In an era where goalies receive 'Star of the Game' honors for a couple dozen saves in a contest, looking back at Ron Tugnett's 70 saves against the Bruins in 1991 earns the utmost respect of even the most fanatical fan of today's high-octane offensive game.
Tugnutt's dominant performance sure sounds like one heck of a game, but is it enough to go down as NESN's Bruins Classics top game of all time? What about a Bruins legend popping 50 goals in just 44 games? With one knee and one hip? Such was the case for Cam Neely in March of 1994.
These two miraculous feats are squaring off in the latest round of NESN's Bruins Classics.
On March 21, 1991, Tugnutt stopped 70 of 73 shots to earn his a 3-3 tie against the Boston Bruins, the second highest number of saves made in a regular season NHL game. His performance in that game evoked such respect that after it was over, several Bruins skated over to congratulate Tugnutt.
Neely, one of the
Bruins' all-time greatest players joined the rest of the Bruins' all-time
greatest players when he notched his 49th and 50th goals of the season in one
game against Washington. He needed just 44 games to do so, joining Wayne
Gretzky and Mario Lemieux as the fastest players to
reach the 50-goal mark in a season. Neely was limited to just 49 games in
1993-94 because of a bad knee and a bad hip, but that didn't stop him from
making history.
