David Pastrnak could one day challenge Phil Esposito's record-breaking 76-goal season, but it'd be one of the toughest acts to follow in league history. Pastrnak would need a picture-perfect season and a picture-perfect situation, and that may not be happening any time soon, if ever.
So, instead of wondering whether anyone else on the Boston Bruins will end up breaking the record, why not relive Esposito's 1970-71 season that was sandwiched between two Stanley Cup titles he won with the team. No, the season didn't end the way Esposito may've wanted, but it shouldn't take away from that legendary campaign.
Now, some fun facts: Esposito's 76 goals nearly put him on a goal-per-game pace, since he played in 78 games that season. Obviously, he led the league here, and he also finished with 76 assists, meaning he ended the year with 152 points, the latter of which also led the NHL.
Breaking it down further, Esposito also led the league in even strength goals with 51, and power-play goals, with 24, with the additional goal coming short-handed. And we also can't forget that 16 of those goals were game-winners.
Phil Esposito's 76-goal season remains one for the record books over five and a half decades later
In the second game of the season against the Los Angeles Kings on October 14th, Esposito scored his first hat trick of the year. It would also be his first of seven hat tricks on the year, which is also a franchise record that nobody has even gotten close to.
Hat Trick No. 2 came against his former team, the Chicago Black Hawks, on December 2nd in a game in which he scored all three of the Bruins goals in a 4-3 loss. Other teams that fell victm to Esposito hat tricks were the Pittsburgh Penguins, Detroit Red Wings, Los Angeles Kings (again), the Penguins (again), and the Montreal Canadiens.
What's even more impressive here is that Esposito only recorded a 13.8 shooting percentage, low for someone who found the net 76 times if we're putting it in terms of today's game. But, he landed 550 shots on goal, good for 7.0 shots per contest.
The most impressive stretch came between February 23rd and March 20th, 1971, when the Bruins went 13-0-0. During that stretch, Esposito put 15 pucks in the net, and logged 26 total points. Yeah, that's literally two per game, and a mark that just about anyone in today's NHL would have a tough time following, from Pastrnak himself to Connor McDavid.
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