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.
The Boston Bruins put the finishing touches on their historic 2022-23 regular season by setting the NHL record for points in a season with 135 following wins over the Washington Capitals and Montreal Canadiens last week. Now that they have the record for wins in a season well with 65, it’s time for the Black and Gold to turn the page and get ready for the Stanley Cup Playoffs and a first-round matchup with the Florida Panthers that begins Monday night (April 17) at the TD Garden.
Before the puck drops on the postseason, let’s get the final regular season Bruins’ 3 Up, 3 Down fired up.
Plus One: Swayman & Ullmark Win Jennings Trophy
In what should not come as a surprise to anyone, but goalies Jeremy Swayman and Linus Ullmark combined to win the William M. Jennings Trophy after allowing a league-low 177 goals. In reality, they combined to let up 176, with Keith Kinkaid allowing one in November in a win over the Buffalo Sabres.
Swayman finished the season with a 26-6-4 record with a 2.27 goals against average (GAA) and a .920 save percentage (SV%). He also had four shutouts and made 30 saves in a 5-4 victory over the Canadiens on April 13. We will address Ullmark’s stats a little further down.
Minus One: Bergeron Leaves Montreal Game After the First Period
When the Bruins took the ice to begin the second period against Montreal, they were minus one player, captain Patrice Bergeron. During the middle of the period, the team announced that he left the game with an upper-body injury in a meaningless game.
Related: Revisiting 5 Bruins’ Bold Player Predictions for 2022-23
Following the game, coach Jim Montgomery didn’t seem too concerned about it, and called it “precautionary” as to why he didn’t return. After practice on April 15, Montgomery said that Bergeron was given a maintenance day. If he does indeed play in Game 1 against Florida, the Bruins are lucky he didn’t get hurt any worse.
Plus Two: Ullmark Joins Elite Franchise Company
In a 5-2 win over the Capitals on April 11, Ullmark left the game midway through the third period with what Montgomery called muscle tightness and he was removed in a precautionary move. Swayman came in and finished out the win, but since Ullmark started the game, he was credited with the win and it was his 40th of the season, joining Pete Peeters in 1982-83 as the only goalies in franchise history to achieve that feat.
Ullmark had 19 saves before departing and finished the season with a 40-6-1 record in 49 games played with two shutouts. He had a very impressive 1.89 GAA and a .938 SV%. It appears like Bergeron, the Bruins dodged a serious injury with their top netminder.
Minus Two: Penalty Kill Streak Ended By Capitals
The Bruins penalty kill has been on an impressive run, even without the services of defenseman Derek Forbort who has been out since mid-March. After successfully killing 39 straight opportunities, Tom Wilson snapped the streak with a third-period goal for Washington. Going forward, any playoff success the Black and Gold have will rely heavily on the penalty kill.
Plus Three: Pavel Zacha Wins 7th Player Award
Before the puck dropped against the Capitals, the annual 7th Player Award, which is chosen by a fan vote online at NESN.com and presented to the Bruin who exceeded the expectations of the Bruins fans during the season. Several players were worthy of winning the award, but the fans chose the right player, Pavel Zacha.
Acquired last July from the New Jersey Devils for Erik Haula, Zacha set career highs in goals (21), assists (36), and points (57) in his first season in Boston playing mainly with David Krejci and David Pastrnak. In January, the Bruins locked up Zacha on a four-year, $19 million contract. He will be a fixture in the top six for the next four years for the Bruins.
Minus Three: Jake DeBrusk Tied Carrer-High for Goals
In the wild 5-4 win over Montreal on the road, Jake DeBrusk scored his 27th goal of the season, which tied his career-high which he reached in 2018-19. It’s too bad that he was not able to score one more goal as he started the season strong before getting injured in the Winter Classic against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Jan. 2.
He missed nearly six weeks, yet in 64 games he scored 27 goals and with his 23 assists, he set a new career-high in points with 50. If there was one player this season that was deserving of setting a crier-high in goals, it was DeBrusk, who has been very good since being moved up to the first line with Bergeron and Brad Marchand in February of 2022.
The wins and points are nice, but not something the Bruins played the 2022-23 regular season for. They played it to get a spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs with the opportunity to win 16 games and lift the trophy. If they don’t, then the regular season numbers and records will be on the back burner of remembering the season as a whole. The real work begins against the Panthers at the TD Garden.