Jim Montgomery tries to put Bruins' success into perspective
BOSTON -- The Bruins won their second straight "scheduled loss" on Thursday night. That's just how this season has gone.
They were "scheduled losses" in the sense that one came on the back end of a back-to-back to cap off a four-game road swing out west. After going 3-0 in the first three games, after running themselves dog-tired chasing Connor McDavid around the night before, the Bruins could have let off the gas and taken an L vs. the Flames in Calgary. They did not.
But there was no rest for the weary, as the Bruins spent Wednesday flying home from Alberta before hosting the Sabres on Thursday night. Just like the Flames, the Sabres are battling for a wild card spot and desperately need points. They had flown in from Buffalo, not Alberta, after a homestand. The Sabres should have probably won. But they didn't.
They lost by six goals.
That's just the way this season has gone for the Bruins, who are now a ridiculous 48-8-5 on the year. That includes a 25-2-3 record on home ice, and it has them with 101 points in the standings, with 21 games still remaining in the regular season.
The gap between first and second place in standings points is the same as the gap between second and 15th place.
The gap from first place to second place in goal differential is the same as the gap between second place and 20th place.
It can be a lot to process, even for those who are deeply involved in the run. But head coach Jim Montgomery tried his best to do that after Thursday's 7-1 win over the Sabres.
"We've been saying it, we try and stay in the moment," Montgomery said. "And we've been doing that. I mean, we started off 11-1, and I was like, 'Man, that's unreal.' And then you catch yourself, you go back into the moment. And we've probably gone 11-1 every 12 games to have the record we have. It's been really amazing to watch them want to be great. Because with the schedule and everything, it's really impressive."
Montgomery's math is off, but only slightly. Which is the point.
The Bruins started the year 10-1-0, not 11-1-0. They followed that up with a 9-2-0 stretch, then an 8-2-2 stretch, then an 8-1-2 stretch. They're currently on a nine-game winning streak, which began almost immediately after the team lost consecutive games for the first time all season in late January.
From the outside, it's been difficult to properly comprehend. Surely, the Bruins were supposed to be good. But this good?
To Montgomery, it's a pretty simple formula.
"You can't do it unless you have two great goalies, you have a D corps that can shut people down and can help you score, and you've got four lines that can help you every night," the coach said.
This year's Bruins have certainly gotten all of that.
In net, they've gotten Vezina-caliber goaltending from their No. 2 since mid-December, as Jeremy Swayman has been almost as good for that stretch as Linus Ullmark has been all season. Considering Ullmark has been far and away the best goaltender in the league all year, that's a mighty useful one-two punch to have as the last line of defense. (Ullmark has a .939 save percentage and a 1.94 GAA since Dec. 15. Swayman has a .932 and a 1.98.)
As for the actual defense, Dmitry Orlov has fit in immediately, as the new addition now has eight points in four games since joining the Bruins. As a team, the Bruins allow 2.08 goals per game, a half-goal less than the next-best team (Carolina, 2.58).
Up front, the Bruins obviously have the top-end talent with David Pastrnak, Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci and Pavel Zacha, but in total, they have 10 forwards with at least 20 points. The secondary scoring, which has been elusive in recent years, has returned in a big way.
While the players have played and the coaches have coached, Montgomery shifted the credit up to the GM's box.
"I don't think Don Sweeney gets enough credit," Montgomery said. "Well I mean, you don't have a team that wins this consistently unless your general manager has built a great team. And he has. We've got drafted players, we've got traded players, and we have homegrown players that have been here for a long time that love being Bruins. It speaks volumes as to what he's built here."
That much has indeed made itself clear throughout the year. While the future may be a bit leveraged in terms of draft capital, Boston's GM has put every last resource into building a winner right now. The success or failure of that strategy won't be known until the spring. For now, everybody is just trying to get a grasp on what's happening.
You can email Michael Hurley or find him on Twitter @michaelFhurley.