Welcome to the latest edition of the Boston Bruins’ 3 Up, 3 Down for the 2022-23 season. This will be a weekly column released on Mondays chronicling the highs and lows of the previous seven days.
It was another record-breaking week for the Boston Bruins. Despite going through some stretches of bad hockey against two opponents that will miss the postseason, the Bruins were able to rebound and win a regular-season trophy, set a franchise record, and they continue to pile up the points in the standings.
As the 2022-23 regular season enters the final stretch, let’s fire up the latest Bruins’ 3 Up, 3 Down.
Plus One: Bruins Set Franchise Record for Wins in a Season
Not only did the Bruins clinch the Presidents’ Trophy in their 2-1 overtime win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on March 30, but they also set a franchise record for wins in a regular season with 58 when David Pastrnak scored in overtime. They tied the record on March 26 in a 4-3 shootout victory over the Carolina Hurricanes. They currently sit at 60 victories after their 4-3 shootout win over the St. Louis Blues on April 2.
When the 2022-23 season started with Boston missing two of their top-four defensemen and their first-line left wing, not many people outside of the locker room on Causeway Street saw them setting a franchise record for victories in a single season. With the Presidents’ Trophy also comes home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs, for however long they stay in them. Game 7 on home ice in any series is big, just look back to Game 7 in Carolina last May.
Minus One: Bruins Playing Down to Opponent’s Level
Yes, they were coming off of two very emotional wins over the Tampa Bay Lightning and Hurricanes just over 24 hours apart, but last week, the Black and Gold played down to their opponent’s level and it cost them in one game, but they barely survived the other one. In a less than stellar performance against the Nashville Predators on March 28 in a 2-1 loss, Brad Marchand called out his teammates for “disrespecting the game’’ with their effort.
“This is probably the toughest schedule I’ve ever seen or been part of, but we obviously took them lightly,” said Marchand. “We seem to get up for the games that – the teams we could potentially face down the road, and I think we just were a little disrespectful of the game tonight against this team.”
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You would have expected a better bounce-back performance two nights later against the Blue Jackets, who are at the bottom of the standings, but they didn’t do it but still were able to get the overtime win thanks to Pastrnak. With nothing to play for now over the final two weeks, but come playoff time, the Bruins need to nix that trend.
Plus Two: David Pastrnak Reaches 100 Points
It was only a matter of time, but Pastrnak reached the 100-point plateau for the season against the Pittsburgh Penguins in a 4-3 win on April 1. He tipped a Dmitry Orlov backhander from the point past Tristan Jarry to give the Black and Gold a 2-1 lead, which was not only his 54th goal of the season, but it was his 100th point of the season.
He was not done against Pittsburgh as he finished with two more goals for his 14 career hat trick and now has 56 goals on the season. A 60-goal season is not out of the question, but you have to think that like most of his veteran teammates, there might be some rest in his future over the final 10 days of the regular season.
Minus Two: Patrice Bergeron’s Nagging Injuries
Patrice Bergeron did not join the Bruins for their two-game weekend trip as he stayed behind in Boston resting some nagging lower and upper-body injuries according to Jim Montgomery. After the two hits he took in seven days, it’s best to rest the captain ahead of the playoffs to make sure he’s as healthy as he can be for the postseason.
Against the Montreal Canadiens on March 23, he took a heavy hit from Rem Pitlick, then against the Blue Jackets, he took a cross-check to the face from Lane Pederson, who pushed Bergeron’s stick into his face, which caused a cut. He was able to return to the game, but those are two, too many close calls for the Bruins’ top center.
Plus Three: Tyler Bertuzzi
Since being acquired from the Detroit Red Wings on March 2, it has taken Tyler Bertuzzi some time to adjust to the Bruins, but now that he has been with the club for a month, he’s starting to make an impact, which includes a three-game point streak last week and all the points were on the power play.
He scored a power-play goal against the Blue Jackets, then picked up an assist on Charlie McAvoy’s first-period power-play goal in Pittsburgh, before scoring his second man-advantage goal in the win over the Blues. As the Bruins rest bodies, Bertuzzi has been moved around the lineup and is getting more and more comfortable with the Black and Gold.
Minus Three: Bruins Taking Too Many Penalties
The Bruins have the top penalty-killing unit in the NHL, but last week, they gave their unit too many penalties to kill. In four games, they were whistled for 20 minor penalties and killed them all, but that is way too many penalties to be taking late in the season. Without Derek Forbort, that is putting a lot of extra minutes on McAvoy, Hampus Lindholm, Orlov, and Brandon Carlo, something you don’t want to be doing with the playoffs just two weeks away.
After the win in St. Louis, the Bruins get a three-day break and won’t return to game action until Thursday (April 6) when they host the Toronto Maple Leafs at TD Garden, followed two nights later by the New Jersey Devils. After those two big challenges, it will be all about getting some rest and remaining as healthy as possible before the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
