Bruins clinch division after 6th straight win
BOSTON — The Boston Bruins are winning so much that clinching their division didn’t merit any celebration. Captain Patrice Bergeron didn’t even realize it had happened.
Garnet Hathaway scored the tiebreaking goal late in the second period and the NHL-best Boston Bruins wrapped up first place in the Atlantic Division with their sixth straight victory, 2-1 over the Tampa Bay Lightning, on Saturday.
The win was the Bruins’ 56th and moves them one behind the club record set in 1970-71. It also keeps them on pace to set the NHL record for victories in a regular season with 10 games left. The Detroit Red Wings won 62 in 1995-96 and Tampa Bay matched it in their final regular-season game (at TD Garden in Boston) in 2018-19.
“I forgot because things were happening so quickly,” Bruins firstyear coach Jim Montgomery said when asked what he told his team about winning the division. “We didn’t actually talk about the Atlantic Division, but its a tremendous feat with 10 games left.”
Bergeron added a power-play goal for the Bruins and Linus Ullmark made 26 saves, raising his record to 36-5-1.
“Last game, you mean?” Bergeron said when asked about winning the division. Informed it had happened
Saturday, he said: “Oh really.”
Victor Hedman had a shorthanded score for the Lightning and Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 32 shots. Tampa Bay has lost four straight.
“I thought we played physical. I thought we played the way we want to play,” Hedman said. “That’s kind of the mindset
we went in with and talked (about) before the game. I’m proud of the guys the way we battled today.”
Hathaway, positioned in front of the net, batted the rebound of Matt Grzelcyk’s shot from the left point out of the air and into the net before Vasilevskiy could control it with 2:28 left in the period.