from Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe,

The Bruins entered Saturday’s matinee vs. the struggling Blue Jackets with an astounding 23-4-2 mark, best in the league this season and a pace that would deliver a record for wins (65) wins and points (136) points if maintained over 82 games. Old NHL or new NHL, the current Bruins have performed like no team we’ve seen here from the day Charles Adams opened the doors for NHL business at the Boston Arena Dec. 1, 1924.

In a city where few are happy any more unless Duck Boats come waddling and honking down Boylston St., it can be too easy to look beyond, or dismiss, such in-season accomplishments. Reminder: Embrace the moment, folks.

Those who remember the many lean seasons here before Bobby Orr’s arrival in the fall of ‘66, the idea then of a 65-win season would have been pure absurdity. Those Black-and-Gold chop shops went seven seasons (1960-67) averaging a fraction below 18 wins and 45 points. They were all 70-game seasons. Even in Orr’s rookie season of ‘66-67, Harry Sinden’s charges were 17-43-10 for an eighth consecutive playoff DNQ.

So where’s it all going with this band of Jim Montgomery’s high-flyers? See above: Embrace the moment.

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All quiet on the Bruins negotiations with star right winger David Pastrnak on a contract extension.

“They gotta pay him, right?” a respected, decades-long NHL scout said during one of the club’s recent road stops. “And the longer he waits, I suppose, his number only goes up, because of the Matthews factor.”

Auston Matthews in Feb. 2019 signed a five-year extension that pays an average $11.6 million a year. It expires after next season, prior to the star pivot’s 27th birthday. Given his profile and the gargantuan Toronto market, Matthews could be the first to land an NHL max contract of eight years at 20 percent of the CBA-certified salary cap. If so, Matthews would be looking at a number upward of $17 million year.

Is Pastrnak worth “Matthews” money? That’s one debate.