Bruins Prevail In Tight Checking Tilt Behind Pastrnak's OT Winner

EDMONTON - After going a combined 1 for 13 on the man-advantage, the Bruins and Oilers were not wowing anyone with an offensive display in a low scoring, tight-checking affair on Wednesday night.
Enter David Pastrnak.

The 23-year-old All-Star ended the game with a flair, using a smooth backhand five-hole move to beat Oilers goaltender Mike Smith in overtime and send the B's to their 10th win in their last 11 games.

"Torey [Krug] had a one-on-two, made a great defensive play," said Pastrnak when asked about the goal. "Krech [David Krejci] kind of won a battle and I was gone so he sent it over. Just went on breakaway. Little fake poke-check [by Smith] so I figured I'd try to go five-hole and good win."
While overtime was a cause for much frustration early in the season for the Bruins, Pastrnak's tally gave their Bruins a second straight win in extra time.
"Obviously, this year was a little tough the way it was going for us," said Pastrnak. "Lately we've been good so that's good. Getting some confidence back and hopefully we can keep that going. Penalty kill was excellent for us, especially in the last one, big plays."

PK Battle

The Bruins super charged power play took a rare backseat to the penalty kill on Wednesday night. The B's man advantage was without a goal on seven tries, while the PK was able to successfully thwart five of the six Oilers power plays.
"I think both penalty kills were clearly better than the power plays tonight," said head coach Bruce Cassidy. "I thought the puck was bouncing a bit, that had something to do with it. But at the end of the day, you're going to have those nights. Both teams have good special teams on both sides of it, good goaltending. Listen, yeah, you're glad to see you win a game you don't need your power play to score."
Edmonton's lone power play strike came in the third period when a seemingly harmless point shot deflected through a screen and past Rask. The goal was the lone blemish on an otherwise impressive night for the PK unit.
"We were battling hard," said goaltender Tuukka Rask. "We kept them to the outside. And I think the second period, they had the most dangerous chances on their power play. We, I think, whenever rebounds were laying there, guys cleared them out…good battle."
Cassidy echoed Rask's assessment of the penalty kill.
"I think with second chances we were pretty good," said Cassidy. "They had the one power play in the second period there where they chucked it at the net a little more and banged it around. That was a dangerous one, but for the most part we were able to limit that. I think we blocked shots at key times.
"Clears are getting better, we're doing a better job with that. With pressure, stopping up pucks, they're getting clears. We didn't have those long, extended shifts where guys were tired. Like I said, there was one in the second we fought our way through. Even the third period, I thought we didn't give up much. They got a nice deflection, those are going to happen."

Keeping It Close

While the Bruins have shown throughout the season the ability to win with offense, Wednesday night's victory showed a return to the simple, defensive minded game of past Bruins teams.
"We know those games, we're comfortable in them," said Cassidy. "We've had our share of - early in the year, the 5-4, the 4-3's, and we're able to come out ahead in some of those. But typically, when we're at our best, it's a low scoring game and force the other team to stay in the game. And I give Edmonton a lot of credit. They've done that lately.
"They know they're a little bit light in their lineup, so good for the American League guys to come up and do that job. [Oilers head coach Dave Tippett] is a great coach that way. That's kind of how it played out tonight. We were able to convert in overtime."
The Oilers reliance on the low scoring style was partially due to a barrage of injuries to top scorers Connor McDavid and James Neal among others.
"Anytime you're missing some key players," said Patrice Bergeron. "There are guys that have been called up, it's a good opportunity for them and you know they're going to play a simple game but a hard game. And that's what we got tonight. We played them in Boston, it was the same kind of hockey. No surprises. It was a tough game and they played well, and ultimately, we got the extra point."
Given the Bruins experience in the postseason, that type of game was nothing foreign to the group.
"I think we're used to playing that kind of game now," said Rask. "It's nothing unusual for us. We know that we can play that kind of game. It comes with the experience in the playoffs and everything. Yeah, it's no problem for us. I think once you're kind of moving towards the playoffs and postseason, these games are going to become more tight checking anyways so better get used to it."