Here's what Bruins need to do to set NHL's all-time record for wins, points in a regular season

BOSTON -- The Bruins faced a pair of tall challenges over the weekend. As has been the case for the entire season, Boston handled them both with aplomb.

First, the Tampa Bay Lightning came to Boston, fresh off a 7-2 loss and feeling a bit edgy. The Bruins held them off, 2-1, at the TD Garden, clinching the Atlantic Division crown in the process. Next, a group that didn't include Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand or Hampus Lindholm headed to Carolina for the second leg of a back-to-back on Sunday. Despite letting a 3-1 lead slip away in the third period, the Bruins pushed the game to a shootout, where they scored twice, and where Jeremy Swayman stopped the two attempts against him.

The 2-0-0 weekend now has the Bruins at 57-11-5 on the season, with 119 points in the standings. The next-best team -- Carolina -- is 16 points behind them. With nine games left in the season, the Bruins have tied their franchise record for wins with 57, and they're two points behind their single-season best of 121, set in the 1970-71 season. (Those '71 Bruins only played 78 games.)

But as has been simmering for some time, this year's Bruins have a chance to not just reset franchise history but to etch their own spot in NHL history. The season has been that dominant.

And now that they've swept the weekend, and now that there's a light at the end of the tunnel in this breakneck stretch of their schedule, it's a fair time to lay out what the Bruins are chasing in the final two and a half weeks of the regular season.

In terms of wins, the Bruins are now five away from tying the record of 62, set by the 1995-96 Red Wings and the 2018-19 Lightning.

In terms of points, the Bruins are now 13 points away from tying the all-time mark of 132, set by the Canadiens in 1976-77. It'll take seven wins -- or six wins with a pair of OT/shootout losses -- for the Bruins to get past that mark.

A 7-2-0 record or a 6-1-2 record won't be easy to record over the final nine games. Obviously. But the Bruins haven't really had an issue racking up victories this year, and Sunday's win without three of their best players certainly helps make the case that it can be done.

(Among those historic teams, the 1977 Canadiens won the Stanley Cup, the 1996 Red Wings lost in the conference finals, and the 2019 Lightning shockingly were swept out of the first round of the playoffs by the Blue Jackets. So, a mixed bag.)

As for the Bruins' opponents in their remaining games, here's what the schedule holds:

Tuesday, March 28: vs. Nashville (36-28-8)
Thursday, March 30: vs. Columbus (23-42-7)
Saturday, April 1: at Pittsburgh (36-27-10)
Sunday, April 2: at St. Louis (33-34-6)
Thursday, April 6: vs. Toronto (44-20-9)
Saturday, April 8: vs. New Jersey (46-19-8)
Sunday, April 9: at Philadelphia (28-32-12)
Tuesday, April 11: vs. Washington (34-32-8)
Thursday, April 13: at Montreal (29-38-6)

And here's how the Bruins have fared vs. those teams this year:

Nashville: 1-0-0
Columbus: 2-0-0
Pittsburgh: 2-0-0
St. Louis: 1-0-0
Toronto: 2-1-0
New Jersey: 2-0-0
Philadelphia: 2-0-0
Washington: 1-1-0
Montreal: 2-0-0

Combined: 15-2-0

Clearly, the Bruins have handled those opponents quite well thus far, as evidenced by their .882 winning percentage. If that level of winning holds, they'll end up with eight wins in their final nine games. 

But of course, past results do not determine future outcomes, and there are so many variables that will come into play in terms of players resting that it would be unwise to make any predictions either way.

Yet if the Bruins pick up a couple of wins on home ice against some bad teams to start this week, then take care of business in a road back-to-back in Pittsburgh and St. Louis, then the scope of this historic possibility will become even more real.

Everyone in Boston -- including the players in the Bruins' locker room -- is hoping for a Stanley Cup. But this historic chase for wins at least provides a worthwhile diversion in what would otherwise be a drama-free end to the regular season.