Bruins
The best Bruins teams from the regular season don’t always achieve postseason success.
As a franchise, the Boston Bruins have completed 98 seasons, appeared in the playoffs 75 times, and hold six Stanley Cup titles. This Bruins season, though, is one of the best ever in terms of regular season success.
As of Wednesday, the Bruins are far and away the points leaders in the NHL, and they’re on an historic pace. This season is just the second in which Boston has had a points percentage (points divided by maximum points) over .800, and the 12th time that figure was over .700.
How successful those other teams were in the postseason is an entirely different matter. The Bruins have made the Stanley Cup Finals five of the 11 times they had a points percentage of over .700 (not counting this year), but there are also a number of flameouts in that same group.
To see how the 10 best regular season Bruins teams fared in the postseason, and how the 2022-23 Bruins match up, we have ordered them below based on points percentage. Each team will also have its top two point scorers, playoff finish, and extra notes listed.
1929-30 – .875 points percentage
Record: 38-5-1
Top scorers: Cooney Weiland – 73 points; Dit Clapper – 61 points
Playoff finish: Lost to the Canadiens in the Stanley Cup Final
Notable: The Bruins made it to back-to-back Stanley Cup Finals for the first time in franchise history this season after winning it all the year before. Boston dominated the 10-team league, leading in both goals scored and goals allowed. Weiland and defenseman Lionel Hitchman each finished in the top three for the Hart Trophy but lost to Montreal’s Nels Stewart, who had 55 points.
2022-23 – .825 points percentage
Record so far: 47-8-5
Top scorers so far: David Pastrnak – 80 points; Brad Marchand – 53 points
Playoff finish: TBD
Notables: So far this year the Bruins have allowed a league-best 129 goals in 60 games while scoring the second-most goals in the NHL. Linus Ullmark leads the league in save percentage (.938), GAA (1.88) and wins (31) while playing just 38 games. When it comes to goal scoring, Pastrnak is on pace for the best season of his career, and Boston has seven different skaters with at least 40 points thus far.
1970-71 – .776 points percentage
Record: 57-14-7
Top scorers: Phil Esposito – 152 points; Bobby Orr – 139 points
Playoff finish: Lost to the Canadiens in the second round
Notable: In the franchise’s first ever 78-game season, the 1971-72 Bruins set a team record for most points in a single season at 121. The team disappointed in the postseason however, despite having the best record in the NHL and winning the Stanley Cup the year prior. Boston was eliminated by Montreal after seven games. It was the 13th time the Bruins were eliminated by the Canadiens in the playoffs.
1938-39 – .771 points percentage
Record: 36-10-2
Top scorers: Bill Cowley – 42 points; Roy Conacher – 37 points
Playoff finish: Won the Stanley Cup Final against the Maple Leafs
Notable: Boston won its second ever Stanley Cup in 1938-39, 10 years after its first title. Backed by 10 future Hall of Fame inductees, the Bruins once again led the NHL in offense and defense during the regular season and dispatched the Maple Leafs in four games. The 1938-39 season was also the last for Weiland, who won two Stanley Cups with Boston and served as the team’s captain for his final two seasons.
1971-72 – .763 points percentage
Record: 54-13-11
Top scorers: Phil Esposito – 133 points; Bobby Orr – 117 points
Playoff finish: Won the Stanley Cup Final against the Rangers
Notable: Orr captured his third straight Hart Trophy this season and the last of his career at just 23 years old. Orr also grabbed the second and final Smythe Trophy of his career and the fifth of his eight straight Norris’s. Goalie Gerry Cheevers had perhaps the best year of his career for this championship winning Bruins team. Cheevers posted career bests in GAA (2.50) and save percentage (.920).
1973-74 – .724 points percentage
Record: 52-17-9
Top scorers: Phil Esposito – 145 points, Bobby Orr – 122 points
Playoff finish: Lost to the Flyers in the Stanley Cup Final
Notable: Esposito was voted to his seventh All-Star game for his efforts this season and also took home three major awards in the Hart, Lindsay, and Ross trophies. In the playoffs the Bruins were led by second-year center Gregg Sheppard, who scored 19 points across his 16 games and had the team’s best plus/minus in the final series at +3. The rest of the offense struggled against the Flyers however, mustering just 13 goals as a team in six games.
2019-20 – .714 points percentage
Record: 44-14-12
Top scorers: David Pastrnak – 95 points; Brad Marchand – 87 points
Playoff finish: Lost to the Lightning in the second round
Notable: The Bruins rode their league-best defense to first place in the NHL, allowing just 174 goals in the shortened COVID season. This was also the last season that 14-year captain Zdeno Chara played for Boston. On the offensive side, the Bruins were led by 23-year-old David Pastrnak who was selected to his first All-Star game and led the NHL in goals scored with 48.
2013-14 – .713 points percentage
Record: 54-19-9
Top scorers: David Krejci – 69 points; Patrice Bergeron – 62 points
Playoff finish: Lost to the Canadiens in the second round
Notable: The 2013-14 Bruins season was the only one that Hall of Famer Jarome Ignila spent with the team but he did not disappoint, finishing third on the team in points with 61. This year was also one of the best of Davis Krejci’s career as he led the league in plus/minus at 39. In net, Tuukka Rask earned his only career Vezina Trophy, allowing just 2.04 goals per game on a .930 save percentage.
2008-09 – .707 points percentage
Record: 53-19-10
Top scorers: Marc Savard – 88 points; David Krejci – 73 points
Playoff finish: Lost to the Hurricanes in the second round
Notable: In 2008-09 the Bruins had their best regular season since 1971-72, leading the Eastern Conference with 116 points with the NHL’s top defense and second-best offense. This year was a breakout for Krejci, who played all 82 games and posted a career-high 73 points after earning 27 points in 62 games over his first two years. In goal was Tim Thomas, who won his first of two Vezina trophies and the only Jennings Trophy of his career.
1977-78 – 70.6 points percentage
Record: 51-18-11
Top scorers: Terry O’Reilly – 90 points; Jean Ratelle – 84 points
Playoff finish: Lost to the Canadiens in the Stanley Cup Final after losing just one game in the previous two rounds.
Notable: Led by a pair of lifelong Bruins in Terry O’Reilly and Wayne Cashman, this Bruins team was the fourth of five in a row to have at least 100 points in a season. Boston also had four future Hall of Famers on this squad in Ratelle, Brad Park, John Bucyk, and Gerry Cheevers. 1977-78 was the last for Bucyk, who played 21 of his 23 NHL seasons for the Bruins, earning two Lady Byng trophies and two Stanley Cup titles.
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(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
