1961–62 Boston Bruins season

The 1961–62 Boston Bruins season was the Bruins' 38th season in the NHL. Earning 38 of a possible 140 points in the standings, the team's 0.271 points percentage was the worst in their history excluding their inaugural season in 1924–25, in which they captured 12 out of a possible 60 points (0.200). The team also endured a 20-game winless streak (16 losses and 4 ties) which included the entire month of February The Bruins missed the playoffs for the third consecutive season for the first time in franchise history.

1961–62 Boston Bruins
League	6th NHL
1961–62 record	15–47–8
Home record	9–22–4
Road record	6–25–4
Goals for	177
Goals against	306
Team information
General manager	Lynn Patrick
Coach	Phil Watson
Captain	Don McKenney
Arena	Boston Garden
Team leaders
Goals	Don McKenney (22)
Assists	John Bucyk (40)
Points	John Bucyk (60)
Penalty minutes	Ted Green (116)
Wins	Don Head (9)
Goals against average	Don Head (4.16)

Regular season

Final standings

National Hockey League

		GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	DIFF	Pts
1	Montreal Canadiens	70	42	14	14	259	166	+93	98
2	Toronto Maple Leafs	70	37	22	11	232	180	+52	85
3	Chicago Black Hawks	70	31	26	13	217	186	+31	75
4	New York Rangers	70	26	32	12	195	207	−12	64
5	Detroit Red Wings	70	23	33	14	184	219	−35	60
6	Boston Bruins	70	15	47	8	177	306	−129	38

Record vs. opponents

1961–62 NHL Records
Team	BOS	CHI	DET	MTL	NYR	TOR
Boston	—	2–10–2	4–8–2	3–10–1	2–10–2	4–9–1
Chicago	10–2–2	—	7–3–4	3–9–2	7–6–1	4–6–4
Detroit	8–4–2	3–7–4	—	3–8–3	6–5–3	3–9–2
Montreal	10–3–1	9–3–2	8–3–3	—	8–1–5	7–4–3
New York	10–2–2	6–7–1	5–6–3	1–8–5	—	4–9–1
Toronto	9–4–1	6–4–4	9–3–2	4–7–3	9–4–1	—

Schedule and results

1961–62 regular season
October Game Result Date Score Opponent Record 1 L October 11, 1961 2–6 New York Rangers (1961–62) 0–1–0 2 L October 12, 1961 3–6 @ New York Rangers (1961–62) 0–2–0 3 L October 14, 1961 2–3 @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1961–62) 0–3–0 4 T October 15, 1961 5–5 Montreal Canadiens (1961–62) 0–3–1 5 L October 17, 1961 3–5 @ Chicago Black Hawks (1961–62) 0–4–1 6 L October 19, 1961 3–7 @ Detroit Red Wings (1961–62) 0–5–1 7 L October 21, 1961 2–6 @ Montreal Canadiens (1961–62) 0–6–1 8 L October 22, 1961 1–9 Toronto Maple Leafs (1961–62) 0–7–1 9 W October 26, 1961 4–0 Detroit Red Wings (1961–62) 1–7–1 10 T October 29, 1961 2–2 Chicago Black Hawks (1961–62) 1–7–2
November Game Result Date Score Opponent Record 11 W November 2, 1961 5–2 @ Montreal Canadiens (1961–62) 2–7–2 12 L November 5, 1961 3–4 Chicago Black Hawks (1961–62) 2–8–2 13 T November 8, 1961 4–4 @ New York Rangers (1961–62) 2–8–3 14 L November 9, 1961 1–2 @ Detroit Red Wings (1961–62) 2–9–3 15 W November 12, 1961 4–3 Toronto Maple Leafs (1961–62) 3–9–3 16 W November 16, 1961 3–2 Montreal Canadiens (1961–62) 4–9–3 17 L November 19, 1961 2–6 Detroit Red Wings (1961–62) 4–10–3 18 L November 23, 1961 3–4 New York Rangers (1961–62) 4–11–3 19 L November 25, 1961 0–5 @ Montreal Canadiens (1961–62) 4–12–3 20 L November 26, 1961 1–4 Toronto Maple Leafs (1961–62) 4–13–3 21 L November 29, 1961 4–7 @ Chicago Black Hawks (1961–62) 4–14–3 22 L November 30, 1961 1–3 @ Detroit Red Wings (1961–62) 4–15–3
December Game Result Date Score Opponent Record 23 W December 2, 1961 3–1 New York Rangers (1961–62) 5–15–3 24 L December 3, 1961 1–3 @ New York Rangers (1961–62) 5–16–3 25 L December 7, 1961 2–5 Chicago Black Hawks (1961–62) 5–17–3 26 L December 9, 1961 2–9 @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1961–62) 5–18–3 27 L December 10, 1961 3–4 Montreal Canadiens (1961–62) 5–19–3 28 T December 13, 1961 2–2 @ Chicago Black Hawks (1961–62) 5–19–4 29 L December 14, 1961 0–5 @ Detroit Red Wings (1961–62) 5–20–4 30 L December 16, 1961 4–8 @ Montreal Canadiens (1961–62) 5–21–4 31 L December 17, 1961 1–4 Toronto Maple Leafs (1961–62) 5–22–4 32 W December 21, 1961 4–2 Detroit Red Wings (1961–62) 6–22–4 33 W December 23, 1961 7–4 @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1961–62) 7–22–4 34 L December 25, 1961 2–5 Montreal Canadiens (1961–62) 7–23–4 35 W December 31, 1961 7–4 @ New York Rangers (1961–62) 8–23–4
January Game Result Date Score Opponent Record 36 L January 1, 1962 2–4 New York Rangers (1961–62) 8–24–4 37 L January 6, 1962 2–6 @ Detroit Red Wings (1961–62) 8–25–4 38 W January 7, 1962 2–0 @ Chicago Black Hawks (1961–62) 9–25–4 39 L January 10, 1962 5–7 @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1961–62) 9–26–4 40 L January 11, 1962 0–6 Chicago Black Hawks (1961–62) 9–27–4 41 L January 13, 1962 3–5 @ Montreal Canadiens (1961–62) 9–28–4 42 L January 14, 1962 1–4 Montreal Canadiens (1961–62) 9–29–4 43 W January 18, 1962 5–3 Detroit Red Wings (1961–62) 10–29–4 44 W January 20, 1962 5–4 @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1961–62) 11–29–4 45 L January 21, 1962 1–5 Toronto Maple Leafs (1961–62) 11–30–4 46 W January 27, 1962 5–3 Chicago Black Hawks (1961–62) 12–30–4 47 L January 28, 1962 1–5 Montreal Canadiens (1961–62) 12–31–4 48 L January 31, 1962 0–5 @ New York Rangers (1961–62) 12–32–4
February Game Result Date Score Opponent Record 49 L February 1, 1962 3–5 New York Rangers (1961–62) 12–33–4 50 L February 3, 1962 3–6 @ Chicago Black Hawks (1961–62) 12–34–4 51 L February 4, 1962 0–6 @ Detroit Red Wings (1961–62) 12–35–4 52 T February 7, 1962 2–2 @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1961–62) 12–35–5 53 L February 8, 1962 2–6 Chicago Black Hawks (1961–62) 12–36–5 54 T February 10, 1962 2–2 Detroit Red Wings (1961–62) 12–36–6 55 L February 11, 1962 3–5 New York Rangers (1961–62) 12–37–6 56 L February 15, 1962 1–9 @ Montreal Canadiens (1961–62) 12–38–6 57 L February 18, 1962 0–6 @ Chicago Black Hawks (1961–62) 12–39–6 58 L February 21, 1962 2–4 @ New York Rangers (1961–62) 12–40–6 59 L February 24, 1962 2–7 @ Toronto Maple Leafs (1961–62) 12–41–6 60 L February 25, 1962 0–8 @ Chicago Black Hawks (1961–62) 12–42–6 61 T February 28, 1962 2–2 @ New York Rangers (1961–62) 12–42–7
March Game Result Date Score Opponent Record 62 L March 1, 1962 4–5 Chicago Black Hawks (1961–62) 12–43–7 63 L March 4, 1962 1–5 Toronto Maple Leafs (1961–62) 12–44–7 64 L March 8, 1962 0–3 Detroit Red Wings (1961–62) 12–45–7 65 L March 10, 1962 2–5 @ Montreal Canadiens (1961–62) 12–46–7 66 T March 11, 1962 2–2 Detroit Red Wings (1961–62) 12–46–8 67 W March 15, 1962 4–0 @ Detroit Red Wings (1961–62) 13–46–8 68 W March 18, 1962 6–2 Montreal Canadiens (1961–62) 14–46–8 69 L March 22, 1962 3–4 New York Rangers (1961–62) 14–47–8 70 W March 25, 1962 5–4 Toronto Maple Leafs (1961–62) 15–47–8
Legend:   Win (2 points)   Loss (0 points)   Tie (1 point)

Player statistics

Regular season

Scoring

Player	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
John Bucyk	LW	67	20	40	60	32
Don McKenney	C	70	22	33	55	10
Jerry Toppazzini	RW	70	19	31	50	26
Murray Oliver	C	70	17	29	46	21
Doug Mohns	LW/D	69	16	29	45	74
Cliff Pennington	C	70	9	32	41	2
Charlie Burns	C	70	11	17	28	43
Andre Pronovost	LW	70	15	8	23	74
Leo Boivin	D	65	5	18	23	70
Wayne Connelly	C	61	8	12	20	34
Terry Gray	RW	42	8	7	15	15
Tommy Williams	RW	26	6	6	12	2
Ted Green	D	66	3	8	11	116
Ed Westfall	D/RW	63	2	9	11	53
Bob Beckett	C	34	7	2	9	14
Larry Leach	C	28	2	5	7	18
Pat Stapleton	D	69	2	5	7	42
Dick Meissner	RW	66	3	3	6	13
Bob Armstrong	D	9	2	1	3	20
Ed Chadwick	G	4	0	0	0	0
Bruce Gamble	G	28	0	0	0	4
Don Head	G	38	0	0	0	14
Orland Kurtenbach	C	8	0	0	0	6
Dallas Smith	D	7	0	0	0	10

Goaltending

Player	MIN	GP	W	L	T	GA	GAA	SO
Don Head	2280	38	9	26	3	158	4.16	2
Bruce Gamble	1680	28	6	18	4	121	4.32	1
Ed Chadwick	240	4	0	3	1	22	5.50	0
Team:	4200	70	15	47	8	301	4.30	3

Note:

Pos = Position;GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes; +/- = Plus/minus; PPG = Power-play goals; SHG = Short-handed goals; GWG = Game-winning goals

Pos = Position;GP = Games played; Min, TOI = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T,T/OT = Ties; OTL = Overtime losses; GA = Goals-against; GAA = Goals-against average; SO = Shutouts; SA = Shots against; SV = Shots saved;SV% = Save percentage;

See also

• 1961–62 NHL season