Bruins Tie NHL Home Record, ‘Don’t Plan on Stopping’

If there’s one thing that the Boston Bruins have already established beyond of a shadow of a doubt this season, it’s that they are going to be a handful on home ice against anybody across the NHL.

The Boston Bruins tied the NHL record with their 11^th consecutive win at TD Garden to open this season when they outclassed the Chicago Blackhawks by a 6-1 score on Saturday night.

The Boston Bruins win once again at TD Garden.

They tie an NHL record with their 11th straight home win to start the season (Florida Panthers in 2021-22 and Chicago Blackhawks in 1963-64).

They are also the first NHL team to win 16 of their first 18 since the 1929-30 Bruins. pic.twitter.com/HybR4xR556

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) November 20, 2022

With the Bruins scheduled for a Florida swing through Tampa Bay and the Panthers in Ft. Lauderdale just prior to Thanksgiving, the Black and Gold will go into Turkey Day undefeated at home.

They’ll get a chance to defend that, of course, with the annual Black Friday matinee against a strong Carolina Hurricanes group that ended their playoff lives last season, set for Friday afternoon. A win there would give them the NHL record with 12 wins at home at the start of a season after matching the current record set by last season’s Florida Panthers and the 1963-64 Blackhawks.

“We don’t want to lose in this arena,” said Jeremy Swayman, who stopped 18-of-19 shots in his return from a lower body injury suffered a couple of weeks ago. “Boston fans are the best in the league, so we want to make sure that we’re winning at home and that we don’t plan on stopping anytime soon.”

The explanation behind it in its simplest terms is that the Boston Bruins are just that good, home or road. They’re top-5 in nearly every team statistical category, they have a player in the top-5 in scoring in David Pastrnak and they’ve got a goalie in Linus Ullmark that leads the NHL in goals against average (1.89) and save percentage (.937). The Bruins are the only team still averaging than four goals per game with a 4.11 goals per game average through their first 18 games of the season.

But there’s also something about the energy powering the Boston Bruins fans at the Garden right now that the B’s players have picked up on in a big way.

“I think good teams do that [play well at home],” said Trent Frederic a couple of weeks ago when asked about the roll that the B’s were on at the Garden. “It’s fun playing at TD. I feel like we’ve always got a packed crowd. It’s like a Saturday every night. It’s easy for us.”

Overall, the accolades just continue to pile in for a team that’s improved to 16-2-0 on the regular season, leads the league with 32 points and has a commanding league in the goal differential department with a plus-38 this season. Add the home ice dominance to everything else they have going on, and it’s clear the expectations have been raised significantly for a group that’s on to something special.

Just ask the NHL record books if you don’t believe this humble hockey writer.

“It’s nice to be part of the record books, said Boston Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery. “One thing we wanted to do was focus on staying in the present. Focus on the next shift, and I thought we did a great job of that tonight.”

The Boston Bruins aren’t any slouches on the road either as their 5-2-0 record would attest as they ready for the two-game road swing that’s going to test them in the Sunshine State.