The Boston Bruins have set a new NHL record, and are about to have an amazing playoff series. They earned the most points (135) and wins (65) in league history, and that’s why they’ve won the Presidents’ Trophy. The competition they’re playing against? The Florida Panthers, who will face-off with them at TD Garden on Monday night. It isn’t just one game – it’ll be a best-of-seven series!
Boston’s coach, Jim Montgomery said that last year the Florida team were in their shoes as Champions. He added that the record of this team is among the top six teams since All-Star break.
Both teams are doing great recently. The Bruins won within 8 games and 15 out of 16 games, while Florida achieved 6 successful wins plus two losses to get into playoffs.
Boston has a chance to win the Stanley Cup, which is a special big victory. It hasn’t happened since the Chicago Blackhawks won in 2013! When they did, they went around TD Garden showing it off after defeating Boston in Game 6.
Montgomery said that it’s been an amazing season and they know they have to work hard to win, but they’re looking forward to it.
The Panthers know what it is like to be at the top of the standings going into the playoffs. Last year, they made it through one round for the first time since 1996 before losing their next series againt Tampa Bay.
“We have such a huge challenge ahead of us, but it’s so exciting!” Florida coach Paul Maurice said. “It’s where you want to be when playing in professional sports – you want to play in big games!”
The Panthers learned something from last year–opponents are extra motivated when the team is number one. Matthew Tkachuk, a forward for the Panthers, said that “we have a chance to do something really EPIC here…but it will take lots of effort and hard work”.
This year’s Stanley Cup series will be special because it’ll be the first one between the team with the most wins and a special winner from last season.
When asked about records, Boston’s goalie, Linus Ullamark, said the most important thing is winning the Stanley Cup. He had an impressive season too; he was the leader in wins (40), goals against average (1.89) and save percentage (.938).
He said, “Records can be beaten, but once you earn it, its yours forever.”
Boston won the last title in 2011.
Boston Bruins forward Brad Marchand had to stop playing during Saturday’s practice session due to some soreness. Captain Patrice Bergeron got a break from practice because of an injured upper body.Another player, Ullmark, already had a soreness in his earlier game but returned back to practice this time. Lastly, David Krejci who missed the the last six games is also back at practice now.
Sergei Bobrovsky, a goalie for the Panthers who has won two awards (Vezina Trophy) already, had to take time off since late March because he wasn’t feeling great. His replacement Alex Lyon has performed really well while Bobrovsky is away.
The Panthers have beaten one of the strongest teams this year – The Bruins – twice and Ottawa (non-playoff team) was the other one. When Coach Montgomery was talking about their game against each other he said they were great opponents because every game was close!
The Bruins team had the best penalty-killing unit in the whole league. Their score (87.28%) was 3% higher than Carolina who followed the second place.
Boston team did not enjoy their success for long. They celebrated only for five minutes and continued to work towards reaching a greater goal. Jeremy Swayman, the goalie said that they understand they have a bigger task ahead of them.
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