The month of March was supposed to be difficult, or at least so it seemed. When the NHL schedule for the 2013-14 season was released, March immediately stood out for the Black and Gold. A jam-packed 17-game slate loomed, no doubt the most difficult test of the season.
The Bruins have played their final game of March, and they’re probably going to be a little sad to see the calendar flip. Boston played its 17th game of the month on Sunday and earned a 4-3 shootout win over the Philadelphia Flyers. With the win, the B’s finished the month with a ridiculous 15-1-1 record, which was helped along by an NHL-best 12-game winning streak.
Here’s a closer look at how dominant the B’s were this month.
- The Bruins’ 12-game winning streak came to an end last week against Montreal, but the B’s were able to gain at least a point 16 of 17 games in March. The only game they didn’t register a point was March 1 against Washington.
- The B’s now have a franchise-record nine-game road winning streak after gaining both points on Sunday in Philly. All nine of those wins came in March. The Bruins haven’t lost in regulation since Jan. 9 in Los Angeles, a stretch that now spans 16 road games.
- On Feb. 28, the Bruins held a six-point lead in the Atlantic division and trailed the Pittsburgh Penguins for the Eastern Conference’s No. 1 seed by five points. The B’s now hold a 17-point lead in the Atlantic (despite the fact that Montreal and Tampa Bay have combined to go 15-2-3 in their last 20 games). Boston also jumped over Pittsburgh for the No. 1 seed in the East and now hold an 11-point lead in the East.
- The Bruins were a plus-28 for the month and now have an NHL-best plus-83 goal differential for the season. That’s nine better than the league’s second-place team (St. Louis) and 31 better than the third-place team (Chicago).
- Jarome Iginla scored 13 goals in 17 games and was a plus-12 for the month.
- Patrice Bergeron scored Sunday and extended his goal-scoring streak to seven games, the first such streak in Bruins history since the 1985-86 season. Bergeron finished the month with 11 goals.
- The Bruins now occupy the top three spots in plus-minus (David Krejci, Bergeron, Iginla), five of the top eight (Brad Marchand, Johnny Boychuk) and six of the top 12 (Milan Lucic).
- The B’s have done all of this with just one player in the top 30 in points (Krejci, 26th).
- The Bruins allowed just 27 goals for the month. Tuukka Rask went 9-1-1 with a .943 save percentage, while Chad Johnson went 6-0-0 with a .951 save percentage.
