If the NHL isn’t able to stage playoffs this year due to the coronavirus, arguably no team would be affected more by the Boston Bruins as they had the most points in the NHL by a fair margin and would have had home-ice advantage throughout the postseason. Let’s take a closer look at their season along with NHL Odds and Stanley Cup Odds.
Boston Bruins 2020 NHL Season Analysis
Season Recap
Boston led the NHL with 100 points when the schedule was suspended and was up eight on second-place Tampa Bay in the Atlantic Division. The Bruins had an impressive 2-0 win at Philadelphia in their final game on March 10 – the Flyers entered on an NHL-high nine-game winning streak.
Matt Grzelcyk and Patrice Bergeron scored and the Bruins (44-14-12) became the first team with 100 points this season. It was Bergeron’s 31st goal of the year, and he was one goal away from tying his previous personal best, which he has reached in 2015-16 and 2018-19. Bergeron has 56 points through 61 appearances. Bergeron finished in the top five for two on-ice player categories in the NHLPA Player Poll. Bergeron finished second in voting for the Most Complete Player at 25.44%. Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby was first with 45.56% of the vote.
Tuukka Rask picked up his 50th career shutout on his 33rd birthday in that win over Philly and became the sixth active goalie with at least 50 shutouts. He has five this season. Boston had lost the first two meetings this year with Philly.
Rask, 34 isn’t sure what he wants to do once his current contract expires: I have one year left in the contract, so we’ll see if I even play. We’ll see. Always a possibility.” Rask said he wouldn’t play overseas if he doesn’t return to the NHL. Rask was on track for a Vezina Trophy-level season this year when things were put on pause due to the coronavirus outbreak and was leading the NHL with a 2.12 goals against average while ranking second in the league with a .929 save percentage.
Rask refuted earlier reports that he was mulling retirement after the 2020-21 season, telling reporters, “I’m sure we’re going to have good conversations with (Don Sweeney) after this season and go from there. But I’m only 34, so it’s not too old, might play another year or two and go from there. I don’t want to promise anything either way because you never know what’s going to happen.”
Boston’s David Pastrnak had a phenomenal and historic season. His 48 goals were the most by a Bruin since Cam Neely’s 50 goals in 1993-94. Pastrnak tallied four hat tricks in 2019-20, giving him eight for his career; he’s the youngest player in NHL history to have that many of them. In the Bruins’ 4-2 win over the Anaheim Ducks on Oct. 14, Pastrnak accounted for all four goals.
Pastrnak and Alex Ovechkin were tied for first in the league with 48 goals. The last time a Boston Bruin led the NHL goals was back in 1974-75 when Phil Esposito scored 61 times in 79 games. Twenty of Pastrnak’s 48 goals were scored on the power play, which makes him the youngest in franchise history to score 20 on the man-advantage.
Defenseman Charlie McAvoy went into the pause of the NHL season with five goals and 15 points in his previous 17 games. McAvoy had 32 points in 63 games during his rookie year in 2017-18. He tied that personal best this campaign, while posting a career-high 27 assists in 67 matches.
Boston Bruins odds to win Stanley Cup
Boston is a +500 favorite to win its seventh all-time Cup and first since 2011.
