Earlier this evening, the Bruins defeated - ironically - the storied Montreal Canadiens to achieve a historically dominant regular season with a win. The Boston Bruins were simply astonishing throughout this 2022 - 23 season. In the entire history of the NHL - we're talking over 100 years - no team has ever enjoyed the level of consistent success as these Boston Bruins have managed to achieve.
"We have a very special group. It's incredible how we've come together this year," Bruins veteran winger Brad Marchand said. "We've done a phenomenal job all year of staying in the moment. We're proud of the group, but this is a regular-season record. That's not what we're playing for. We have our sights set on much bigger goals."
After an 82 game regular season, the Bruins finished with 65 wins, 5 ties, and 12 losses. That means that Boston managed to set new records both for most wins (65) by any NHL team during a regular season, as well as most overall points (135). That passes the previous record of 132 points set by the 1976-77 Montreal Canadiens.
There have been other single season teams that enjoyed similar levels of regular season success. The already mentioned 1976-77 Montreal Canadiens have been the standard of greatness for a long time now and have widely been considered the greatest team in NHL history, with their incredible season (60 wins, 12 ties, 8 losses), and culminating in a Stanley Cup championship. There have been a couple of others, however. In particular, these would be the 1995-96 Detroit Red Wings (62 wins, 7 ties and 13 losses), who exited the playoffs after losing the Western Conference Finals to the Colorado Avalanche, 4 games to 2. Also, there were the 2018-19 Tampa Bay Lightning (62 wins, 4 ties, 16 losses), who wound up shockingly getting swept in the first round of the playoffs that season by the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Of those four, it seems clear to me that the 1976 - 77 Canadiens still enjoyed the most successful season, at least so far. After all, they played two less games than those other teams, and there is a decent chance that they would either still have the regular season points record, or would now share it with these Bruins. And again, they ended that season by hoisting the Stanley Cup, which is the best of all possible results. Of course, all of this hinges on what the Boston Bruins manage to do, and how far they managed to go, this postseason. If they hoist the Stanley Cup, particularly if they do so in dominant fashion, then they might have a chance of replacing the Canadiens and being crowned the greatest team ever. If, on the other hand, they fail to win it all, then they likely will be remembered more like the 1996 Red Wings or the 2019 Lightning. Or, if they make it all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals and somehow lose in a close series, they likely will be remembered in a similar vein to the 2016 Golden State Warriors or the 2007 New England Patriots.
Should be interesting to see what happens.
Bruins defeat Capitals, set another NHL record with 133 points by Greg Wyshynski of ESPN, April 11, 2023:
https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/36164424/bruins-defeat-capitals-set-another-nhl-record-133-points
Bruins surge past Canadiens to wrap record-setting 65-win season By Field Level Media, Published April 13, 2023:
https://deadspin.com/bruins-surge-past-canadiens-to-wrap-record-setting-65-w-1850335525
No comments:
Post a Comment