season roster of the 21st century (obviously, not a playoff one as they got bounced 4-0 in the First Round by Columbus).
We’ll have to wait and see how this Bruins team matches up against an extremely loaded Eastern Conference in the playoffs, but even if they play to just 85% of their capabilities come April, they’ll crush anyone before them.
This team is just that good.
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