1925–26 Boston Bruins season

1925–26 Boston Bruins
League4th NHL
1925–26 record17–15–4 (38 points)
Home record10–7–1
Road record7–8–3
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

See also: 1925–26 NHL 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 Senators 36 24 8 4 77 42 341 52
Montreal Maroons 36 20 11 5 91 73 554 45
Pittsburgh Pirates 36 19 16 1 82 70 264 39
36 17 15 4 92 85 279 38
New York Americans 36 12 20 4 68 89 361 28
Toronto St. Patricks 36 12 21 3 92 114 325 27
Montreal Canadiens 36 11 24 1 79 108 458 23

[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
— 2–3–1 4–1–1 2–2–2 2–4 2–4 5–1
M. Canadiens 3–2–1 — 1–5 2–4 0–6 2–4 3–3
M. Maroons 1–4–1 5–1 — 4–1–1 1–2–3 3–3 6–0
New York 2–2–2 4–2 1–4–1 — 1–5 3–3 1–1–4
Ottawa 4–2 6–0 2–1–3 5–1 — 4–2 3–1–2
Pittsburgh 4–2 4–2 3–3 3–3 2–4 — 3–2–1
Toronto 1–5 3–3 0–6 1–1–4 1–3–2 2–3–1 —


Schedule and results

1925–26 regular season[11]
November
Game Result Date Score Opponent Record
1 L November 26, 1925 1–2 Pittsburgh Pirates (1925–26) 0–1–0
2 W November 28, 1925 3–2 @ Toronto St. Patricks (1925–26) 1–1–0
December
Game Result Date Score Opponent Record
3 L December 1, 1925 2–3 Montreal Canadiens (1925–26) 1–2–0
4 L December 3, 1925 0–2 @ Ottawa Senators (1925–26) 1–3–0
5 L December 5, 1925 0–4 @ Montreal Maroons (1925–26) 1–4–0
6 W December 8, 1925 3–2 Montreal Maroons (1925–26) 2–4–0
7 L December 11, 1925 3–5 @ Pittsburgh Pirates (1925–26) 2–5–0
8 L December 15, 1925 1–2 Ottawa Senators (1925–26) 2–6–0
9 L December 19, 1925 5–6 OT @ Montreal Canadiens (1925–26) 2–7–0
10 L December 22, 1925 2–3 New York Americans (1925–26) 2–8–0
11 W December 29, 1925 3–0 Toronto St. Patricks (1925–26) 3–8–0
January
Game Result Date Score Opponent Record
12 W January 5, 1926 3–0 Pittsburgh Pirates (1925–26) 4–8–0
13 T January 7, 1926 2–2 OT @ New York Americans (1925–26) 4–8–1
14 L January 9, 1926 2–3 @ Toronto St. Patricks (1925–26) 4–9–1
15 L January 12, 1926 2–4 Montreal Canadiens (1925–26) 4–10–1
16 L January 15, 1926 1–5 @ Pittsburgh Pirates (1925–26) 4–11–1
17 T January 19, 1926 3–3 OT Montreal Maroons (1925–26) 4–11–2
18 T January 23, 1926 2–2 OT @ New York Americans (1925–26) 4–11–3
19 L January 26, 1926 2–8 Ottawa Senators (1925–26) 4–12–3
20 W January 30, 1926 5–0 @ Montreal Maroons (1925–26) 5–12–3
February
Game Result Date Score Opponent Record
21 W February 2, 1926 3–2 Toronto St. Patricks (1925–26) 6–12–3
22 W February 4, 1926 3–2 @ Ottawa Senators (1925–26) 7–12–3
23 T February 6, 1926 3–3 OT @ Montreal Canadiens (1925–26) 7–12–4
24 W February 9, 1926 4–0 New York Americans (1925–26) 8–12–4
25 W February 13, 1926 7–4 @ Toronto St. Patricks (1925–26) 9–12–4
26 W February 16, 1926 3–2 OT Pittsburgh Pirates (1925–26) 10–12–4
27 W February 18, 1926 7–3 @ New York Americans (1925–26) 11–12–4
28 W February 20, 1926 3–1 @ Montreal Canadiens (1925–26) 12–12–4
29 W February 22, 1926 2–1 OT Toronto St. Patricks (1925–26) 13–12–4
30 L February 27, 1926 2–3 @ Ottawa Senators (1925–26) 13–13–4
March
Game Result Date Score Opponent Record
31 W March 2, 1926 4–1 Montreal Canadiens (1925–26) 14–13–4
32 W March 4, 1926 3–2 @ Montreal Maroons (1925–26) 15–13–4
33 W March 6, 1926 1–0 Ottawa Senators (1925–26) 16–13–4
34 L March 9, 1926 0–1 New York Americans (1925–26) 16–14–4
35 L March 12, 1926 1–2 OT @ Pittsburgh Pirates (1925–26) 16–15–4
36 W March 16, 1926 1–0 Montreal Maroons (1925–26) 17–15–4

Legend:   Win (2 points)   Loss (0 points)   Tie (1 point)

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 Cooper 36 28 3 31 10 – – – – –
Jimmy Herbert 36 26 5 31 47 – – – – –
Lionel Hitchman 36 7 4 11 70 – – – – –
Sprague Cleghorn 25 6 5 11 49 – – – – –
Hago Harrington 26 7 2 9 6 – – – – –
Red Stuart 33 6 1 7 41 – – – – –
George Geran 33 5 1 6 6 – – – – –
Stan Jackson 28 3 3 6 30 – – – – –
Herb Mitchell 26 3 0 3 14 – – – – –
Normand Shay 13 2 0 2 2 – – – – –

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 Stewart 35 2173 16 14 4 80 6 2.21 – – – – – – –
Moe Roberts 2 85 1 1 0 5 0 3.53 – – – – – – –

Transactions

  • Purchased Sprague Cleghorn from the Montreal Maroons for $5,000.[12]

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. ^ "1925-26 Boston Bruins Schedule". Hockey-Reference.com. Retrieved April 3, 2025.
  12. ^ Coleman, Charles L. (1964). Trail of the Stanley Cup, Vol I. Sherbrooke: National Hockey League. p. 488.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.