The bleeding had to stop at some point for the Bruins, so why not stanch it with their best road win of the season?
Considering the situation and opponent, that’s exactly what the B’ got on New Year’s Eve in Edmonton. They broke out of their scoring slump, got a terrific performance from Jeremy Swayman and a timely star turn by David Pastrnak (2-1-3) to snap their six-game losing streak with a 6-2 win over the Oilers.
The B’s played with fire by giving the top-ranked power play five chances but they managed to kill them while the B’s cashed in on one of the three PP opportunities they got.
The B’s end the calendar year at the halfway point of their season at 21-18-2. They are now 1-1-1 on their five-game road trip.
Swayman (34 saves) was excellent when he had to be, stopping multiple breakaways, including a couple by the sublime Connor McDavid.
“It’s a quality win,” Swayman told NESN. “All the guys played the right way and that’s our formula. It’s how we’re successful and it’s really good to see it against a high quality opponent.”
Unlike in their previous meeting in Boston a couple weeks ago, a 3-1 Edmonton win, the B’s were not afraid to press the issue in the offensive zone when they had the opportunity.
“I think we controlled our forecheck,” said coach Marco Sturm. “What I mean by that is we knew when to pressure their D and also when to sit back and control everything in front of us, especially with a lot of speed coming in. It was just a very good, structured game and I’m just a big believer of when you play good defense, you’re going to win hockey games.”
The B’s took a 2-0 lead in the first period but the Oilers sliced it in half before the first intermission. The hosts would never catch up, however.
They started the game exactly how they did not want to, with Elias Lindholm taking a slashing penalty 4:22 into the game. But the breaks went the B’s way.
First, Zach Hyman ended the power play by tackling Marat Khusnutdinov halfway through and, when goalie Connor Ingram played the puck outside of the trapezoid, the B’s had a 5-on-3 power play for 54 seconds.
They just missed cashing in on the two-man advantage but, on the 5-on-4, they took a 1-0 lead at 7:28. Charlie McAvoy’s shot was deflected wide by Elias Lindholm but Pastrnak collected it off the end boards and banked it home off Ingram for his 16th of the year.
The B’s doubled their lead off the rush at 18:13. Hampus Lindholm gained the blue line and dished it to Viktor Arvidsson, who in turn backhanded a pass into which Casey Mittelstadt could skate. From the left circle, Mittelstadt snapped his ninth of the year shortside past Ingram.
But the Oilers had already been surging. Swayman was excellent in the first period, stopping McDavid on two clean break-ins already. But there was nothing he could do on the one that got past him. McDavid danced between Mikey Eyssimont and Elias Lindholm into the low slot before dishing a backhand pass to Hyman for an easy backdoor goal with 41 seconds left in the first.
Swayman was forced to make another good save on Leon Draisaitl before the period was out and the B’s got to the room with a one-goal lead. They were outshot, 15-12.
But when it felt like the Oilers were about to take over the game in the second, the B’s extended their lead to three goals in the middle stanza.
The B’s had to kill off their third penalty when Fraser Minten was called for high sticking at the start of the second and they were able to survive it. The B’s then got one of their own just as Evan Bouchard was stepping out of the box with Boston scoring at 7:05.
With the B’s still skating 5-on-4, Minten gained the zone and dropped it to Hampus Lindholm at the left point. The defenseman skated down to the outside of the circle and beat Ingram with a long-distance wrister just under the bar to the shortside.
Then late in the period and after another successful PK, a terrific end-to-end play by Jonathan Aspirot led to a 4-1 lead. Aspirot, who took the bad penalty at the end of regulation that led to the overtime game-winner in Calgary on Monday, shut down a play in the defensive zone and sent Pastrnak away on a 2-on-1 with Minten. Pastrnak toe-dragged the puck from the right to left side and passed back into the slot. The puck was deflected in front and sat there for Aspirot, who had followed up the play, to sweep it into the empty net at 18:19 for his second of the year.
That would have felt like a comfortable lead against anyone but the Oilers.
“You can’t stop playing against these guys,” Pastrnak told reporters in Edmonton. “You have to keep playing until the last whistle. You can’t sit back. That’s when it’s going to bite you. Obviously, they had their push but we were able to extend the lead throughout the game. Sway was there and the special teams were great. Great team win and hopefully we can build on it moving forward.”
Meanwhile, Swayman continued his strong game, stopping all nine shots in the second.
He needed to continue in the early stages of the third. Right off the opening faceoff, Jack Roslovic had a clean breakaway that Swayman stopped.
The Oilers buzzed for a few minutes until the B’s got their legs under them. And when the Oilers turned the puck over at their blue line, Alex Steeves pounced on it and went on the attack, pushing it up to Morgan Geekie. He dished it back to Elias Lindholm, who beat Ingram at 4:20 from the right circle with his sixth of the year, another soft goal.
But after the B’s killed off a Pastrnak trip, their fifth kill of the night, Swayman got beaten on a shot he’d want back. Cheating to the middle of the ice, Swayman got beat to the shortside by a Roslovic shot from deep on the left wing at 7:22. That was a blemish that was easily hidden, however.
With 5:26 left, Pastrnak scored his second of the game when he blasted a slapper through Ingram and they could finally breathe easily, satisfied that the explosive Oilers were finally extinguished.
