Bruins aware historic season won't guarantee Stanley Cup title

BOSTON -- When the Boston Bruins won their 63rd game this season, placing them atop the all-time list of teams with the most regular-season wins, they passed two other great regular-season teams: the 1995-96 Detroit Red Wings and the 2018-19 Tampa Bay Lightning, teams with something in common.

They didn't win the Stanley Cup.
It's a fate that the 2022-23 Bruins hope to avoid when the Stanley Cup Playoffs start Monday, with the Bruins playing the Florida Panthers in Game 1 of the best-of-7 Eastern Conference First Round at TD Garden (7:30 p.m., ET; ESPN, SNE, SNO, SNP, CBC, TVAS).
As great as their regular season was, as many records as they tied and broke, as many wins as they earned from October to April, for them, that all falls away now.
Now they face the burden of history.
And they may have to start it without center and captain Patrice Bergeron, one of a few Bruins players who are "under the weather" entering Game 1, according to coach Jim Montgomery.
"I think with what happened to us, I'm sure that comes up in Boston's locker room a ton," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "I would bring it up if I was their coach."
RELATED: [Complete Bruins vs. Panthers series coverage]
The Lightning had gone into the first round that season as heavy favorites against the Columbus Blue Jackets. But instead of heading into the next round, the Lightning were swept. Four games erased a 62-win season.
The Red Wings made it deeper into the playoffs, all the way to the Western Conference Final, but they lost in six games to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche.
"I think as a group collectively, we took the season so serious and were so focused on winning the Stanley Cup, which you wouldn't normally say is a bad thing," said forward Kirk Maltby, who was traded from the Edmonton Oilers to the Red Wings at the trade deadline that season and is now a pro scout with the team. "I think when we got into that series against a great Colorado team … I just think that everything just got ramped up even higher in terms of intensity and maybe we were gripping sticks a little too tight, not playing the way we had played all year round, all the way through the playoffs, and just couldn't overcome certain things during that series."
So the question is: Will the Bruins go the way of the Lightning and Red Wings, teams whose regular-season results didn't match their postseason flame-outs? Or will they be more like the 1976-77 Montreal Canadiens, another team whose record (for most points in a season, with 132) the Bruins vanquished (135), but a team that ended the season with the Stanley Cup?
Scotty Bowman, the legendary coach who was behind the bench for that Red Wings team and that Canadiens team, thinks the Bruins will go the way of the latter.
"Just don't let people talk to you about the regular season," Bowman said. "Once they play their final game, close the door. … There's only one trophy that means something."
That sentiment has been echoed by the Bruins.
"Some people may put emphasis on the Presidents' Trophy, but when you really break it down, it doesn't mean anything come playoff time," forward Brad Marchand said. "I think we have a lot of older guys with experience that understand that."

That doesn't mean they don't appreciate it, that they're not proud of what they accomplished.
"But we don't want to hang our hat on that either," Marchand said. "We want to stick with the process that has allowed us to be successful."
For Bowman, one of the biggest pieces is the confidence honed over a full season of greatness. But, as he cautioned, that can't veer into overconfidence.
It becomes quite the fine line.
"Unfortunately, when you miss in the playoffs, everybody thinks you're a failure," Bowman said. "It's like when you come in second, a lot of people say, well, second is the first loser. That's not fair, but that's the reality."
Bowman points out a stat he saw recently that amazed him, that the Bruins have held opponents to two goals or fewer in a whopping 52 games this season.
"When you do those kind of things …" Bowman said.
You win.
One benefit for the Bruins -- one thing they're counting on -- is the experience of their leaders, Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci and Marchand. Each was on the 2010-11 Bruins team that won the Stanley Cup. Seven other players on this season's team were on the 2019 team that lost in Game 7 of the Cup Final, knowing what it takes to get that far and the disappointment of not getting one final win.
"I think if you look at the two most recent teams, Tampa Bay and Detroit, the Detroit team had a couple of Cup winners on there, but our leaders have all gone far to Stanley Cup Finals or [three] that have won it all," Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said. "I think that gives us a little bit of an advantage, but nothing's guaranteed."
They have tried to drown out the noise that comes with the history, trying to stay in the moment, trying to be present and grateful and understand that they do not need to be doomed to repeat history.
But it's not easy, because the regular season the Bruins had brings expectations. And with that comes pressure.
"If they get it, they get it, that's great," Maltby said. "But don't forget it's a game. Even in the most strenuous of times, you've got to take a second to relax, refocus a little bit, don't grip the stick so tight. Just go out there and play the way you did all year that got you here."
That was Maltby's advice, knowing that his team got "a little caught up in the seriousness of it." His counsel was for the Bruins to make sure that, off the ice, they were able to relax, to have some fun.
"You can still stay focused," he said. "There's going to be enough pressure in the third period, up a goal, down a goal, tie game, whatever it is. There's going to be enough of that put on them during the course of the games, however many series they go.
"Whether it's in practice or the dressing room or just away in the hotel, just chill out. Go to the movies and relax. It's hard to shut your mind off it, but just try to relax and have some fun."
Fortunately, as Maltby pointed out, the Bruins have David Pastrnak on their team. And few players in the NHL have more fun than Pastrnak.
Of course, though the burden of history looms large for that record-breaking season, there's also this: The Red Wings went on to win the Stanley Cup in 1996-97 and in 1997-98. The Lightning won in 2019-20 and 2020-21.
"We snatched victory from the jaws of defeat 15 times that year," Cooper said. "And that rarely happens. … Just the perfect storm caught up with us in the playoffs. But I know you said, well, it didn't work out for you. We won 11 playoff series in a row after that."
NHL.com Columnist Nicholas J. Cotsonika and NHL.com Senior Writer Dan Rosen contributed to this report