1925–26 Boston Bruins season



The 1925–26 Boston Bruins season was the team's 2nd in the NHL. The Bruins finished 4th in the league, failing to make the playoffs by a single point.

Regular Season
The Bruins replaced the jerseys worn in their expansion year with ones that featured brown, gold and white striping. The numbers were changed from white to brown and though the logo was the same as the previous year, the coloring was changed. This would be the only season the Bruins wore these jerseys.

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. After wins on December 29 and January 5 (in which Carson Cooper scored the first Hat trick in Bruins history in a 3-0 win over Pittsburgh, the Bruins went 1-4-3 for the rest of January.

However, from a 5-0 shutout victory over the Montreal Maroons on January 30, 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. The winning percentage improvement of .328 from the previous season was a NHL record at the time, and remains the third best single season improvement ever. 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 solidified the defense, despite a knee injury in the opener against Pittsburgh that sidelined Cleghorn for a month, and saw goals allowed decline by over a third. Cleghorn finished as the runner-up for the Hart Memorial Trophy. Cooper and Jimmy Herberts finished second and third respectively in the league scoring race, behind Nels Stewart of the Maroons.

Among other debuts was that of goaltender Moe Roberts, at age 19 the second youngest player in the league and its first Jewish player. Roberts would wind up with one of the longest professional careers on record, playing his final game for the Chicago Black Hawks in 1952, the oldest player ever to play in the NHL before Gordie Howe.

Playoffs

 * The Bruins did not qualify for the post season.

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

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

Awards and Records

 * Hart Memorial Trophy: Sprague Cleghorn, Runner-up

Transactions

 * Purchase Sprague Cleghorn from the Montreal Maroons for $5,000 on November 8, 1925.
 * Sell Normand Shay to the Toronto St. Pats on January 14, 1926.

Trivia

 * Although Lionel Hitchman would later wear #3 for Bruins (and have it retired), he wore #2 for both the 1924-25 and 1925-26 seasons.
 * Firsts in Bruins history accomplished during this season include:
 * First hat trick by Jimmy Herberts during the 3-0 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on January 5, 1926. Herberts repeated the feat on February 13, 1926 in the 7-4 win over the Toronto St. Pats.
 * First 6 game winning streak from February 9-22, 1926 and first 10 game point streak from January 3-February 22, 1926.
 * Other Bruins who recorded a Hat trick this season include:
 * Carson Cooper during the 3-2 win over Toronto on February 2, 1926.
 * Hago Harrington during the 7-4 win over Toronto on February 13, 1926.