This really is one of the greatest single-season teams of all-time. Despite being undermanned, the Boston Bruins overcame a relentless Flyers team 5-3 to break the all-time wins record with their 63rd win of the season.
What a remarkable season this has been.
Not only have the Bruins blown away every franchise record for points and wins, but they have just set a new all-time record for the most wins in a single season. And they did so without 5 star players!
Captain Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci, Taylor Hall, Charlie McAvoy, Linus Ullmark, and Dmitry Orlov all were held out of the lineup die to nagging injuries and/or rest, while Derek Forbert and Nick Foligno, who were both starters at the beginning of the season, were still out due to their long-term injuries. So, in reality, nearly a third of the Bruins starting lineup was out against the Flyers…and the Bruins still managed to burry five goals past the Flyers.
Sure, the Flyers aren’t a great team as they currently sit 7th in the Metropolitan Division on 71 PTS and are in prime position to be drafting within the Top-6 of the 2023 draft, but that doesn’t mean this team hasn’t stolen a few wins off really good opponents. Within the Flyers last 11 games, they’ve beaten two playoff teams in the Minnesota Wild (3rd in Central) and the Florida Panthers (4th in Atlantic), and they’ve gone 4-7 in that span.
Again, it’s definitely not a good record by any means, but it shows that the Flyers under HC John Tortorella just won’t get rolled over by the best in the league. And they certainly didn’t want to end up being a trivia question as they fought this depleted Bruins side tooth and nail from the first minute of the game to the last.
Each one of the Flyers three goals came within at least 6 minutes of the Bruins goal scored immediately before it until the final one, while the young Flyers offense, led by Joel Farabee, Owen Tippett, Travis Konecny, and Morgan Frost, looked really dangerous.
Obviously, the Flyers were facing off against the Bruins defensive backups (Connor Carrick, Jakup Zboril, Connor Clifton) and some AHL forwards (Jakub Lauko, Vinni Lettieri), but they still were able to overwhelm the Bruins at times and rack up over 37 shots on Jeremy Swayman’s net.
Along with garnering 20 hits and a fight (one which Nick Deslauriers easily won against A.J. Greer), the tough, gritty, and ruthless hockey John Tortorella teams are known for having has clearly rubbed off on this group as their tenacity was nearly enough to fend off a destiny-driven Bruins side. However, the key word in that sentence was nearly as a certain Czech megastar stole the show for the Bruins…once again.
Yes, the man who almost single-handedly won the Bruins their record-breaking 63rd win of the season had to be their record-breaking goal scorer: David Pastrňák.
In wake of Hall, Krejci, and Bergeron all missing out, Pastrňák took this Bruins team on his back and carried them to victory as he not only broke the Flyers resolve with 3 goals and 10 shots on net, but also added an assist to that tally on Pavel Zacha’s 5th and game clinching goal. Oh, and he also had a goal disallowed in the second period.
The Flyers defense just simply could not slow Pastrňák down, let alone stop him. Truly, I wouldn’t have been surprised if he scored six goals yesterdays as he was just that good.
Clearly, as he has been all season long, Pastrňák was utterly unstoppable as he netted his 58th, 59th, and 60th goals of the season, making him just the second player this year (Connor McDavid is obviously the other one) to reach the 60-goal threshold.
And, not only was that a career milestone with it being his 300th goal, but his and McDavid’s 60-goal seasons is the first time two players broke the 60-goal mark in one season since Jaromir Jagr (62) and Mario Lemieux (69), both teammates on the Penguins, did so in the 1995/96 season.
Oh, and for just one last historical milestone, Pastrňák is now just the second Bruins player ever in the franchise’s near 100-year history to reach 60 goals in a season with Phil Esposito being the other as he did it…4 times!
Needless to say, this has been a terrific year for everyone involved with the Bruins as they are now just one more win away from breaking the all-time points record set by the 1976/77 Montreal Canadiens.
Let’s see if the Bruins can rewrite history once again and become the undisputed greatest ever single-season regular season team in NHL history, and hopefully a Stanley Cup victory to go along with it.
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