Boston Coach Jim Montgomery says of his team: “Looking too far ahead, that creates anxiety. We believe in staying present and our process allows us to have success. We like to live in the moment. We’re not looking at June.” Charles Krupa/Associated Press
Eric Wagner needs a new hat.
The Lewiston native now lives in Philadelphia. He and his son, Nick, were among thousands of Boston fans who took over the Wells Fargo Center to see the Bruins make history Sunday night.
They arrived hoping to celebrate the Bruins’ historic 63rd win, the most in a single NHL season. They got to celebrate that, and a David Pastrnak hat trick that made him just the second player in Bruins history to score 60 goals in a season. Phil Esposito did it three times.
A flurry of hats rained down on the ice, an unexpected show of support for the road team. Wagner, and dozens of others, went home hatless.
Now the real work begins. The Bruins wrap up the regular season with two games before the Stanley Cup playoffs begin next week. Make no mistake, this season will be based on what happens then.
For weeks, sports radio hosts have been making it clear that regular-season history doesn’t mean anything in the Golden Age of Boston sports. Fans and critics are looking ahead to what this team does over the next two months.
The Bruins, on the other hand, are quite content to live in the present.
“Looking too far ahead, that creates anxiety,” said Bruins Coach Jim Montgomery. “We believe in staying present and our process allows us to have success. We like to live in the moment. We’re not looking at June. We’re looking at April 17.”
And to think, the Bruins were searching for a new coach just 10 months ago. General Manager Don Sweeney thought a new voice was needed to unlock this team’s potential. Montgomery, who won a national championship as a player with the UMaine Black Bears 30 years ago this month, has been that voice.
The hiring of Montgomery was Step 1. The second step was bringing back core players like Patrice Bergeron, who was contemplating his future last summer, and David Krejci, who spent last year with his hometown Czech team playing before family.
Step 3 was adding help along the way. Sweeney did that beautifully, bringing in Dmitry Orlov and Garnet Hathaway from Washington and Tyler Bertuzzi from Detroit. Orlov has fit in perfectly on the blue line and gives the Bruins much more depth on defense. Hathaway and Bertuzzi are grinders, the kind of players who wear a team down over the course of a long playoff series.
How tough are they? Known agitator Brad Marchand joked about his enemies becoming foes on a recent edition of “Behind the B” on NESN.
“I don’t have anyone I dislike now!” Marchand said to Hathaway as the two worked out in the Bruins’ gym. “All the guys I hate are now on the team!”
He loves those guys now. And he loves this team’s chances. He told me last week this is one of the tightest-knit groups he has ever been a part of, and that closeness is a key ingredient in the Bruins’ success.
There’s no denying that success. The 2022-23 Bruins will forever be known as the first NHL team to win 63 games in a season.
It has left Bruins fans looking forward to 16 more wins. And a few of them in the Philadelphia area looking for new hats.
Tom Caron is a studio host for the Red Sox broadcast on NESN. His column appears in the Portland Press Herald on Tuesdays.
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