The Boston Bruins continued their historic season with a 3-1 Game 1 victory in the first-round series against the Florida Panthers at TD Garden on Monday.
Boston put together the greatest regular season record in NHL history at 65-12-5, beating the previous record held by the 1995-96 Detroit Red Wings (62-13-7) by three wins.
Kicking off their Eastern Conference playoff campaign, the Bruins jumped ahead in the first period through a David Pastrnak goal, before Brad Marchand and Jake DeBrusk added one each in the second period either side of Matthew Tkachuk's lone Panthers score.
While the Bruins came out with the win, they finished on the wrong end of the total shot count 32-29, also trailing slightly in hits (44-43).
Head coach Jim Montgomery said the score was not indicative of the general play, but at this time of year they will take whatever they can get.
"Results matter more than the process right now," he said. "When we look at our five-on-five game, we were not very happy with our process.
"So we can get better there, but the result was really good, and I think the result comes from we had some players play really well, especially our goaltender.
"The intensity of the playoffs, it surprised us a little bit, and I think we had a little bit of nerves."
Marchand is no stranger to playoff hockey, winning the Stanley Cup with the Bruins back in 2011, and he made it clear Boston are not happy with just the regular-season record.
"I don't think we've ever been satisfied with any game we've had this year," he said. "It's always good to start the first game with a win, but we haven't accomplished anything yet."
Tkachuk credited the Bruins with the way they improved the longer the game went on.
"There were parts of our game that were good, and I feel like [the Bruins] got a little bit better as it got on," he said. "Especially when you have a two-goal lead, it's easier to play.
"You're playing safer, and they packed it in pretty good on us, but I'm confident in our team, in our game, and seeing a lot of things that I think we could hang with these guys."
Game 2 will also take place in Boston on Wednesday before the series heads to Florida.