Boston did a phenomenal job with its year-long celebration, recognizing and honoring 100 years of Bruins hockey. It started with a 2-1 win over the Montreal Maroons on Dec. 1, 1924 and it culminated with Sunday’s victory.

The play was not the thing, decidedly not the raison d’etre, Sunday afternoon on Garden ice. The Bruins and Canadiens met yet again, in what was the 6,898th regular-season game in Bruins history, and it was a celebration of the Black and Gold’s century-long legacy that framed the day on Causeway.

Every generation of New Englanders which has witnessed the century of Bruins’ hockey have their iconic, indelible moments. For the Greatest Generation, it may have been Milt Schmidt, Bobby Bauer and Woody Dumart being hoisted on the shoulders of their teammates as well as those of the archrival Montreal Canadiens in their final game before going off to serve in World War II in 1943.

Ponti, 18, will be one of the debutantes at the annual high-society event, which aims to celebrate “excellence, the empowering of women and the harmony between débutantes and cavaliers from all over the world,