Patrick Maroon hat trick powers Oilers past Bruins

BOSTON --Pat Maroon got his first NHL hat trick, and Cam Talbot made 33 saves to lift the Edmonton Oilers to a 4-3 win against the Boston Bruins at TD Garden on Thursday.
It was the fourth multigoal game in the League for Maroon, who has an NHL career-high 14 goals this season.
"This is cool. This is pretty special for me," Maroon said. "I don't think in 1,000 years I'd ever imagine me getting a hat trick in the NHL."

WATCH: All Oilers vs. Bruins highlights
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins also scored, and Connor McDavid had two assists for the Oilers (20-13-7), who defeated the Bruins for the fourth straight time but first in regulation in 17 games since a 6-1 win Oct. 17, 2000.
The Oilers are 1-1-0 on their four-game road trip after a 3-1 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday.
Colin Miller, Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci scored, and Tuukka Rask made 21 saves for the Bruins (20-17-4), who have lost two straight games after winning two in a row.
It was Boston's first game since Hockey Hall of Fame member Milt Schmidt died Wednesday, and the Bruins had a pregame ceremony to honor their former captain, coach and general manager.
"For sure a tough game to lose, especially on a night like this," Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara said. "It was a night where it was dedicated to Milt and what he's done, and I felt we let him and obviously his family, including the fans, down. It's a tough way to lose. I thought we were obviously playing a tight game, and then again we lost it by mistakes made. It happened in the third and they got a two-goal lead, and we made it one goal but again fell short."

Maroon scored on a tap-in 1:08 into the game for a 1-0 lead.
Miller beat Talbot with a slap shot at 7:16 to tie it 1-1.
Bergeron put the Bruins ahead 2-1 with a wrist shot from the high slot at 10:43 of the second period, but Maroon tied it 2-2 at 13:09 when he beat Rask through the five-hole with a spinning shot from the slot.
Nugent-Hopkins scored 14 seconds into the third period for a 3-2 Oilers lead. Rask stopped Benning's shot, but the rebound went off Nugent-Hopkins and into the net.
Maroon's third goal of the night gave the Oilers at 4-2 lead at 9:02.
Krejci scored on a rebound with one second left on a 5-on-3 power play to cut the lead to 4-3 with 2:56 remaining.

Goal of the game

The Oilers opened the scoring after a give-and-go between McDavid and linemate Leon Draisaitl at the Bruins blue line. After McDavid took the puck wide against Chara, he passed to Maroon in front of the net for a redirection past Rask.

Save of the game

Talbot got his right pad on Krejci's shot from the left hash marks 4:00 into the second period after an odd bounce off the glass behind the Oilers net resulted in the scoring chance.

Highlight of the game

Maroon scored the game-winner after he got to a loose puck in the bottom of the right faceoff circle and skated in alone on Rask. After a deke to his backhand, Maroon tucked a forehand behind the Boston goaltender to complete his hat trick.

Unsung performance of the game

Draisaitl took on two Bruins in the corner, and his hit on Boston forward Brad Marchand forced an errant pass that wound up on Maroon's stick before the game-winning goal.

They said it

"I thought [Patrick Maroon] showed it tonight. A hat trick, a scrap against a very big, tough individual, their leader (Zdeno Chara). And that's what you can see on the game sheet tomorrow and a week from now. But all the board work and the grind time that he did to keep plays alive. We weren't real sharp early ... I thought it took him, his line, some of our bigger bodies to settle things down and get us back into the game." -- Oilers coach Todd McLellan
"Every breakdown we seemed to have ends up in the back of our net. So those are frustrating nights. They're frustrating losses, especially when you need to win. So definitely, that's how I look at it. We were the better team, there's no questions there. We just gave them too many gifts." -- Bruins coach Claude Julien

Need to know

McDavid leads the NHL with 45 points, two ahead of Pittsburgh Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin. … The Oilers won in Boston in regulation for the first time since Nov. 7, 1996. ... Bruins defenseman Kevan Miller got his first point in 21 games this season when he assisted on Bergeron's goal.

What's next

Oilers: At the New Jersey Devils on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; SN, MSG+, NHL.TV)
Bruins: At the Florida Panthers on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; FS-F, NESN, NHL.TV)