BOSTON (AP) — The Boston Bruins tied an NHL record with their 62nd win of the season on Saturday night, getting two goals from Pavel Zacha in the first five minutes and holding on to beat the New Jersey Devils 2-1.
The Bruins have three games left to try to top the record for regular-season wins set by the 1995-96 Red Wings and matched by the 2018-19 Lightning. Boston faces Philadelphia on Sunday, Washington on Tuesday and Montreal on Thursday.
Linus Ullmark stopped 29 shots for Boston, which won its fifth straight and its 12th in 13 tries.
The Bruins are also on pace to surpass the NHL record of 132 points set by the 1976-77 Canadiens, who played an 80-game season and didn’t have the opportunity to accumulate points for overtime or shootout wins. Boston has already clinched its third Presidents’ Trophy since 2014.
Jesper Bratt scored and Mackenzie Blackwood made 38 saves for the Devils, who remain one point behind Carolina and two ahead of the Rangers in the race for the Metropolitan Division title. Jack Hughes assisted on the goal, giving him 96 points for the season to tie Patrik Eliáš′ franchise record.
The Devils picked up a penalty about a minute in when Ryan Graves got called for upending Brad Marchand in pursuit of a loose puck heading toward the net. Graves didn’t think much of the call, and tried to get to Marchand to let him know it, but was held back by the official.
A minute into the power play, Zacha tipped a shot from Hampus Lindholm into the net. With five minutes gone in the first, Zacha scored again, backhanding a rebound off Blackwood’s pads and into the net to make it 2-0.
The Devils cut it to 2-1 a minute later when a turnover left Bratt free all alone on Ullmark. They had another one-on-none with the goalie in the second period, but Ullmark stooped two swipes by Hughes and a rebound attempt by Yegor Sharangovich.
The Bruins killed a double-minor that straddled the break between the second and third periods.
Blackwood stopped David Pastrnak on a second-period breakaway.
UP NEXT
Devils: Host Buffalo on Tuesday night in their home finale.
Bruins: Face the Flyers on Sunday night in the penultimate road game of the season.
