Matt Grzelcyk scored late in the third period to give the Boston Bruins a 3-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers Thursday night at Rogers Place. The Oilers have lost four in a row.
“We did enough things to win tonight and didn’t win, so we’ve got to continue to pound away at it,” Oilers head coach Dave Tippett said after the game.
“You can’t let the frustration get you.”
The Bruins scored the only goal of the first period when Brad Marchand beat Oilers netminder Stuart Skinner on a shorthanded breakaway with 3:45 to go in the session. It was the first shorthanded goal allowed by the Oilers this season.
Early in the second period, Edmonton forward Kailer Yamamoto was tripped by Boston’s Craig Smith while killing a penalty. No call was made, allowing Bruins forward Jake DeBrusk to fire home his fifth goal of the season.
“I thought we carried the play a lot of the night five-on-five, but sometimes it goes in and sometimes it doesn’t,” Oilers captain Connor McDavid said of the loss.
“If we continue to do the right things like we are, it’s going to start to go.”
The Oilers finally got on the board with 1:46 left in the second when Leon Draisaitl one-timed a pass from Tyson Barrie past Bruins goaltender Linus Ullmark for a power-play strike.
Draisaitl made it 2-2 with another power-play goal midway through the third.
“I think the last three games probably could have gone either way,” Draisaitl said after the game.
“I thought tonight we were the better team, but that’s the NHL — we’ve won games too where we’ve been outplayed.”
Grzelcyk powered a shot past Skinner’s blocker with 2:35 left.
With Skinner on the bench for the extra attacker, Oilers winger Zach Hyman had a redirection chance after taking a pass from Draisaitl, but the puck flipped off his stick into the slot.
“We’ve got to find a way to keep that last one out of the net and take it into overtime and give ourselves a chance,” Draisaitl said.
“That’s the way it goes when you’re slumping — you find a way to lose these kinds of games.”
Oilers defenceman Kris Russell left the game four minutes into the second period with an upper body injury.
“I talked to him between periods and it didn’t look very good, but I haven’t got a full update on it yet,” Tippett said.
“I’ve got a feeling he might miss some time.”
Ullmark finished with 41 saves. Skinner stopped 27.
The Oilers (16-9) will host Carolina on Saturday.
–With files from Brenden Escott, 630 CHED
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