A time to be merry?: A history of Boston sports on Christmas Day
BOSTON BRUINS
While the NHL hasn’t played on Christmas in 51 years, the Bruins were part of the NHL’s last Christmas slate, a 5-1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers in 1971 that saw Bobby Orr, Phil Esposito, and Derek Sanderson stuff the stat sheet.
The Bruins have played on Christmas 37 times in their 99-year history and hold a 17-18-2 record.
NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS
Until recently, the NFL typically avoided playing on Christmas, and as such Patriot Nation has never woken up to open presents with a football game to look forward to.
However, the NFL has slowly encroached on Christmas Day in recent years. 2022 was the third straight year that the league served up a helping of football on December 25 and was their largest slate yet with three games. So the Patriots’ time to spread merriment may be on the horizon.
BOSTON CELTICS
The NBA has touted Christmas as one of the league’s marque days since its inception, and as such, the Celtics have found themselves playing on the holiday the most of any of Boston’s sports teams. The Celtics have played 35 Christmas games. The New York Knicks have played the most in NBA history, with 53 Noel matchups.
The Celtics first played on Christmas Day in 1948, falling 80-77 to the Philadelphia Warriors. Boston was featured in the NBA’s Christmas day lineup 12 straight times from 1948 to 1959.
Strangely, the Celtics have only hosted a Christmas Day game five times, not including Sunday’s scheduled matchup against the Milwaukee Bucks.
Tommy Heinsohn holds the record for the most points in a Christmas game by a Celtic courtesy of a 45-point effort against the Syracuse Nationals in 1961.
Despite 17 NBA championships, historically, Christmas Day hasn’t been kind to the Celtics. Boston has a losing 15-20 record on Christmas.
The Celtics will look to buck a two-game Christmas Day losing streak when they host Milwaukee at the Garden at 5:00 p.m.
Boston Red Sox
With Christmas wedged solidly in the middle of baseball’s offseason, the Winter Meetings in the rearview, and Spring Training still over a month away, the Red Sox Christmas history is pretty sparse.
That is, unless you count the birth of 2007 World Series starter Hideki Okajima in 1975.
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