Mattias Ekholm scored 1:04 into overtime as Boston fell to 17-13-4 and finished its five-game Western swing at 2-2-1.
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EDMONTON, Alberta — Talk about getting the cold shoulder.
The Bruins played to their identity for the majority of Thursday night’s affair with the Oilers. Unfortunately for them, Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl played to theirs at just the right times.
Mattias Ekholm scored at 1:04 into overtime to give the Oilers a 3-2 come-from-behind victory and send their faithful into the frigid streets surrounding Rogers Place to celebrate.
It was a bitter pill to swallow for the Bruins and Jeremy Swayman, who led, 2-0, after the first and then saw it disappear when Draisaitl set up goals by Zach Hyman in the second and McDavid with just over two minutes remaining in regulation.
Up until McDavid’s equalizer, the Bruins were playing a tight-checking game in all three zones to mute the high-powered Oilers.
“Yeah, they’re both world-class players, but I don’t think we can give him too much respect in the room,” said Bruins forward Mark Kastelic. “I think that’s one of the things too, going forward, I think we might give them a little bit too much respect and I think we’ve just got to continue to be hard on them and not let them take advantage of us.”
Boston fell to 17-13-4 and finished their five-game Western swing at 2-2-1, collecting 5 points in their final three games.
As the temperatures continued to dip outside — it was minus-17 at puck drop (OK, that’s Celsius but this is Canada), the Bruins sizzled inside over the first 20 minutes.
The Bruins raced to a 2-0 lead that could have easily been 4-0 if not for some big saves from Stuart Skinner.
Even more impressive was their physicality and attention to detail in all three zones. Boston held the Oilers to just 5 shots in the first.
Elias Lindholm got the Bruins on the board just 1:07 in, circling around the circle to Skinner’s right and beating the goalie over the shoulder to the top shelf. Brad Marchand and Charlie McAvoy picked up the assists but credit big Justin Brazeau for providing a nice 6-foot-5-inch, 220-pound screen in front of Skinner.
David Pastrnak, the hero of Tuesday night’s OT win down the road in Calgary had a couple of nice scoring opportunities.
Kastelic doubled the lead with a beauty.
The big center blew past Mattias Janmark at the blue line, curled toward the slot and around Troy Stecher before lifting a backhander past Skinner at 17:35.
“It all kind of happened pretty fast. [Johnny Beecher], I think made a good play to knock it out of the air and get in a good position for me. And I think Marc [McLaughlin] also made a little bit of a pick there as well,” said Kastelic. “And I think I was looking for someone [at the] back door and there was nobody there and just tried to lift it.”
The Oilers pushed hard in the third and their work paid off when McDavid swooped in and slid a backhander through Swayman’s pads.
“I think I was too committed to the passing option and opened myself up a little too much and he’s a hell of a player, so he made a play and saw an opening,” said Swayman. “It was unfortunate.”
It was a loss, but not all was lost.
“It was a solid [effort], especially the first period. Great start by our team, we came out checking. We were committed to checking, good habits, and good details,” said coach Joe Sacco. “Second period it swung a little bit in their favor. I thought the third was actually fairly even until the end of the game where they started to push hard. It’s just unfortunate that we couldn’t come away with that extra point.”