1925–26 Boston Bruins
1925–26 record17–15–4 (38 points)
Goals for92
Goals against85
Team information
General managerArt Ross
CoachArt Ross
CaptainSprague Cleghorn[1]
ArenaBoston Arena
Team leaders
GoalsCarson Cooper (28)
AssistsJimmy Herbert, Sprague Cleghorn (5)
PointsCarson Cooper, Jimmy Herbert (31)
Penalty minutesJimmy Herbert (50)
WinsDoc Stewart (16)
Goals against averageCharles Stewart (2.21)

The 1925–26 Boston Bruins season was the team's second season in the NHL. The Bruins finished fourth in the league standings, failing to make the playoffs.

Regular season

Opening the season with a 2–1 loss to the expansion Pittsburgh Pirates, it looked initially as if the Bruins would turn in as poor a season as the year before, as they won only two of their first ten games, and after two consecutive wins, turned in an 0–5–3 record for most of January.[2]

From a 5–0 shutout victory over the Maroons on January 30, however, the Bruins won 13 of their last 17 games, a 2–1 overtime loss to the Pirates on March 12 being the difference to lose out on a playoff berth to Pittsburgh by a single point.[3] The winning percentage improvement of .328 from the previous season was an NHL record at the time, and remains the third best single season improvement ever.[4]

A healthy Carson Cooper contributed to a near doubling of goals scored to lead the league, while the purchase of veteran star defenseman Sprague Cleghorn from the Montreal Maroons for $5000 solidified the defense[5] – despite a knee injury in the opener against Pittsburgh that sidelined Cleghorn for a month – and saw goals allowed decline by over a third.[6] Cooper and Jimmy "Sailor" Herbert finished second and third respectively in the league scoring race, behind Nels Stewart of the Maroons.[7]

Among other debuts was that of goaltender Moe Roberts, at age 19 the second youngest player in the league and its first Jewish player.[8] Roberts would wind up with one of the longest professional careers on record, playing his final game for the Chicago Black Hawks in 1951, the oldest player ever to play in the NHL, prior to Gordie Howe. He was the youngest player ever to play goal for twenty years, until surpassed by future Bruin Harry Lumley.

Final standings

National Hockey League
Teams GP W L T GF GA PIM Pts
Ottawa Senators362484774234152
Montreal Maroons3620115917355445
Pittsburgh Pirates3619161827026439
Boston Bruins3617154928527938
New York Americans3612204688936128
Toronto St. Patricks36122139211432527
Montreal Canadiens36112417910845823

[9] Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes
Note: Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold.

Record vs. opponents

1925–26 NHL Records [10]
Team BOS MTL MTM NYA OTT PIT TOR
Boston 2–3–14–1–12–2–22–42–45–1
M. Canadiens 3–2–11–52–40–62–43–3
M. Maroons 1–4–15–14–1–11–2–33–36–0
New York 2–2–24–21–4–11–53–31–1–4
Ottawa 4–26–02–1–35–14–23–1–2
Pittsburgh 4–24–23–33–32–43–2–1
Toronto 1–53–30–61–1–41–3–22–3–1

Schedule and results

Regular season schedule
No. R Date Score Opponent Record
1LNovember 26, 19251–2Pittsburgh Pirates (1925–26)0–1–0
2WNovember 28, 19253–2@ Toronto St. Patricks (1925–26)1–1–0
3LDecember 1, 19252–3Montreal Canadiens (1925–26)1–2–0
4LDecember 3, 19250–2@ Ottawa Senators (1925–26)1–3–0
5LDecember 5, 19250–4@ Montreal Maroons (1925–26)1–4–0
6WDecember 8, 19253–2Montreal Maroons (1925–26)2–4–0
7LDecember 11, 19253–5@ Pittsburgh Pirates (1925–26)2–5–0
8LDecember 15, 19251–2Ottawa Senators (1925–26)2–6–0
9LDecember 19, 19255–6 OT@ Montreal Canadiens (1925–26)2–7–0
10LDecember 22, 19252–3New York Americans (1925–26)2–8–0
11WDecember 29, 19253–0Toronto St. Patricks (1925–26)3–8–0
12WJanuary 5, 19263–0Pittsburgh Pirates (1925–26)4–8–0
13TJanuary 7, 19262–2 OT@ New York Americans (1925–26)4–8–1
14LJanuary 9, 19262–3@ Toronto St. Patricks (1925–26)4–9–1
15LJanuary 12, 19262–4Montreal Canadiens (1925–26)4–10–1
16LJanuary 15, 19261–5@ Pittsburgh Pirates (1925–26)4–11–1
17TJanuary 19, 19263–3 OTMontreal Maroons (1925–26)4–11–2
18TJanuary 23, 19262–2 OT@ New York Americans (1925–26)4–11–3
19LJanuary 26, 19262–8Ottawa Senators (1925–26)4–12–3
20WJanuary 30, 19265–0@ Montreal Maroons (1925–26)5–12–3
21WFebruary 2, 19263–2Toronto St. Patricks (1925–26)6–12–3
22WFebruary 4, 19263–2@ Ottawa Senators (1925–26)7–12–3
23TFebruary 6, 19263–3 OT@ Montreal Canadiens (1925–26)7–12–4
24WFebruary 9, 19264–0New York Americans (1925–26)8–12–4
25WFebruary 13, 19267–4@ Toronto St. Patricks (1925–26)9–12–4
26WFebruary 16, 19263–2 OTPittsburgh Pirates (1925–26)10–12–4
27WFebruary 18, 19267–3@ New York Americans (1925–26)11–12–4
28WFebruary 20, 19263–1@ Montreal Canadiens (1925–26)12–12–4
29WFebruary 22, 19262–1 OTToronto St. Patricks (1925–26)13–12–4
30LFebruary 27, 19262–3@ Ottawa Senators (1925–26)13–13–4
31WMarch 2, 19264–1Montreal Canadiens (1925–26)14–13–4
32WMarch 4, 19263–2@ Montreal Maroons (1925–26)15–13–4
33WMarch 6, 19261–0Ottawa Senators (1925–26)16–13–4
34LMarch 9, 19260–1New York Americans (1925–26)16–14–4
35LMarch 12, 19261–2 OT@ Pittsburgh Pirates (1925–26)16–15–4
36WMarch 16, 19261–0Montreal Maroons (1925–26)17–15–4

Playoffs

The Bruins did not qualify for the playoffs.

Player statistics

Leading scorers

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes

    Regular season   Playoffs
Player GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
Carson Cooper362833110
Jimmy Herbert362653147
Lionel Hitchman36741170
Sprague Cleghorn25651149
Hago Harrington267296
Red Stuart3361741
George Geran335166
Stan Jackson2833630
Herb Mitchell2630314
Normand Shay132022

Goaltenders

Note: GP = Games played; Min = Minutes; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GA = Goals against; SO = Shutouts; GAA = Goals against average

    Regular season   Playoffs
Player GP Min W L T GA SO GAA GP Min W L GA SO GAA
Doc Stewart352173161448062.21
Moe Roberts285110503.53

Transactions

  • Purchased Sprague Cleghorn from the Montreal Maroons for $5,000.[11]

See also

References

  1. "Sprague Cleghorn selected as coach of Boston Bruins". The Gazette. Montreal. November 3, 1927. Retrieved November 2, 2017.
  2. Vautour, Kevin (1997). The Bruins Book. Toronto: ECW Press. p. 40. ISBN 978-1-55022-334-7.
  3. Vautour, Kevin (1997). The Bruins Book. Toronto: ECW Press. p. 41. ISBN 978-1-55022-334-7.
  4. Klein, Jeff Z.; Reif, Karl-Eric (1987). The Klein & Reif Hockey Compendium. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart. p. 63. ISBN 978-0-7710-4529-5.
  5. Vautour, Kevin (1997). The Bruins Book. Toronto: ECW Press. p. 39. ISBN 978-1-55022-334-7.
  6. Coleman, Charles L. (1964). Trail of the Stanley Cup, Vol I. Sherbrooke: National Hockey League. p. 489.
  7. Coleman, Charles L. (1964). Trail of the Stanley Cup, Vol I. Sherbrooke: National Hockey League. p. 494.
  8. Vautour, Kevin (1997). The Bruins Book. Toronto: ECW Press. p. 39. ISBN 978-1-55022-334-7.
  9. Standings: NHL Public Relations Department (2008). Dave McCarthy; et al. (eds.). THE NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE Official Guide & Record Book/2009. National Hockey League. p. 146. ISBN 978-1-894801-14-0.
  10. "All-Time NHL Results". NHL.com. Retrieved August 25, 2023.
  11. Coleman, Charles L. (1964). Trail of the Stanley Cup, Vol I. Sherbrooke: National Hockey League. p. 488.
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