The Boston Bruins and David Pastrnak reached 100 on the same night, the final night of the 2025-26 regular season, with their 4-0 victory over the New Jersey Devils. Boston also secured the first wild-card position in the Eastern Conference and an opening-round playoff series against Atlantic Division champion Buffalo.
For the Bruins, a 100-point season would require two periods of disciplined effort after overwhelming a disinterested New Jersey team with four first-period goals. David Pastrnak wasted no time completing his fourth straight 100-point campaign with a nifty assist on Morgan Geekie’s early strike. Geekie wasted no time racing to the net to collect the puck for his brilliant linemate. See below on the select company in which Pastrnak resides.
Boston’s blitz was evident right away, as intended by Coach Marco Sturm who, in different words, said what Panthers Coach Paul Maurice said about the plusses and minuses of winning or losing in the final game of the season. The playoffs are secured for the Bruins and out of the question for the eliminated Panthers, but the commonality of their responses shed light on how crucial it is to maintain a professional approach to any contest. It’s GM Don Sweeney’s job to decide if promotions from Providence are in order for such a game as this one, but whatever roster the Bruins were to ice for tonight’s regular-season finale vs. the New Jersey Devils, the goal remains common: “We want to win.”
And, as it turns out, the Bruins set forth to go at tonight’s game like a playoff dress rehearsal, putting in the lineup as many regulars as is reasonable (read: healthy).
The Devils have their own kind of motivation, so a game like this can get weird for anyone who overthinks it. Therefore, the Bruins are all about the two points tonight, so Jeremy Swayman is in net. James Hagens, of the encouraging NHL debut on Sunday night in Columbus, is back in, and the Bruins are – true to form – offering no projections beyond that and into the postseason expected to start on the weekend at Buffalo or Carolina.
MINTEN WINS 7TH PLAYER AWARD
Fraser Minten is the 2025-26 NESN 7th Player Award winner for exceeding the fans’ expectation based on the annual fan vote. Ray Bourque won this thing before, so sometimes it’s going to be an excellent NHL rookie.
Minten, who has played all 82 games this year, his first full season as a Bruin having come over from Toronto at the 2025 trade deadline in the deal for Brandon Carlo, went into tonight’s regular-season finale with 17-17-34 scoring totals while seeing his role expand with every month of the season. Tonight, he is centering James Hagens in his second NHL game and Marat Khusnutdinov. For a 21-year-old, Minten has proven throughout the season he is capable of handling a veteran centerman’s chores.
PASTA’S CENTURY POINT IN SELECT COMPANY
The Bruins came out flying tonight with early first-period goals from Morgan Geekie (39) and Mark Kastelic (11). The Geekie goal was David Pastrnak’s 100th point, his fourth straight 100-point campaign, making No. 88 the only Bruin to accomplish the feat since Phil Esposito five straight times (1970-71 through 1974-75) and Bobby Orr six straight times (1969-70 through 74-75). Esposito was one point shy in 1969-70, finishing with 99 points. Had he picked up one more point, his streak would have been seven straight years going back to 1968-69.
Two more late goals, Kastelic’s 12th and Viktor Arvidsson’s 25th with 6.4 seconds remaining in the first period, turned the game into a laugher. Poor Nico Daws has to sit in the Devils dressing room and listen to Coach Sheldon Keefe dress down his teammates. The guess here is Jake Allen will take the net for Period 2.
The guess was wrong, Daws came back, and the Devils proceeded to play their best hockey of the night on the opening shift of the second period. The Bruins remained structured, nearly added a couple of goals, and went to second intermission having preserved their 4-0 lead.
The Bruins announced that Pavel Zacha left the game after the first period to attend to a family matter.
The third period was less compelling, as the Devils devolved into a less-menacing use of their obvious speed, and the Bruins played on, hoping for the opportunity to get Kastelic a hat-trick goal and Hagens his first in the NHL.
As time ticked away, the Bruins tried hard to get Kastelic his hatty, but it wasn’t to be. What was to be was a 100-point season for both the Bruins and Pastrnak and a playoff matchup with the upstart Buffalo Sabres.
It will be the first time the teams have met in the playoffs since the 2010 opening round won by Boston in six games.
Drive safely.
Rink Rap with Mick Colageo 