Pavel Zacha, right, celebrates with David Pastrnak, left, and Hampus Lindholm after his first goal Saturday night against the New Jersey Devils in Boston. The Bruins won, 2-1. Michael Dwyer/Associated Press
BOSTON — The Boston Bruins tied an NHL record with their 62nd win of the season on Saturday night, getting two goals from Pavel Zacha in the first five minutes and holding on to beat the New Jersey Devils 2-1.
The Bruins have three games left to try to top the record for regular-season wins set by the 1995-96 Red Wings and matched by the 2018-19 Lightning. Boston faces Philadelphia on Sunday, Washington on Tuesday and Montreal on Thursday.
Linus Ullmark stopped 29 shots for Boston, which won its fifth straight and its 12th in 13 tries.
The Bruins are also on pace to surpass the NHL record of 132 points set by the 1976-77 Canadiens, who played an 80-game season and didn’t have the opportunity to accumulate points for overtime or shootout wins. Boston has already clinched its third Presidents’ Trophy since 2014.
Jesper Bratt scored and Mackenzie Blackwood made 38 saves for the Devils, who remain one point behind Carolina and two ahead of the Rangers in the race for the Metropolitan Division title. Jack Hughes assisted on New Jersey’s goal, giving him 96 points for the season to tie Patrik Eliáš’ franchise record.
The Devils picked up a penalty about a minute in when Ryan Graves got called for upending Brad Marchand in pursuit of a loose puck heading toward the net. A minute into the power play, Zacha tipped a shot from Hampus Lindholm into the net.
With five minutes gone in the first, Zacha scored again, backhanding a rebound off Blackwood’s pads and into the net to make it 2-0.
The Devils cut it to 2-1 a minute later when a turnover left Bratt free all alone on Ullmark. They had another breakaway in the second period, but Ullmark stopped two swipes by Hughes and a rebound attempt by Yegor Sharangovich.
The Bruins killed a double-minor that straddled the break between the second and third periods.
Blackwood stopped David Pastrnak on a second-period breakaway.
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