The Bruins wrapped up their historic season Thursday night with a 5-4 win over the Canadiens at Bell Centre.
In a meaningless game for Boston and Montreal, the Bruins dressed their starters save for Linus Ullmark and the injured Nick Foligno and Derek Forbort. The win marked the 65th and final victory of the 2022-23 regular season that included several milestones.
Here are four takeaways from the win:
This season was one for the books
The Bruins now are the team to beat in the NHL. Their 65 wins and 135 points are a new league record and it’s probably a safe bet saying it will be a long, long time before we see another team accomplish what this year’s B’s did.
“There’s numerous statistical metrics you can look at that make the season special, but for me it’s how much those guys care about playing for each other. That’s what was special,” Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery told reporters after the game. “I think we appreciate what we’ve accomplished. The beauty of sports is you have to have a short memory because two days later, the next day, we’ve got to move on. Three days from now, we start from Game 1 and that’s all our focus is now.”
The Bruins quickly reflected on what they did as a team before shifting their focus to the Florida Panthers, who the B’s will face in Round 1 of the Stanley Cup playoffs beginning Monday.
Patrice Bergeron wanted to return to game
Bruins fans held their breath when Bergeron left the game and did not return. Their Twitter account did add it was a “precautionary” move, but with the captain being such an important part to the team and with the playoffs just days away, it was hard not to panic.
“(Bergeron’s) fine. He wanted to go back out. I said no,” Montgomery told reporters, adding he wasn’t sure when the upper-body injury occurred.
Being extra cautious with your players — especially in a game that had no impact on standings or playoff seeding — was the right move by Montgomery.
Defense a little sloppy
The Habs capitalized on some defensive miscues by Boston, but nothing was uglier than when Jeremy Swayman was caught out of his net gave Montreal a gift goal. Swayman came way out of his net to try to play the puck but missed and paid for it when Michael Pezzetta made it a 4-3 game thanks to a nice play from Rem Pitlick.
It was a sloppy win, one David Pastrnak — who scored his 61st goal of the season in the win — called “loosey-goosey.”
It was uncharacteristic of Swayman and maybe he thought he was about to make a great hockey play. He would have had he connected with the puck. At the end of the day, it didn’t make a difference in the game, but that’s certainly not a play you’d want to see if Swayman sees playoff time.
‘Now the real fun begins’
Now that 82 regular-season games are in the books and the Bruins took care of business all year, they start fresh with a 0-0-0 record as the Stanley Cup playoffs begin Monday at TD Garden.
“It was just a terrific regular season,” Montgomery told reporters on NESN’s postgame coverage. “We had goalies score goals, we have two D-men getting over 50 points, our penalty kill — No. 1 in the league. Our power play was like 10th. It’s exceptional but now the real fun begins. Where every game matters and it’s just an exciting time of year.”
The Panthers come to Boston for a best-of-seven series and have been an offensive threat over their last stretch of games in the regular season. The Bruins won the season series 2-1-1 and even though they hold the advantage, won’t take their opponent lightly.
“They’re a really good team, a dangerous team,” Montgomery told reporters. “We’re going to have to be at the top of our game if we want to have success. (Matthew) Tkachuk, excellent player. (Aleksander) Barkov’s a stud. That’s two players on the top of my mind right now. Besides that, they’re a really fast team that transitions well.”
Games 1 and 2 will be at TD Garden before the series shifts to FLA Live Arena.
