Fred Kfoury III/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
The Boston Bruins have made history.
The team broke the NHL’s all-time single-season points record with Tuesday’s 5-2 win vs. the Washington Capitals.
The Bruins now sit on 133 points for the season, surpassing the Montreal Canadiens from the 1976-77 campaign (132 points). Coming into Tuesday night the Bruins were tied with the 1995-96 Detroit Red Wings (131 points) in second place.
Passing the rival Canadiens for the record will be particularly sweet in Boston.
The Bruins had already set the all-time record for wins in a season with 63 on Sunday, topping the 2018-19 Tampa Bay Lightning (62). Tuesday night was win No. 64.
It wasn’t much of a surprise that the Bruins set the record at home—they went a ridiculous 34-4-3 at the TD Garden this season.
Oh, and Boston still has one more game left in the regular season. That will come on the road against the Canadiens. Setting the record in Montreal would have been sweet, but heading to the Bell Centre to close the season with the record already locked away will definitely suffice.
It was a season full of impressive marks for these Bruins:
NHL Public Relations @PR_NHL
David Pastrnak (60-51—111) reached the 50-assist mark and became the second player in @NHLBruins history with 60 goals and 50 helpers in a single season, joining Phil Esposito (4x; last: 1974-75).#NHLStats: https://t.co/prGWPonxDu pic.twitter.com/7xxFZ9DXNn
Of course, it all will be fairly bittersweet if the Bruins don’t top it off with a Stanley Cup title. Just ask the 2015–16 Golden State Warriors, who set the single-season NBA record for wins, going 73-9, only to lose to LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals.
Or how about the 2007 New England Patriots, who became the first team in NFL history to go 16-0 in the regular season, only to lose to Eli Manning’s New York Giants in the Super Bowl? (The 1972 Miami Dolphins are the only team in NFL history to finish with a perfect record, going 14-0 in the regular season and 3-0 in the playoffs).
And in baseball, two teams reached 116 regular-season wins: The 1906 Chicago Cubs (116-36) and the 2001 Seattle Mariners (1116-46). The Cubs lost in the World Series; the Mariners lost in the American League Championship Series.
So, no, history is not on the Bruins’ side.
