It took a 41 seconds of extra hockey, but with a 2-1 overtime final over the Blue Jackets on Thursday night, David Pastrnak and the Bruins finally and officially clinched the Presidents’ Trophy.

The win, which secured the team’s fourth Presidents’ Trophy since the league introduced the honor in 1986 and first since 2020, ensures that the Bruins will have home-ice advantage in every round of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Of course, the trophy doesn’t exactly guarantee home-ice success, with no Presidents’ Trophy winner having won the Stanley Cup since the Blackhawks in 2013, but that’s not going to linger on the mind of Jim Montgomery.

“I mean, for sure we’re going to look at it, but the Presidents’ Trophy teams have also won the most percentages of Stanley Cups, so I’m going to look at it that way,” Montgomery said after the win. “I’d rather be Presidents [Trophy] winners than [finish] second, third, fourth or fifth because they haven’t won the Cup as much.

“It’s been a magical season so far, and we know the hardest part is ahead of us, and we’re looking forward to that grind. I think it’s really important. You look at our home record and you look at how much we love playing in front of rabid Bruins fans. I mean, teams aren’t going to look forward to coming in here.”

• An issue for the team for the last two months, Boston’s power play once again did more harm than good out of the gate in this contest, and damn-near sank the Bruins’ hopes of celebrating tonight.

  Awarded their first power-play opportunity just a minute and a half into play, the Bruins failed to generate much of anything on Columbus netminder Michael Hutchinson, and seemed to do even less when given a 1:58-long power-play opportunity just minutes later.

  In fact, the Black and Gold’s second power-play opportunity ended with a partial 2-on-1 opportunity for the Blue Jackets after a blind backhanded dish from David Krejci behind the Columbus net, and with a goal scored by the Jackets’ Jack Roslovic.

• Rosie gets us on the board first 🌹 pic.twitter.com/2qGol3BdoS

  — Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) March 30, 2023

• The Roslovic goal would hold as the only tally of the opening 20 minutes, and in a period that had to be in the running for Boston’s worst on home ice this season.

  But the second period with a much-needed energy boost, beginning with a scrap between Boston’s Jakub Lauko and the Blue Jackets’ Billy Sweezey.

  “It’s definitely a great message coming from him to wanting to give us a spark, and bring us into the fight when things were a little flat from the beginning,” Bruins captain Patrice Bergeron said. “Definitely great. And you could tell on the bench that it gave us some energy.”

  The Bruins built off that Lauko fight with a Tyler Bertuzzi power-play goal scored at the 10:07 mark of the middle frame off some nifty movement from Pavel Zacha, while Trent Frederic one-punched the Blue Jackets’ Lane Pederson less than two minutes later.

• Trent Frederic one punches Lane Pederson. Oof pic.twitter.com/ea5hjE9flC

  — Spoked Z (@SpokedZ) March 31, 2023

• Knotted up through 40 minutes of action, the Bruins forced their way to overtime with a gritty third-period effort that was headlined by some strong netminder from Linus Ullmark (10 saves in the third period alone), and a strong penalty kill following a tripping call against Tomas Nosek.

  The Bruins came through with yet another strong own-zone ‘kill’ in the overtime, too, as a stick-less Patrice Bergeron managed to separate Johnny Gaudreau from the puck in Boston’s end to get the play going the other way, where Pastrnak ended things with his 53rd goal of the season.

• Leave it to David to get it done. pic.twitter.com/Y2zQhIZleK

  — Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) March 31, 2023

• With the victory, the Bruins also set a new franchise record for wins in a season, with 58.

  The Bruins are also just four wins away from tying the single-season wins record of 62, which is held by the 1995-96 Red Wings and 2018-19 Lightning, and would thus need five wins over their final seven games to break the single-season record. The Bruins would also need 11 points over their final seven games to tie the single-season points record held by the 1976-77 Canadiens, and 12 to break it.

  But don’t expect that to be a priority for the Bruins, who will continue to prioritize rest (particularly on the second leg of back-to-backs game), to be fully healthy for the start of the postseason.

• 

  Mar 30, 2023; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Bruins center Jakub Lauko (94) controls the puck against Columbus Blue Jackets right wing Kirill Marchenko (86) during the first period at TD Garden. (Brian Fluharty/USA TODAY Sports)

• Prior to the game, the Bruins handed out their team awards for the 2022-23 season.

  Charlie Coyle was named the recipient of the Eddie Shore Award, given to the player who shows exceptional hustle and determination, chosen by the “Gallery Gods.”

  Linus Ullmark was named the winner of the Elizabeth Dufresne Trophy, awarded to the player exemplifying outstanding performance on home ice as determined by the Boston Chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers Association.

  Bruins captain Patrice Bergeron, meanwhilewas selected for the John P. Bucyk Award for providing exceptional off-ice charitable contributions, chosen by Bruins legend John Bucyk.

  David Pastrnak (First Star), Linus Ullmark (Second Star) and Brad Marchand(Third Star) were named the Bruins Three Stars, as selected by 98.5 The Sports Hub, for being top performers at home games this year.

  The Bruins will head out on the road for a weekend back-to-back with stops in Pittsburgh and St. Louis.

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