ST. LOUIS — Charlie Coyle scored the game-winning shootout goal as the Bruins recovered from blowing a 3-0 lead to beat the St. Louis Blues4-3 for Boston’s 60th victory of the season.
“It is special,” Bruins center Brad Marchand said about reaching the milestone. “At the end of the day, I think we’ve done a really good job at kind of staying in the moment. But when the year is over and I guess the careers are all over and we kind of look back, it’s pretty special to be part of a group like this and to break records. So it is something that we try not to get caught up in.”
Linus Ullmark made 35 saves and stopped all three St. Louis shootout attempts to lead Boston to its third straight triumph.
“We wind up on top because of our great goaltender,” Boston coach Jim Montgomery said. “He was fantastic tonight. And as soon as we scored, Charlie scored, I’m like, you know what, he’s not letting one in. You could just see it through his cage.”
The Bruins now have 125 points this season and are on pace for 133 points, which would break the NHL single-season record of 132 set by the 1976-77 Canadiens. Boston has five games remaining in the regular season.
“It was an exciting game, back-and-forth game,” Kyrou said. “It felt like a playoff game, so it’s all good.”
Jordan Binnington made 28 saves for St. Louis, which lost its second game in a row and was officially eliminated from the postseason for the first time since 2018.
“It’s very disappointing,” Blues coach Craig Berube said. “This organization and what’s expected of everybody, we’re not very happy, for sure.”
Boston’s Dmitry Orlov appeared to have scored the game winner 2:24 into overtime, but after a quick review, the goal was overturned as David Pastrnak was offside entering the St. Louis zone.
Kyrou scored his second goal of the game and team-leading 36th of the season with 25 seconds remaining in regulation after Binnington was pulled for an extra attacker to tie the game 3-all.
“We made some mistakes that we can’t make,” Montgomery said. “So it’s good learning. You’re still going to get mentally fatigued in the playoffs, and we can’t make the mistakes we made and give them odd man rushes or really good looks and ended up in the back of our net.”
Krug buried a rebound from Brandon Saad past Ullmark for his seventh goal of the season 9:47 into the third period to cut the Boston lead to 3-2.
Kyrou scored his first goal of the game with nine seconds remaining in the second period.
Bertuzzi scored his seventh goal of the season on a power play 7:18 into the second period, and Steen added his first goal since Jan. 22, 2002, just 44 seconds later to expand Boston’s lead to 3-0.
DeBrusk scored his 25th goal of the season when he tapped in his own rebound past Binnington 5:51 into the first period to give Boston an early 1-0 lead.
ESPN Stats & Information and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Kristen Shilton is a national NHL reporter for ESPN.
The Vancouver Canucks have come to terms with forward Brock Boeser on a new seven-year contract, carrying a $7.25 million AAV.
Canucks GM Patrik Allvin announced the deal on Tuesday during the first hour of NHL free agency. Boeser, 28, was an unrestricted free agent on a previously expiring contract.
Drafted by Vancouver 23rd overall in the 2015 NHL draft, Boeser has collected 204 goals and 434 points in 554 games with the Canucks to date. A top-six scoring threat, Boeser has elite playmaking skills and the potential to produce big numbers offensively. He had his best year offensively in 2023-24, producing 40 goals and 73 points in 81 games.
Boeser didn’t hit those marks again last season — settling for 25 goals and 50 points in 75 games — but was still second amongst teammates in output. He also plays a prominent role on Vancouver’s power play and when he can generate opportunities at 5-on-5, he is a true difference-maker up front for the Canucks.
The extension is a happy ending for Vancouver and Boeser. When the regular season ended, Boeser admitted “it’s tough to say” whether he’d be back with the Canucks. Boeser reportedly turned down a previous five-year extension offer with the club and Allvin subsequently looked into deals for him at the March trade deadline, with no takers. Boeser looked — and sounded — poised to explore his options on the open market.
Ultimately, Boeser decided to stay put by committing the best years of his career to the Canucks.
Jake Allen, one of the top goaltenders available entering free agency, is not heading to the market after agreeing to a five-year deal with the New Jersey Devils, sources told ESPN on Tuesday.
Allen’s average annual value on the deal is $1.8 million, sources told ESPN. That AAV allows the Devils to run back the same goaltending tandem for next season.
Jacob Markstrom has one year remaining on his contract for $4.125 million. Nico Daws is also under contract for next season, before becoming a restricted free agent next summer.
Several teams were interested in the 34-year-old veteran, whom sources said could have made more money on the open market. However, the deal with the Devils gives Allen long-term security. Allen has played for the Blues, Canadiens and Devils over his 12-year-career. He has started in 436 career games.
Last season, Allen started 29 games for the Devils, going 13-16-1 with a .906 save percentage, 2.66 GAA and four shutouts.
Washington Capitals defenseman Martin Fehervary signed a seven-year extension through the 2032-33 season that is worth $6 million annually, the team announced Tuesday.
Fehervary, who had one year of team control remaining, will enter the final season of a three-year bridge deal that will see him make $2.675 million before his new contract begins at the start of the 2026-27 season.
He finished the season with five goals and a career-high 25 points while logging 19 minutes. Fehervary also played a crucial role in the Capitals’ penalty kill by finishing with 245 short-handed minutes for a penalty kill that was fifth in the NHL with an 82% success rate.
Securing the 25-year-old Fehervary to a long-term deal means the Capitals now have seven players who have more than three years remaining on their current contracts.
It also means the Capitals front office has one less decision to make ahead of what is expected to be an active offseason in 2026 that will see the club have what PuckPedia projects to be $39.25 million in cap space.
That’s also the same offseason in which captain and NHL all-time leading goal scorer Alex Ovechkin‘s contract will come off their books along with that of defenseman John Carlson.
But until then, the Capitals have their entire top-six defensive unit under contract as they seek to improve upon a 2024-25 season that saw them finish atop the Metropolitan Division with 111 points before they lost in the Eastern Conference semifinal to the Carolina Hurricanes in five games.