The NHL first awarded the Presidents Trophy in 1985 to the Edmonton Oilers. Since then, it has been given annually to the NHL team with the best regular season record and yet, though they had been given 27 cracks at taking home the shiny trophy, on just one occasion had the Bruins won it.
Instead, in the first 27 years of the trophy's existence, teams like Detroit, Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary dominated the regular season and by default dominated ownership of the Presidents Trophy. The Redwings won 6 times in the 13 seasons between 1994 and 2008, while the Oilers, Flames, Chanuks, Avalanche, Stars, Blackhawks and Rangers all won twice. Sandwiched in there were solo Presidents Trophy wins by the Sennators, Rangers, Penguins, Blues, Sharks, Capitals and Sabers.
Prior to today, the Bruins were included on that list.
But now, after a triumphant but brutal at the same time 4-1 victory over Buffalo, the Bruins 101 point Presidants Trophy winning 1989-1990 season no longer stands alone as the highest seed the Bruins have ever achieved going into the playoffs.
Having already played 80 games out of 82, the Bruins came into Saturday's game with Buffalo with 115 points and the knowledge that a win of any sort would give them a 5 point cushion on the Ducks for the number one spot in the league. Basically, it came down to one simple fact, if the Bruins won, they would be the Presidents Trophy winners.
But for a team that has spent the entirety of its 6 year, Claude Jullian coached string of dominant seasons, they could easily be labeled one of the most regretful recipients of the Presidents Trophy in the Award's history. All season long they have villinised individual accolades never getting to high and never getting to low. Even during their run of 14 games without a regulation loss, the Bruins were constantly muttering about how they could get better and how their game still was not good enough for the playoffs.
Even after they won Saturday, humility was almost involuntary within the Bruins locker room.
Also they say it starts with the top. “The Presidents' Trophy identifies a team that’s been good for the regular season; the other thing is, it also guarantees home ice as long as you’re in the playoffs,” Head Coach Claude Julien said “So those are two things we’re really proud of, but that’s where it stops.”
“The next step is we still got to do some work here in order to get the trophy that we all really want here.”
1st line center David Krejci also had things to say about not saying anything about the win and what it gave the team.“It is a nice achievement, that’s for sure, but that wasn’t our goal going into the season. So one thing that’s good about it is as long as we’re in the playoffs, we’ll be starting at home, so that’s good. But we’re trying to accomplish something different, so we have one more game tomorrow, and we need to play a really strong game and feel good about our game going into the playoffs.”
For a few frustrated reporters who should have known better than to try to get some Presidents Trophy oriented quotes out of the Bruins, they quickly realized that the only thing the team would elaborate on was the list of players they lost in game. After scoreing his 30th goal of the season, hugely successful Bruins center, Patrice Bergeron failed to get back in the game in the 3rd period.
And yet his worrisome departure was not the worst thing that happened to the Bruins and the bodies of their players in the final period of the game.
Just over 7 minutes into the 3rd period, Bruin 4th line winger Danial Pallie turned up ice with the puck and failed to see Sabers defenceman Jake McCabe barreling towards him. Though he was not carrying much speed up ice, Pallie lunged forward in an attempt to launch a targeted pass to one of his line mates. As he did so however, McCabe delivered a massive but clean hit on Pallie launching him back onto the ice and halting play immedealty.
As Pallie pealed his dazed figure off the ice, two Bruins rushed in to give McCabe a piece of their mind while still more gathered around Pallie to see that he was okay. He was not. Though he tried to get to his feet on his own, Pallie lost all balance and fell backwards only staying upright because of the 4 players and referees around him who grabbed his body before it fell back to the ice.
Pallie who has already suffered 2 concussions this season while scoring 9 goals on the crucial Merlot Line, was by far the biggest casualty of this game and the Presidents Trophy that was rewarded at the end of it. He will be sorely missed and will remain a huge question mark going into the Bruins first round series with Detroit.
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