The ‘Great One’ Wayne Gretzky is not going to be happy if the Boston Bruins don’t cap off their historic season with their seventh Stanley Cup in team history.
After the Bruins earned another gritty win on the tail end of a back-to-back set on the road with a 4-3 shootout win over the St. Louis Blues on Sunday, Gretzky was singing their praises. The Bruins now hold the franchise record with wins in a regular season with 60 victories and are two shy of the NHL record of 62 wins held by the 2001-02 Detroit Red Wings and the 2018-19 Tampa Bay Lightning.
“In ’71 there was eight teams I guess that it was with Bobby Orr, Esposito, Cheevers, there was eight teams that they could beat, six in the west, and Toronto and Detroit weren’t very good, so eight of the 12 teams, and they didn’t get 62 wins,” Gretzky pointed out. “This team is playing a good hockey club every single night. There’s no days off; there’s no nights off, every game is hard. What they’re doing to me in this year is absolutely amazing.
Listen, it’s almost like you feel bad for them if they don’t win the Stanley Cup because they’ve done so many good things for the game, and they’ve played so unselfishly, and they’re so much fun to watch, you know, you almost feel mad if they don’t win the Stanley Cup.”
Boston Bruins winger Jake DeBrusk scored his 25th goal of the season to put the Bruins up 1-0 on the Blues 5:51 into the first period, and joined Gretzky and the TNT crew of Paul Bissonnette, Liam McHugh, and Anson Carter postgame to discuss the historic run the 2022-23 Boston Bruins are on.
“It’s been crazy; it’s been pretty electric to be honest with you,” Debrusk replied when asked what it been like to experience this season. “It’s been one of those things that a lot of question marks going int with our team at the beginning of the year, a lot of naysayers, and some big injuries obviously, but we just tried to grow as a group, and try to get those guys back on board going full swing. Getting 60 wins tonight, that just sums up how great our team truly is and we have guys aren’t even playing. It’s one of those things where I’ve never been part of a group like this and we just continue to grow and find ways to win.”
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