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The Boston Bruins set an NHL record for wins with their 63rd victory of the season Sunday against the Philadelphia Flyers. With two games remaining, the Bruins need just one more point to tie the record for most points in a season (132 by the 1976-77 Montreal Canadiens) and two to break it.

What has been the key to the Bruins’ amazing season? Can they finish off their record-breaking run with a Stanley Cup? Where do they rank among all-time great teams? Our reporters and analysts are here to answer those very questions:

Biggest key to the Bruins record setting season?

Ryan S. Clark, NHL reporter: Nearly every decision that has been made has worked. There are too many to list and there’s not enough space. But the Pavel Zacha trade is an example of maybe what has made the Bruins different. The New Jersey Devils needed to clear cap space in their attempt to get Johnny Gaudreau. So they traded Zacha to the Bruins. It’s a trade that has seen him set career highs across the board, strengthen their top-nine forward group, provide them with flexibility down the middle and helped whenever there have been injuries or the need to rest Patrice Bergeron or David Krejci. It has made Zacha the sort of player who can be used in several situations.

Arda Ocal, NHL analyst: Sometimes a change does wonders, so I’ll go with Jim Montgomery being the catalyst, putting the systems in place to let the players excel and succeed. It feels like every player on the team is rejuvenated, the depth is being deployed and utilized optimally and the vibes are immaculate in the locker room and around the team. The coach certainly has a role in that. Obviously at the end for the day the players are the ones that are getting it done on the ice, but the coach is bringing it all together and tweaking where necessary. Monty deserves a ton of credit and I’m sure the players would also say as much.

Kristen Shilton, NHL reporter: Boston’s unbelievable season can’t be boiled down to a single, successful factor. It’s been a perfect storm of basically everything going right. General manage Don Sweeney added the right pieces in Hampus Lindholm last season and then Zacha this offseason. David Pastrnak picked a contract year to have his best offensive showing ever. Linus Ullmark exploded into a Vezina Trophy-worthy goaltender. Bergeron and Krejci came back. Boston’s penalty kill has been outstanding. Jim Montgomery was the perfect voice to pull the most out of this group from behind the bench. It all mattered. It’s all been significant.


Prediction time: Do you think the Bruins will be able to finish it off and win the Stanley Cup?

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Patrice Bergeron: Reaching 62 wins is special

Captain Patrice Bergeron reflects on the Bruins’ 62-win milestone and how they’re approaching their final three games.

Clark: Maybe. But those reasons have less to do with the Bruins and more to do with the circumstances around what they want to achieve. We know the statistics about the President’s Trophy winners and the Stanley Cup. We also remember what happened the last time we saw a team this good — the 2018-19 Tampa Bay Lightning — and how they were eliminated in the first round.

We also know that even though the Bruins are this good, it still did not stop the rest of the East from getting stronger at the deadline. And that’s not even taking into account the Florida Panthers, who look like they could take on anyone at the moment.

Ocal: If they play how they have in the regular season, yes. What happens if they get punched in the face in the playoffs? Will they bounce back or roll over? If they go down 2-0 in their first-round serie,s can they bounce back and win? If they do, they will seem unstoppable. That’s the big question everyone likely has.

Hard to bet against them in that regard given what they’ve done this year. They’ve certainly earned the benefit of the doubt.

Shilton: After watching Boston dominate the regular season, it feels silly to say “no.” Of course the Bruins should be a top contender to win the Stanley Cup. It’s just that the postseason is its own beast. The obstacles are different. It’s not about what you can do over months but over days. A couple bad games and you’re out of it.

The Bruins haven’t weathered much adversity this season; teams they face in the playoffs will have. Forget about the past track record of Presidents Trophy winners. Winning in the postseason often requires a certain level of desperation. If Boston can tap into some of that and show they’re a bit battle-scarred too, there’s a good chance they go all the way.


Where do the 2022-23 Bruins rank among all-time teams?

Clark: That may not be something we can answer until after the playoffs are over. Sure, there is a discussion to be had about the Bruins being an all-time regular-season team. That’s not even a question. But when it comes to all-time teams? It all depends upon what they do in the playoffs and whether or not they can win the Stanley Cup.

Ocal: Wysh and I did a ranking on The Drop, and we put them second behind the 96 Red Wings — I like that placement — we are witnessing history. The best part is, absolutely nobody predicted this. We were talking wild card for this team at the start of the season. Now we’re saying “all-time great.” Incredible.

Shilton: The great thing is, we’re still figuring this one out. When Tampa went 62-16-4 in 2018-19 we might have said after the regular season they were one of the best teams ever. And then the playoffs began. Boston is writing its history on a nightly basis and where they ultimately rank — up there with the great Red Wings’ and Edmonton Oilers’ teams of the 1980s and 90s? — is to be determined. It could be a disservice to Boston’s potential, even, to try and assess that now. Who knows what lies ahead for the Bruins?

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Kelly yells at LSU player, gets yelled at by other

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Kelly yells at LSU player, gets yelled at by other

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — LSU coach Brian Kelly was caught on camera screaming at one player and getting yelled at by another.

The sideline scenes were clear signs of frustration for a program that was on its way to losing a third consecutive game, at unranked Florida on Saturday. Now, the Tigers (6-4, 3-3 SEC) will be the ones out of the polls following the 27-16 defeat.

And the LSU fan base might be out of patience with Kelly.

“This is a simple exercise of do you want to fight or not?” Kelly said after his team’s latest loss. “Do you want to fight and take responsibility as coaches and players that we’re not playing well and we’re struggling right now?

“There’s a rough spot here that we have to fight through, and we have to do it together.”

Kelly appeared to get into it with wide receiver Chris Hilton Jr. in the first half. Kelly got in Hilton’s face after a play, and online lip readers suggested Kelly eventually called Hilton “uncoachable.”

Late in the third quarter, cameras captured wideout Kyren Lacy yelling at Kelly on the sideline after an empty possession.

In the clip, Lacy could be seen apparently letting Kelly have it. The coach’s eyes widened as he seemingly realized what was happening. The ABC camera quickly cut away from the interaction.

LSU lost to Florida for the first time since 2018. This one came despite the Tigers running 92 plays and having the ball for more than 41 minutes.

“We’re going to put guys on the field that are going to fight and do everything they can do to correct where we are right now — and that is struggling with consistent execution,” Kelly said. “I think we’ve seen it enough to know we have to be better as coaches and players.”

Kelly’s streak of 10-win seasons will end at seven. Kelly won double-digit games in each of his last five seasons at Notre Dame and extended it with consecutive 10-win campaigns in Baton Rouge.

But losing three in a row, to Texas A&M, Alabama and Florida, makes it impossible to get past nine victories.

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Smart critical of CFP committee after UGA victory

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Smart critical of CFP committee after UGA victory

ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia coach Kirby Smart wouldn’t say if being ranked 12th by the College Football Playoff selection committee motivated the Bulldogs to prove a point in Saturday night’s game against No. 7 Tennessee.

Coming off last week’s ugly 28-10 loss at Ole Miss, their second defeat of the season, the Bulldogs would be the first team left out of the playoff if the 12-team bracket was based on the current rankings. No. 13 Boise State would have received the automatic bid as the fifth-highest-ranked conference champion and have jumped them.

That’s probably not the case anymore, after Georgia manhandled Tennessee 31-17 at Sanford Stadium.

“I don’t know what they’re looking for. I really don’t,” Smart said of the CFP selection committee. “I wish they could really define the criteria. I wish they could do the eyeball test where they come down here and look at the people we’re playing against and look at them. You can’t see that stuff on TV, and so I don’t know what they look for. But that’s for somebody else to decide. I’m worried about our team.”

For the first time in a while, Georgia looked pretty good on both sides of the ball against Tennessee. The Bulldogs fell behind 10-0 in the first quarter but came back to tie the score at 17 at the half. Tennessee had only eight first downs and didn’t score in the final 30 minutes. It was the ninth time a Josh Heupel-coached team has scored fewer than 20 points; four of them came against Georgia.

The Bulldogs won their 29th consecutive game at home and defeated the Volunteers for the eighth straight time, all by double digits.

“Our kids showed resilience,” Smart said. “I’m proud of them. Look, it was a week ago, a couple of hours, that we were dead and gone. People had written us off. It’s hard to play in this league, week in and week out, on the road.”

After the Ole Miss loss, Georgia fell from third to 12th in the CFP rankings. Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel, the chairman of the CFP selection committee, said the Bulldogs’ inconsistent offense and turnovers were reasons why.

“They’re not in that environment,” Smart said. “They’re not at Ole Miss in that environment, playing against that defense, which is top five in the country with one of the best pass rushers in the country, and they’re fired up. They got a two-score lead, and they’re coming every play. They don’t know. They don’t understand that.”

Georgia has played the most difficult schedule in the FBS, according to ESPN’s College Football Power Index, and has the third-best strength of record, which reflects whether an average Top 25 team would have a team’s record or better against its schedule.

The Bulldogs also lost 41-34 at Alabama on Sept. 28 after falling behind 28-0 in the first half. They defeated Clemson 34-3 in their opener and won 30-15 at Texas on Oct. 19.

Adding a dominant victory over Tennessee should help Georgia’s CFP chances. It closes the regular season with two non-SEC games at home, against UMass on Saturday and rival Georgia Tech on Nov. 29.

“It’s just the tale of each week, and we’re trying to be the cumulative, whole, really good quality team and not be on this emotional roller coaster that’s controlled by people in a room somewhere that may not understand football like we do as coaches,” Smart said. “We as coaches, look at people and say, ‘What can we do better? How do we get better?’ I respect their decision. I respect their opinion. But I mean, it’s different in our league.”

One of the big reasons for Georgia’s success against Tennessee was quarterback Carson Beck, who completed 25 of 40 passes for 347 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions. He had thrown 12 interceptions in the previous six games.

Beck also scored on a 10-yard run that gave Georgia a 24-17 lead with 5:32 left in the third quarter.

“I didn’t really feel any pressure, to be honest,” Beck said. “I stood up in front of the team on Monday and talked to them about how I felt about how our season has gone. I told them that whatever has happened has happened and that all we can control is what we can control moving forward.”

Georgia’s offensive line didn’t allow a sack, while the Bulldogs sacked Volunteers quarterback Nico Iamaleava five times. Georgia had 453 yards and went 5-for-5 in the red zone.

“I think everybody understood the situation that we were in,” Beck said. “When our backs are against the wall, the only way out is through what is in front of you.”

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Sources: No. 2 ’25 QB Lewis decommits from USC

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Sources: No. 2 '25 QB Lewis decommits from USC

Julian Lewis, the No. 2 player and quarterback in the 2025 class, decommitted from USC on Sunday, sources told ESPN, sealing a seismic development for one of the nation’s top prospects in the closing weeks of the recruiting cycle.

Lewis’ decommitment, which had been expected, comes the day after the 6-foot-1, 195-pound quarterback took an unofficial visit to Georgia for the game against Tennessee. He also visited Colorado on Oct. 26 and expressed interest in Indiana throughout his recruitment.

The plan remains for Lewis to commit in the upcoming weeks and enroll early in school, according to sources. He’s the top uncommitted player in the class of 2025 and his choice looms as one of the biggest stories of the early signing period with Colorado, Georgia and Indiana expected to contend for his signature before the signing period opens Dec. 4.

Sources also told ESPN on Sunday that four-star Texas A&M quarterback pledge Husan Longstreet, No. 47 in the 2025 ESPN 300, has flipped his pledge to USC in the wake of Lewis’ departure from the Trojans’ incoming class.

USC quarterbacks coach Luke Huard attended Longstreet’s playoff game at Corona Centennial High School in California on Friday night, and ESPN’s No. 4 pocket passer visited the Trojans during their game against Nebraska on Saturday.

Lewis had been verbally committed to the Trojans since Aug. 22, 2023. Yet questions had swirled over his recruitment from the summer into the fall and all the way through to his decommitment from USC on Sunday.

Lewis’ move marks the latest blow to a USC class that has now lost six commitments from the 2025 ESPN 300 in this cycle.

That list of high-profile departures from Lincoln Riley’s incoming class includes five-star defenders Justus Terry and Isaiah Gibson, and Lewis’ exit stands as USC’s third recruiting loss in the past seven days following the flips of defensive lineman Hayden Lowe (Miami) and cornerback Shamar Arnoux (Auburn).

The Trojans sat ninth in ESPN’s latest class rankings for the 2025 cycle prior to Lewis’ decommitment.

With the move, Lewis instantly regains status as the one of nation’s most sought-after uncommitted prospects. He first entered that realm in 2022 when he burst onto the national scene with 4,118 yards and 48 touchdowns while leading Carrollton to the Georgia 7A state title game in his freshman season.

That debut campaign earned Lewis a place as the No. 1 prospect in the 2026 class before he reclassified into the 2025 cycle earlier this year, several months after his commitment to USC last August.

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