Boston ended a spotless, historic and all-time regular season on a positive note, playing a full three periods of on-brand Bruins hockey against the Canadiens on Thursday night.
In Montreal, the B’s were undermanned, but that proved to be meaningless. As has been the case time and time again, it doesn’t matter who takes the ice in a Bruins uniform. The B’s are the most dangerous team in hockey, hence why they’re the NHL’s all-time most winningest in regular season play.
With records broken and accolades to throw around the locker room, the stakes weren’t exactly high during Boston’s 5-4 victory over the Canadiens, nevertheless, it was among the most thrilling of performances the Black and Gold have offered all year long — and that says a lot!
David Pastrnak, as one could imagine, netted a heroic game-winner in the third period to send Montreal packing for the draft lottery.
“It’s the 82nd game of the year, so it was a little loosey-goosey, to be honest,” Pastrnak said, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “Good we got the dub and honestly for our group, it’s been a long season and we work hard. … Now it’s over and the fun begins next week.”
Boston’s resilience and ongoing strive for greater heights in the final game of the season represented exactly how Jim Montgomery’s team has played from the very first puck drop on Oct. 12.
“I think the guys really embrace what we were trying to do, to try to create more offense,” Montgomery said, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “When you give players a lot of freedom — and they have a lot of freedom — we just ask that when we lose it, we try to get to puck back in five seconds.”
Now with a season to remember in the books, the Bruins will skate for glory, moving onto the Stanley Cup playoffs.
“Now the real fun begins,” Montgomery said.
Here are more notes from Thursday’s Bruins-Canadiens game:
— Boston finished the year with 31 road wins, tying the all-time NHL record initially set by the 2005-06 Detroit Red Wings.
— The B’s extended their single-season record for wins (65), ending the year on a five-game winning streak entering the postseason.
— Pastrnak finished the season with a career-best 61 goals, netting eight in the month of April. His third-period goal against the Canadiens marked Pastrnak’s 13th game-winner of the campaign.
— Goaltenders Linus Ullmark and Jeremey Swayman won the 2022-23 William M. Jennings Trophy after allowing an NHL-low 177 goals in the regular season.
— Bruins captain Patrice Bergeron was pulled early with an upper-body injury, a precautionary decision, according to the team.
— The Bruins will next face off against the Florida Panthers, who they went 2-1-1 against in their regular season series, in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Game 1 of the series is expected to be played Monday.
