Charlie McAvoy scored with 1:50 left in overtime to give the Boston Bruins a 6-5 win over the Edmonton Oilers Wednesday night at Rogers Place.
“It’s great that we got that point and we fought our way back, but it just felt like a game where I thought we made a good push and were going to get the win,” Oilers forward Warren Foegele said after the game.
“To be able to come back twice and earn a point says a lot about our team when we face adversity,” Oilers winger Zach Hyman added. “But at the same time, you don’t want to put yourself in that position.
“Since we’ve been back (from the NHL all-star break), we’ve put ourselves in this position too often and we have to learn to play consistently throughout the whole game again.”
The Bruins struck 2:34 into the game on a power-play goal by Morgan Geekie. The Oilers responded when Foegele bulled to the net and stuffed his 12th of the season past Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman.
Brad Marchand put a short-side wrister past the blocker of Oilers netminder Stuart Skinner to make it 2-1 Bruins just 25 seconds into the second.
Less than five minutes later, Trent Frederic maneuvered a slow-moving deflection past Skinner to put Boston ahead 3-1.
Jake DeBrusk deposited a rebound to increase Boston’s lead, though Foegele came back with his second of the night. It was 4-2 Bruins after two.
“It felt like today even though the goals were going in, that we actually had a better second period,” Foegele said.
“It’s something that’s bleeding in our game and something we know we’ve got to improve on.”
Six minutes into the third, Swayman failed to hold Cody Ceci’s point shot, allowing Oilers forward Mattias Janmark to tap in his third.
Just 1:10 later, Corey Perry tucked a rebound under Swayman to knot it 4-4.
“It didn’t go our way the first 35 minutes, I guess you could say — until a couple minutes were left in the second,” Perry said. “But we came in and talked about it and found a way to get a point.”
“I think he knows how to win,” Hyman said of Perry.
“He’s a guy who has done it before and can drag people into the fight.”
After some sloppy play by the Oilers, Bruins winger David Pastrnak fired in a wrister with 7:19 left. Again, the Oilers responded with Hyman scoring on a rebound 42 seconds later.
The Oilers went on the power play with 20.6 seconds left in the third when Boston’s James van Riemsdyk was flagged for tripping Janmark.
Swayman made a brilliant pad save on a Leon Draisaitl one-timer in overtime.
Van Riemsdyk had a breakaway out of the penalty box but was denied by Skinner. McAvoy ended it when he walked down the slot and went around Skinner for the tuck-in.
The Oilers (33-18-2) will host the Minnesota Wild on Friday. You can listen to the game live on 630 CHED, beginning with The Faceoff Show at 5:30 p.m. The actual game starts at 7 p.m.