Talking Points: Bruins Break NHL Points Record In Style

BOSTON – Here are the Talking Points from the Boston Bruins 5-2 win over the Washington Capitals at TD Garden on Tuesday night.

GOLD STAR: Tomas Nosek has been an unheralded guy for much of the season as he’s gone about his job as a fourth line center. But he was front and center in the third period of a game that the Boston Bruins wanted to win to get the NHL-record for points while pushing past a record set by the dynastic Montreal Canadiens teams of the 1970’s. It was Nosek that scored the game-winner in the third period when he uncorked a sniper shot under the bar after a puck bounced to him as he was entering the offensive zone with a head of steam. Then Nosek added to it with an insurance score when he flipped a saucer pass to Garnet Hathaway burying one on a perfect finish at the net for Boston’s fourth and final goal.

BLACK EYE: For the Boston Bruins, it would be any unfortunate injury to Linus Ullmark after he exited the game in the third period and never came back to the bench after appearing to tweak something in his lower body earlier in the period. Ullmark was solid between the pipes having made 23 saves in the game prior to his departure when he made way for Jeremy Swayman to finish things up in the third period. The Boston Bruins have to hope it’s just something precautionary with Ullmark even as they have full confidence in Swayman if something is indeed wrong with their No. 1 goalie.

TURNING POINT: After registering 12 shots on net in each of the first two periods, the Boston Bruins poured it on in the third with the Capitals hanging around in a one-goal game. The all-out attack from Pavel Zacha and David Pastrnak was so furious that it ended up knocking Charlie Lindgren out of the game when the Capitals goalie had to contort himself into a pretzel to stop a succession of shots. But that didn’t stop the Bruins as they scored a pair of goals – one on Lindgren and one on backup Darcy Kuemper – in the final period to pull away from Washington and secure their historic win.

HONORABLE MENTION: Brad Marchand got the Boston Bruins going early with a one-timer power play goal after a slick pass from David Pastrnak as he drew the entire Capitals PK toward him moving through the middle of the ice. His goal snapped a 16-game goal-scoring drought and allowed the Bruins power play unit to tally a couple of goals in the final regular season tune-up for a lot of Boston’s top players prior to getting ready for the Stanley Cup playoffs. Marchand finished with a goal and three points while assisting on Boston’s empty netter for Jake DeBrusk in the closing minutes of the third period as well.

BY THE NUMBERS: 133 – the number of points for the Boston Bruins after the win that gives them the most points by a team during a regular season in NHL history while surpassing a Montreal Canadiens record from the 1970s.

QUOTE TO NOTE: “We Want The Cup!” –Boston Bruins fans in the third period after the B’s began pulling away from the Washington Capitals in a game that the Caps really didn’t have a lot to play for.