The Boston Bruins could have history in their sight this week, as the team looks to break the record for most wins recorded in a regular season.

Currently, there is a two-way tie for the all-time record at 62 total wins. That is held by the 2018-19 Tampa Bay Lightning and 1995-96 Detroit Red Wings.

The Bruins can tie the record with two wins of any kind as early the end of the week, as it will play the New Jersey Devils and Toronto Maple Leafs.

Those are of course two playoff teams so that will not be an easy task.

But after that, the Bruins will have three more games to either tie it or break the record.

Now the question becomes, does this really matter if the Bruins don’t win the Stanley Cup? Of course, most fans and players will tell you that the only thing that matters is winning a championship.

Should the Bruins fail to win the Stanley Cup it would leave at best leave a bitter-sweet feeling.

Now let’s not disregard the Bruins level of dominance this season, as only three other teams have recorded 60-plus win seasons in NHL history.

But the only team to win the Stanley Cup was the Montreal Canadiens in 1976-77 when it went 60-8-12 in the regular season.

Another obstacle the Bruins have is the team that wins the President’s trophy, which is awarded to the NHL organization with the most points in the league during a single season, rarely goes on to win the Stanely Cup.

The winner of the President’s Trophy has only gone on to win it all in the same season just eight times in history.

The 2012-2013 Chicago Blackhawks were the last team to accomplish that.

A big reason why the top team does not win it all is the unpredictability of the sport.

For example, goaltenders can steal a game even when a team doesn’t play at its best.

The Florida Panthers were a victim of this last year when they were swept by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the second round.

Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy posted an insane .981 save percentage in four games.

So that’s always possible for the Bruins, which could very well run into the Lightning in the second round should it beat the Leafs.

But the best thing the Bruins could do is make sure the team is as close to full health as possible come playoff time.

Included on the team’s injured reserved list are wingers Taylor Hall and Nick Foligno.

Both Hall and Foligno are making progress and have returned to practice – but it’s unclear if both will be ready to play come the opening night of the playoffs.

Also, centers Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci are listed as day-to-day.

So instead of rushing them back and trying to set history, the Bruins would be wise to keep them all out of action until they are 100% healthy.

Again, a 60-win season is already impressive enough.

The Tampa Bay Lightning are champions of the NHL for a second straight year, defeating the Canadiens in five games. The momentous feat was recognized by analysts and personalities across Twitter, who acknowledged the incredible nature of this 2021 Stanley Cup victory.

Tampa Bay had won a staggering 62 games in 2018-19 before being swept by the Blue Jackets in the first round. Since then, the Lightning have effectively been untouchable in the playoffs. Pierre LeBrun, a staff member of The Athletic, highlighted this: “The 62-win Lightning of 2018-19 got swept by Columbus in the first round. Since then, Tampa Bay has won eight straight playoff series, never trailed in a series, never lost back-to-back playoff games en route to winning back-to-back Stanley Cup championships. That’s something.”

The Stanley Cup win could not have been accomplished without the stalwart effort in the cage by Andrei Vasilevskiy. Vasilevskiy won the Conn Smyth Trophy, only allowing eight goals through the five games against Montreal.

Many mused that Tampa purposely lost their fourth game in Montreal, so they could seal the Stanley Cup victory in Tampa Bay in the fifth matchup. Once this came true, Tampa Bay Mayor Jane Castor claimed she was the one who spurred this happening. “Now didn’t I tell you all that winning at home would feel great?!” she tweeted.

With the win, the Lightning are looking to become the first team since the 1980-1983 Islanders to win the Stanley Cup at least three straight times.

The Tampa Bay Lightning are 60 minutes of play away from hoisting a Stanley Cup above their heads, however, they will need to wait at least another game before doing so, as the Canadiens defeated them in overtime by a final line of 3-2.

Josh Anderson netted his second overtime goal of the playoffs, finishing off a rebound in front and keeping Montreal’s season alive. “We didn’t want to end it tonight in front of our fans. We expected to go to Tampa tomorrow,” Anderson said after the game.

Defensively, Carey Price continued his fantastic play in the net, turning aside 32 shots, good enough for a .941 save percentage. His foe in the opposite cage, Andrei Vasilevskiy, only managed to stop 18 shots, arguably his most mediocre performance this playoff run.

Tampa is 13-0 after losing, so Montreal will need to break what appears to be an unbreakable streak in Game 5 in order to keep the Stanley Cup out of the hands of the Lightning. Should Tampa win, they would become the second team in the salary-cap era to win back-to-back championships (the first being the Penguins in 2016 and 2017).

With the win, the Canadiens avoid being the first team since 1998 to be swept in the Stanley Cup Finals (that “honor” belongs to the Washington Capitals, defeated by Detroit in four straight games).

Game 5 was a welcomed correction for Montreal, who had been outscored 14-5 in the first three games of the series. Ironically, while Tampa has been nearly unstoppable in the 2021 playoffs, they are 0-4 in overtime. They are also 0-5 when ceding the first goal of the game.

“We have confidence in the power play. We had some good looks throughout the game, but at the end of the day you want to bear down and score one there, but it didn’t happen,” said Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman.

The Canadiens have overcome adversity in all three rounds of the playoffs thus far – if any team is going to do the impossible, leave it to Montreal. In fact, they are 8-1 when facing elimination on home ice in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Nonetheless, history is not on the side of the Canadiens. Only four teams have ever overcome a 3-0 deficit in the playoffs, the last time being in 2014.

Game 5 will be in Tampa on Wednesday.

The Lightning wanted to make a statement after losing a heartbreaker against the Islanders in Game 4 – and they did so with authority, notching a whopping 8-0 victory.

Steven Stamkos led the charge with two goals and one assist, while defensively Andrei Vasilevskiy turned in another standout performance with a shutout, turning aside 21 shots. Brayden Point extended his playoff goal streak to eight straight games, the second-longest such streak in NHL playoff history. Stamkos was complimentary of the aid he and his teammates received on the defensive side of the puck from their netminder. “He was outstanding, made some big saves early, settles us down, we get some goals and get some confidence,” Stamkos said.

Tampa Bay is now 13-0 after losing a game in the playoffs, an unmatched streak in the league. They reached their most recent win by putting up three goals in each of the first two periods, adding two more in the final frame. The last time the team lost two playoff games in a row was in 2019, coming in a sweep dealt out by the Blue Jackets.

New York will look to avoid elimination tonight after being outscored 10-0 in the past four periods of the series. They will have a home crowd to gain energy from, but they will need an equal level of skill if they hope to beat the red-hot Lightning.

Tampa Bay Lightning star Brayden Point continued his heroics from Game 2 of their playoff series against the New York Islanders, helping lead Tampa to a 2-1 series advantage in the Stanley Cup semifinals.

Point capitalized on a second-period opportunity to give his team a 2-1 lead in Game 3, and lights-out goalkeeping by Andrei Vasilevskiy locked down the victory. Vasilevskiy turned away 27 shots, good for a .964 save percentage.

Shockingly, the Islanders pulling their goaltender in the third period – with 1:48 left in the final frame – wasn’t enough to produce a shot on goal, and the Islanders went down in the series with a whimper.

The ability to stop the Islanders from worthwhile scoring opportunities was a consistent theme in the third game of the series between the two heavyweights. The staunch defense has been a key for the defending Stanley Cup winners, who are now 6-1 on the road in the 2021 playoffs.

The Islanders are keenly aware of the Lightning’s ability to sneak out wins.

Matt Martin, an Islanders winger, commented on Tampa Bay’s knack for winning. “They’re the defending Stanley Cup champions and they know what it takes to win,” he said. “They know what they have to do in their D zone.”

The initial flurry of Islander shots was turned aside by Vasilevskiy, which stunted New York’s offense for the rest of the night. The only goal the Islanders managed to sneak by Vasilevskiy was a lucky one, with a bouncing puck pushed through the goaltender’s legs after a sustained scrum in front of the net – a “garbage goal” that felt less predicated on skill and more on the uneven surface of the ice gifting New York a tie.

Point then went on to score in the final minute of the second frame of action, and lacking the luck that gave them their first goal, the Islanders remained scoreless the rest of the way. Point’s streak of consecutive games with a goal in the playoffs is reaching historic markers; should he score next game, he will be tied with Mario Lemieux, Pat LaFontaine, Joe Sakic and Claude Lemieux at seven, the most in the past 30 years.

The Islanders will look for a quicker start to their offense next game. the Lightning have lost this postseason the most when the opponent scores first (they are 0-3 in these instances). Conversely, they are 10-1 when scoring first.

The Islanders have fallen down 2-1 in their previous three playoff series, but have yet to play a team as good as the Lightning. Nonetheless, they will look to replicate their pattern of victory again.

Game 4 is Saturday night in New York. Game 5 will take place in Tampa on Monday.

The Tampa Bay Lightning closed out their series in spectacular fashion and are moving closer and closer to defending their title. Andrei Vasilevskiy, Brayden Point and Ross Colton starred in their 2-0 win over the Carolina Hurricanes. Vasilevskiy was especially crucial, as the goalie posted his third straight shutout in a series-clinching victory.

The game was an even fight until the second period when Point’s power-play goal put Tampa Bay up. Colton scored in the third period and that was all the cushion the defending champions needed. That was more than enough for Vasilevskiy, who finished with 29 saves and stumped the homesteading Hurricanes for the third time in as many series games at PNC Arena.

Point summed up nicely how the team was feeling. “We’ve got a lot of confidence in our group,” Point said. “I thought we had a pretty good regular season where we were kind of building to this… Yeah, it’s just a belief in our group. We’ve got four lines and all the D and great goaltending. So we just feel confident.”

The craziest thing about the game was that it could have been an even bigger blowout. The Lightning nearly added another goal when captain Steven Stamkos scored a buzzer-beater, but a review determined the puck didn’t cross the goal line in time.

The Hurricanes could seemingly never cease momentum or make the big play and their captain Jordan Staal recognized the outstanding play of Valsilevskiy. “He made some big saves, timely saves,” he said. “Good goaltenders do that. He did a good job of not letting us get some momentum and get the crowd into it.”

The next matchup the Lightning have will be with the New York Islanders, who come in after closing out their series against the Boston Bruins on Wednesday night. The Islanders have been the underdog in every series they’ve been in thus far and managed to surprise teams anyways, meaning this series will certainly be competitive and not a runaway for either side.

Heading into the Eastern Conference Finals, Andrei Vasilevskiy was still the backup goalkeeper for the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Lightning Falls 4-2 To Penguins In Game 3

Now, however, he’s moved into the starting position following an injury to Ben Bishop. Despite stopping an impressive 44 out of 48 shots, the Lightning suffered a 4-2 home loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 3 of the Conference Finals on Wednesday. The Penguins now lead the series 2-1.

In the past two games of this series, the 21-year-old Russian goalie has faced a total of 89 shots. His counterpart on the Penguins, 21-year-old Matt Murray, has faced 49 shots in the same span.

“He was unreal tonight,” the Lightning’s head coach Jon Cooper told reporters of Vasilevskiy’s performance. “What’s obviously upsetting is — what did we give up, 41 the other night? We were on the road, and they were desperate.”

“But  it’s extremely disappointing to give up 48 shots in your home building in a playoff game,” Cooper continued. “That’s unacceptable. So I just feel bad for the kid that he’s keeping us in there and we’re not finding a way to bail him out. The way things have gone these two games, it doesn’t matter who’s in net.”

Cooper also appeared optimistic Bishop could return in this series.

Phil Kessel and Carl Hagelin each had an assist and a goal for the Penguins. Hagelin opened scoring with 10 seconds left in the second period after Lightning forward Jonathan Drouin turned over the puck in the Penguins zone, and took the rebound of a wrist shot from Kessel that Vasilevskiy saved but ultimately couldn’t control. It was Hagelin’s fifth goal of the playoffs.

Kessel scored his seventh goal of the playoffs at 5:16 of the third period to give Pittsburgh a 2-0 lead. Nick Bonino won a puck battle against Tampa Bay forward Valtteri Filppula behind the net and passed it to Kessel, who beat Vasilevskiy high to the glove side from close range.

“They are a responsible line on both ends,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said of Hagelin, Bonino and Kessel. “[Bonino and Hagelin] obviously kill penalties and have great awareness defensively. I think [Kessel’s] game has come a long way away from the puck. …They are a line that we have a comfort level with.”

Sidney Crosby and Chris Kunitz also scored for Pittsburgh. Crosby netted a 4-on-3, one-timer power-play goal at 10:50 of the third after taking a pass from Evgeni Malkin at the right face-off dot, while Kunitz pushed the score to 4-1 with an unassisted goal at 13:12 of the third.

Tyler Johnson and Ondrej Palat scored for the Lightning, who have lost consecutive games for the first time in the postseason. Johnson scored with a backhander at 5:30 of the third period to make it 2-1, while Palat netted the final goal of the game, his fourth of the playoffs, with just 1:44 remaining.

Game 4 is set for Friday at Amalie Arena in Tampa Bay.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLsGuUWLk98

PHOTO: TAMPA, FL – MAY 18: Andrei Vasilevskiy #88 of the Tampa Bay Lightning looks on prior to Game Three of the Eastern Conference Final against the Pittsburgh Penguins during the 2016 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Amalie Arena on May 18, 2016 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Mike Carlson/Getty Images)