2011–12 Boston Bruins season
The 2011–12 Boston Bruins season was the Bruins' 88th season in the National Hockey League (NHL).[1] The Bruins entered the 2011–12 season as the defending Stanley Cup champions.
2011–12 Boston Bruins | |
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Northeast Division champions | |
Division | 1st Northeast |
Conference | 2nd Eastern |
2011–12 record | 49–29–4 |
Home record | 24–15–3 |
Road record | 25–14–1 |
Goals for | 262 |
Goals against | 202 |
Team information | |
General manager | Peter Chiarelli |
Coach | Claude Julien |
Captain | Zdeno Chara |
Alternate captains | Patrice Bergeron Andrew Ference Chris Kelly |
Arena | TD Garden |
Average attendance | 17,565 (100%) Total: 737,730 (42 games) |
Team leaders | |
Goals | Tyler Seguin (29) |
Assists | Patrice Bergeron (42) |
Points | Tyler Seguin (67) |
Penalty minutes | Shawn Thornton (154) |
Plus/minus | Patrice Bergeron (+36) |
Wins | Tim Thomas (35) |
Goals against average | Anton Khudobin (1.00) |
Off-season
Veteran forward Mark Recchi retired. Forward Michael Ryder went to the Dallas Stars via free agency, and defenseman Tomas Kaberle went to the Carolina Hurricanes. Forward Benoit Pouliot was signed.
Regular season
The Bruins' opened the regular season with a home loss to the Philadelphia Flyers, whom they had swept in round two of the 2011 Stanley Cup playoffs just five months earlier. They recorded their first regular season success against the Tampa Bay Lightning on October 8, a 4–1 home victory against their 2011 Conference Final opponents. The Bruins closed out the month of October with a home-and-home series defeat at the hands of their bitter rivals, the Montreal Canadiens, en route to the worst start by a defending champion since the current playoff platform was adopted in 1994.[2][3] The back-to-back losses at the hands of their hated rivals proved the catalyst to a resurgence that saw the team secure at least a point in every game through November, the first time the franchise went undefeated in regulation for an entire calendar month since January 1969.[4] During this run, defending Vezina Trophy winner Tim Thomas posted a 9–0–0 record and earned First Star honors for the month.[5]
With a win over the New York Islanders on March 31, the Bruins clinched an Eastern conference playoff berth. On April 1, the Bruins won the Northeast Division title by defeating the New York Rangers, 2–1.
The Bruins allowed only one shorthanded goal all the season, the lowest total of all 30 teams.[6]
Playoffs
The Boston Bruins qualified for the Stanley Cup playoffs for the fifth consecutive season. The Bruins lost in the first round to the Washington Capitals in a seven-game series 4–3.
Standings
Pos | Team | GP | W | L | OTL | ROW | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
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1 | y – Boston Bruins | 82 | 49 | 29 | 4 | 40 | 269 | 202 | +67 | 102 |
2 | x – Ottawa Senators | 82 | 41 | 31 | 10 | 35 | 249 | 240 | +9 | 92 |
3 | Buffalo Sabres | 82 | 39 | 32 | 11 | 32 | 218 | 230 | −12 | 89 |
4 | Toronto Maple Leafs | 82 | 35 | 37 | 10 | 31 | 231 | 264 | −33 | 80 |
5 | Montreal Canadiens | 82 | 31 | 35 | 16 | 26 | 212 | 226 | −14 | 78 |
Pos | Div | Team | GP | W | L | OTL | ROW | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
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1 | AT | z – New York Rangers | 82 | 51 | 24 | 7 | 47 | 226 | 187 | +39 | 109 |
2 | NE | y – Boston Bruins | 82 | 49 | 29 | 4 | 40 | 269 | 202 | +67 | 102 |
3 | SE | y – Florida Panthers | 82 | 38 | 26 | 18 | 32 | 203 | 227 | −24 | 94 |
4 | AT | x – Pittsburgh Penguins | 82 | 51 | 25 | 6 | 42 | 282 | 221 | +61 | 108 |
5 | AT | x – Philadelphia Flyers | 82 | 47 | 26 | 9 | 43 | 264 | 232 | +32 | 103 |
6 | AT | x – New Jersey Devils | 82 | 48 | 28 | 6 | 36 | 228 | 209 | +19 | 102 |
7 | SE | x – Washington Capitals | 82 | 42 | 32 | 8 | 38 | 222 | 230 | −8 | 92 |
8 | NE | x – Ottawa Senators | 82 | 41 | 31 | 10 | 35 | 249 | 240 | +9 | 92 |
9 | NE | Buffalo Sabres | 82 | 39 | 32 | 11 | 32 | 218 | 230 | −12 | 89 |
10 | SE | Tampa Bay Lightning | 82 | 38 | 36 | 8 | 35 | 235 | 281 | −46 | 84 |
11 | SE | Winnipeg Jets | 82 | 37 | 35 | 10 | 33 | 225 | 246 | −21 | 84 |
12 | SE | Carolina Hurricanes | 82 | 33 | 33 | 16 | 32 | 213 | 243 | −30 | 82 |
13 | NE | Toronto Maple Leafs | 82 | 35 | 37 | 10 | 31 | 231 | 264 | −33 | 80 |
14 | AT | New York Islanders | 82 | 34 | 37 | 11 | 27 | 203 | 255 | −52 | 79 |
15 | NE | Montreal Canadiens | 82 | 31 | 35 | 16 | 26 | 212 | 226 | −14 | 78 |
x – Clinched playoff spot; y – Clinched division; z – Clinched conference.
Schedule and results
Pre-season
2011 Pre-season | ||||||||||
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# | Date | Visitor | Score | Home | OT | Decision | Record | Recap | ||
1 | September 21 | Boston Bruins | 1–2 | Ottawa Senators | OT | Tuukka Rask | 0–0–1 | |||
2 | September 23 | New York Islanders | 3–6 | Boston Bruins | Tim Thomas | 1–0–1 | ||||
3 | September 25 | Montreal Canadiens | 3–7 | Boston Bruins1 | Anton Khudobin | 2–0–1 | ||||
4 | September 26 | Boston Bruins | 2–1 | Montreal Canadiens | Tuukka Rask | 3–0–1 | ||||
5 | September 29 | Ottawa Senators | 2–1 | Boston Bruins | Tim Thomas | 3–1–1 | ||||
6 | October 1 | Boston Bruins | 3–2 | New York Islanders2 | Tim Thomas | 4–1–1 | ||||
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Regular season
2011–12 game log | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Legend: Win (2 points) Loss (0 points) Overtime/shootout loss (1 point) |
Playoffs
2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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- Scorer of game-winning goal in italics
Player statistics
Skaters
Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/- = Plus-minus; PIM = Penalty minutes
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Goaltenders
Note: GPI = Games played in; MIN = Minutes played; GAA = Goals against average; W = Wins; L = Losses; OT = Overtime/shootout losses; SO = Shutouts; SA = Shots against; GA = Goals against; SV% = Save percentage
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Awards and records
Awards
Player | Award | Notes |
Tyler Seguin[13] | NHL First Star of the Week | November 14, 2011 |
Tim Thomas[14] | NHL First Star of the Month | November 2011 |
Brad Marchand[15] | NHL First Star of the Week | December 26, 2011 |
Zdeno Chara[16] | NHL Second Star of the Week | April 2, 2012 |
Milestones
Regular season | |||||||||
Player | Milestone | Reached | |||||||
David Krejci | 300th career NHL game | October 8, 2011 | |||||||
Brad Marchand | 100th career NHL game | October 10, 2011 | |||||||
Chris Kelly | 500th career NHL game | November 7, 2011 | |||||||
Adam McQuaid | 100th career NHL game | November 21, 2011 | |||||||
Milan Lucic | 300th career NHL game | November 26, 2011 | |||||||
Rich Peverley | 100th career NHL assist | November 26, 2011 | |||||||
Benoit Pouliot | 200th career NHL game | November 26, 2011 | |||||||
Rich Peverley | 300th career NHL game | December 6, 2011 | |||||||
Tyler Seguin | 100th career NHL game | December 8, 2011 | |||||||
Milan Lucic | 100th career NHL assist | December 10, 2011 | |||||||
Chris Kelly | 200th career NHL point | December 14, 2011 | |||||||
Shawn Thornton | 400th career NHL game | December 17, 2011 | |||||||
Joe Corvo | 600th career NHL game | December 19, 2011 | |||||||
Zdeno Chara | 300th career NHL assist | January 5, 2012 | |||||||
Patrice Bergeron | 500th career NHL game | January 19, 2012 | |||||||
Dennis Seidenberg | 500th career NHL game | January 21, 2012 | |||||||
Tuukka Rask | 100th career NHL game | February 17, 2012 | |||||||
Carter Camper | 1st career NHL game | February 22, 2012 | |||||||
Carter Camper | 1st career NHL goal 1st career NHL point | February 25, 2012 | |||||||
Gregory Campbell | 500th career NHL game | February 25, 2012 | |||||||
Lane MacDermid | 1st career NHL game | March 11, 2012 | |||||||
Joe Corvo | 200th career NHL assist | March 6, 2012 | |||||||
Milan Lucic | 200th career NHL point | March 6, 2012 | |||||||
Max Sauve | 1st career NHL game | March 11, 2012 | |||||||
Andrew Ference | 700th career NHL game | March 15, 2012 | |||||||
Zdeno Chara | 1,000th career NHL game | March 24, 2012 | |||||||
Benoit Pouliot | 100th career NHL point | March 25, 2012 | |||||||
Johnny Boychuk | 200th career NHL game | March 31, 2012 | |||||||
Torey Krug | 1st career NHL game | April 3, 2012 | |||||||
Torey Krug | 1st career NHL assist 1st career NHL point | April 5, 2012 | |||||||
Patrice Bergeron | 400th career NHL point | April 7, 2012 |
Final roster
Updated April 23, 2012.[17]
Transactions
The Bruins have been involved in the following transactions during the 2011–12 season, or the off-season between the previous season and this season.