Bruins Set NHL's All-Time Single-Season Points Record

BOSTON -The Bruins got right back into the record books on Tuesday night.
Just over 48 hours after securing the NHL's all-time wins record, Boston's historic season rolled on with a 5-2 victory over the Washington Capitals at TD Garden. With the win - their 64th of the season - the Black & Gold hit 133 points, surpassing the 1976-77 Montreal Canadiens (132) for the most in a single season in league history.

"I don't know if it means any different than what we've done all year," said coach Jim Montgomery. "It's nice to break the record for points. The Montreal team that we surpassed only played 80 games. I think [63] wins in 80 games is a little more significant, but it's a good year. I care more that we're playing the right way."
For Montgomery, who grew up in Montreal, the significance of the points record was put into perspective when he reflected on just how dominant the Canadiens teams of the 1970s were.
"When you phrase it like that, yeah. I grew up watching those teams play all the time," said Montgomery. "I remember the only tickets I could ever get was when they played the California Golden Seals or Washington Capitals and it was always 11-0, that's how dominant they were.
"I think of all the Hall of Famers on those teams and then Scotty [Bowman] behind the bench and going to the old Montreal Forum, thinking about how great those teams are/were and how we've surpassed that total.
"It's significant because those were dominant, dominant hockey teams."

Montgomery also revealed that he heard from both Bowman and his friend, Tampa Bay Lightning coach Jon Cooper, after Boston broke the NHL's all-time wins record on Sunday in Philadelphia. Bowman (1995-96 Detroit Red Wings) and Cooper (2018-19 Tampa Bay Lightning) were the coaches of the teams to hold the previous record of 62.
"We're in elite company," said Montgomery. "Jon Cooper called me [Monday] morning and Scotty and I texted Sunday. It's flattering when you have people like that…other coaches from around the league have texted me, too. It's flattering."
With just one regular-season game remaining on Thursday in Montreal, the Bruins have also become one of only 33 teams in league history with one or fewer streaks of consecutive regulation losses, per NHL Stats. Boston's only such stretch came March 12-14.
The Bruins are also just the 18th team in league history with two or fewer winless streaks (0-2-1 from Jan. 26-29 and 0-2-0 from March 12-14).
"It's something we're proud of," Brad Marchand said of Boston's record-setting campaign. "We did set our sights on it the last little while where we kinda locked up first. We needed something to play for the remainder of the regular season. It's a goal we wanted to accomplish. It's not our be all or end all. It's an incredible accomplishment. We're very proud of this group and what we've been able to accomplish.
"With the history of this league, how many good teams there's been, it's special. And it's something, I think, down the road we'll be more proud of. We're happy about it right now, don't get me wrong, but it's a regular-season record. Playoffs starts and everything starts over again. There's gonna be 16 teams that have the same goal in mind.
"What we've accomplished so far has no bearing on that. We're gonna park it. We have another big game here in a couple days and it's our last opportunity to get ready before playoffs…I think that's part of why we've been good this year - we park each day and we worry about the next one and just keep building.
"It's great to get it, it speaks a lot about our group. That we've been ready to play each and every night. We have something much bigger that we're building for.

Ullmark Makes History

There was also some individual history on Tuesday night as Linus Ullmark made 19 saves - before leaving the game in the third period due to injury - to register his 40th win of the season, tying Pete Peeters (1982-83) for the most in Bruins history.
The netminder also became the fastest goalie in history to achieve the feat, having done so in just his 49th game of the season. The previous record was held by Washington's Braden Holtby (52 games in 2015-16).
After the game, Montgomery said that Ullmark had some muscle tightness and left the game "just a precaution" and "he's gonna be fine."

Nosek Hits 100

After being stuck on 99 career points for the past five games, Tomas Nosek broke through with No. 100 when he picked up a loose puck high in the slot after a Washington turnover and ripped home a wrister to give the Bruins a 3-1 lead at 4:13 of the third.
"It felt pretty good," Nosek said of hitting the 100-point plateau. "It's not happening very often. So, try to enjoy the moment. Now it's behind me, and our focus is on next game and the big picture."
"Good for him," added Montgomery. "He's a great teammate, he's done so much good stuff behind the scenes and the little things that help build our team wins, it's nice to see him get rewarded. And 100 points, that's a good career for anybody in this league - maybe not Pasta, but most players."
Later in the period, Nosek added point No. 101 when he delivered a nifty saucer feed on a 2-on-1 to Garnet Hathaway, who finished if off to put Boston up, 4-2, at 7:49 of the final frame.
"We've been playing together since the beginning," Nosek said of the chemistry with his linemate. "I think it's been good. He's a hard guy. He goes hard on forecheck. You can easily read off him. It's been good so far."

A Helping of Pasta

With his first of two assists against the Capitals, David Pastrnak became just the second player in Bruins history with 60 goals and 50 assists in a single season (Phil Esposito, four times - last in 1974-75). The winger joined Edmonton's Connor McDavid (64-87-151) as the only players in the NHL this season to accomplish the feat. Per NHL Stats, the last season to feature two players hitting those marks was 1995-96: Mario Lemieux (69-92-161) and Jaromir Jagr (62-87-149).
It also marked Pastrnak's first career 50-assist season, making him the third Bruin in the last 10 years to hit that mark along with Brad Marchand (three times, last in 2019-20) and David Krejci (three times, last in 2018-19).
Pastrnak also picked up two points on the power play to give him 202 for his career and move past Cam Neely (200) into ninth place on the Bruins all-time.

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