1926 – 27 Boston Bruins season The 1926 – 27 Boston Bruins season was the team ' s third in the NHL . The Bruins finished second in the American Division , making the playoffs for the first time in franchise history . The team competed in the first Stanley Cup finals to be held exclusively between NHL teams , losing to the Ottawa Senators . Regular season . " See also : 1926 – 27 NHL season " The collapse of the Western Hockey League not only placed the Stanley Cup in the exclusive control of the NHL , but also resulted in a flood of skilled players bolstering NHL rosters , allowing not only for three new expansion franchises ( the New York Rangers , the Chicago Black Hawks and the Detroit Cougars ) but providing the Bruins a complete overhaul of their roster . Goaltender Hal Winkler came from the Calgary Tigers and replaced holdover Doc Stewart in net , while Calgary scoring star Harry Oliver would lead the Bruins in scoring . From the Edmonton Eskimos came two players : star scorer Duke Keats and the real prize of the offseason , defenseman Eddie Shore , who in a Bruins ' uniform would be one of the great players in hockey history . Another find would be Percy Galbraith , who joined the Bruins after a long career in the senior leagues . With ten teams , the NHL realigned into two divisions , placing the Bruins in the new American Division with the Black Hawks , the Cougars , the Rangers and the Pittsburgh Pirates . Shore made an impact early , both as a rushing defenseman and as an enforcer , provoking the ire of the Montreal Maroons in a December 23 game in which he and Sprague Cleghorn both slashed repeatedly at Maroons ' star Nels Stewart , much to the disgust of the Maroons ' team owner , who after the game blasted the referee in the newspapers as " incompetent . " At the halfway point of the season , the Bruins were in third place behind Chicago . Despite performances such as Oliver ' s four goal night against the Black Hawks on January 11 , the club executed a major overhaul in mid January , first dealing Carson Cooper to the Canadiens for Billy Boucher and purchasing Hal Winkler from the Rangers , and then trading Duke Keats , who seemed to have faded , for Frank Fredrickson at month ' s end . Fredrickson and Winkler paid immediate dividends , with the Icelander scoring four goals against the Rangers in his first game in a Boston uniform and Winkler supplanting Doc Stewart as the club ' s starting goaltender . Nonetheless , the Bruins still relied heavily on rough play , and Cleghorn and Couto were specifically cited by Toronto Maple Leafs governor Charlie Querrie when he resigned in February as being " only good for chopping and slashing . " Inconsistent play marred the end of the regular season , with the Bruins losing four out of their last seven matches , but they did well enough to secure their first playoff berth . With a combined 31 points between Detroit and Boston , Fredrickson finished fourth in the NHL in scoring with Oliver placing ninth , and Winkler had the fifth lowest goals against average of the league ' s goaltenders . Eddie Shore finished only three behind Nels Stewart as the league ' s most penalized player . Numerous bonuses were given out at season ' s end to the team ' s players : $ 1 , 600 to Galbraith ; $ 1 , 400 to Hitchman ; $ 1 , 000 each to Shore , Oliver , Herberts and Cleghorn ; $ 850 to Winkler ; $ 750 to Fredrickson ; $ 700 to Coutu ; $ 300 each to Stuart and Boucher ; and $ 250 each to Meeking and the team ' s trainer . Playoffs . The Bruins beat the Black Hawks on March 29 ( in a game played in New York ) 6 - 1 , and tied 4 - 4 in Boston on the 31st , to win the two - game total - goal series ten goals to five . Their second series against the Rangers was also a two game total - goal series , where they played to a scoreless tie in Boston on April 2 and won 3 - 1 on the 4th in New York to win three goals to one . The Stanley Cup finals , a best - of - five series , began in Boston on April 7 , where the Bruins and Senators skated to a scoreless tie . Galbraith scored for Boston in the overtime , but the goal was ruled offside . The second game in Boston on the 9th was won by Ottawa 3 - 1 , as Boston allowed two shorthanded goals in a game marred by five power plays on Shore penalties alone . On April 11 , the series moved to Ottawa , and the teams played to another tie , 1 - 1 . The final game was on April 13 , won 3 - 1 by Ottawa , in a match marked by numerous fights in which several players received match penalties , fines and suspensions , and league President Frank Calder was summoned to the ice to sort it all out . The most egregious act was Bruin Billy Coutu attacking the referee , for which he was the first NHL player to be expelled for life from the league . The Stanley Cup win was the eleventh and final one for the original Ottawa Senators .