GAME RECAP: Bruins 3, Oilers 2

EDMONTON, AB - Connor McDavid reached 50 goals on the season with two goals in a high-calibre clash at Rogers Place between two of the NHL's best as the Edmonton Oilers fell 3-2 to the league-leading Boston Bruins on Monday night.
"They're obviously the best team in the League and I thought we played them hard and gave ourselves a chance to win," McDavid said.
The captain reached 50 goals in a campaign for the first time in his eight-year NHL career with a quick dangle that left Boston netminder Jeremy Swayman helpless to record his fourth-straight two-goal game and tie the game at 2-2 with 7:40 remaining in the second period.
Kostin made his return to the Oilers lineup after missing six games due to illness and contributed an assist on McDavid's milestone goal, three hits and six penalty minutes. Stuart Skinner made 25 saves on 28 shots in defeat, while Leon Draisaitl and Cody Ceci each contributed helpers.
The deciding goal game off the stick of Bruins forward Pavel Zacha with 30 seconds left in the second period before the Oilers had their looks in a scoreless final frame that confirmed their sixth defeat in their last eight games (2-2-4).
The slim margin of defeat against the League's top club in the Bruins brings some encouragement for the Oilers moving ahead with this tough seven-game stretch that includes another meeting with Boston next week at TD Garden. "It's good for our confidence to know that we can play with them," McDavid said. "That's the league's best and we can play with them. That's a good sign."
The Oilers continue their three-game homestand on Wednesday night against the Toronto Maple Leafs, who trail the Bruins by 15 points for second place in the NHL's Atlantic Division after Boston improved to 46-8-5 with the victory.

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FAST START

It shouldn't be any surprise to anyone at Rogers Place or at home in their living rooms that two of the League's top-three offences each found the back of the net in the opening minutes to set us up for an entertaining contest that had the billing as a high-intensity tilt.
McDavid was hovering around the Bruins blue line less than three minutes into the first period when Draisaitl found his captain with a two-line pass from inside the Oilers defensive zone, allowing him to break in freely along Boston's bench.
The League's leading goalscorer quickly turned up ice, beat Bruins defenceman Charlie McAvoy into the left circle and fired the opening goal five-hole under Swayman for the early 1-0 advantage and his 49th marker of the season.
But it took mere seconds for the top team in the NHL's overall standings to answer to their early deficit.

Just 13 seconds after McDavid opened the scoring, forward Thomas Nosek was left alone in front to pick up Garnet Hathaway's one-touch pass while facing away from goal, tying the game 1-1 with his fourth of the season.
Hathaway and defenceman Dmitri Orlov, both trade acquisitions for the Bruins from the Washington Capitals, picked up the helpers on the goal to show what they can bring to the powerhouse Bruins, who are loading up for a deep run as the Eastern Conference's runaway leaders.
Nick Foligno's 10th goal of the season inside the final five minutes of the first period gave the Bruins a 2-1 lead heading into the intermission.

McDAVID MAKES IT 50

McDavid's 50th goal of the season in just his 61st game of the campaign was a thing of beauty that was set up by a strong effort from the returning Klim Kostin.
After escaping the penalty box, Kostin pursued a rimmed puck at 4-on-4 all the way to Boston's end, where the Russian beat out the icing and heard the call of his captain coming down from the Oilers bench. Kostin pulled his head up and found McDavid with a wide-open pass that he finished emphatically, dangling Swayman into submission and sliding his 50th into the empty Boston cage to tie it 2-2 with 12:20 to go in the second period.

"Amazing. Dominant, dominant player. By far the best player in the National Hockey League," Coach Woodcroft said. "But what we're seeing on ice, the excellence, it's hard to describe night in and night out any differently than I have."
After throwing his trademark celebration and embracing Draisaitl near the Oilers bench following the goal, the German had a message for the first-time 50-goal scorer: "Welcome to the club," McDavid recalled him saying post-game.

COMETH THE KOSTIN

Kostin's game against Boston on Monday showcased the skillset and influence he brings that were sorely missed over the past two weeks due to his illness.
Number 21 was back in the Oilers lineup for the first time since facing the Red Wings in Detroit on Feb. 15 and got activated almost immediately when he slammed defenceman Connor Clifton down with a hard check below the goal line on his first shift. Minutes into the second period, the Russian dumped Hampus Lindholm into the Oilers bench right onto the laps of McDavid and Warren Foegele with another hard check that drew applause from the Rogers Place crowd.

Kostin's assist was vital to the Oilers leveling the score past the midway mark of the second period and McDavid netting his 50th of the season. The Blue & Orange will hope the October trade acquisition from the St. Louis Blues can get back up to speed and recapture his offensive form that led to nine goals in his first 30 games in Edmonton.
Kostin added an assist and three hits in his return to action but also took six penalty minutes, including a tough-luck high-sticking penalty on Patrice Bergeron late in the game that set up an extended Bruins power play that helped them drag out the final few minutes of regulation.
"I thought there were good parts to his game and then parts that can improve a little bit," Woodcroft said. "He's in the box a little more than he or we would like, and that negates some of his minutes, but he brings a physical element. It was nice to have him back in the lineup."

SLIM MARGINS

In a tightly-contested battle, a late second-period tally from Zacha proved to be the difference.
"One play," Coach Woodcroft said. "I thought it was a really well-played hockey game. I'm proud of our team with that effort. Obviously Boston is the top team in the NHL for a reason. They didn't need much in order to get to score, but when we broke down, they made us pay and we were unable to find the equalizer there in the third period."

Zacha dove at a rebound in front with 30 seconds remaining in the middle frame and chipped the puck past the outstretching glove of Stuart Skinner, lifting Boston into a 3-2 lead right before the second intermission that would prove to be the decisive goal after a scoreless final frame.
"It shows you the importance of every kind of moment in the game and you never know which one is going to be the difference either way, but yeah, frustrating," defenceman Tyson Barrie said.
Bostin improved to 32-0-2 when leading after 40 minutes with the victory and notched their 46th win of the campaign.
"They do a good job of shutting things down, and when they get a lead, they do a good job of closing it out," McDavid said. "It's impressive to see."

PARTING WORDS

Coach Woodcroft on learning from the little mistakes to be better come playoffs:
"Yeah, I think if you look at the game tonight, our team's competition level, our effort and our attention to detail for the most part was excellen. On some of the goals that went in, there are small individual errors that if we had a do-over, we might play a certain play differently. In the end, when you get down deeper and deeper into the year, the team that managea those situations the best move on.
But as I said, I was quite pleased with our effort tonight. I thought it was a very high-pace game. It was one of the quickest games we played this year. We didn't come out on top, but we'll take some positives out of that game and try and grow from the moments where we know we could've been better."

Zach Hyman on the playoff atmosphere of Monday's measuring-stick game against the league leaders:
"It was a playoff-like game. They have the best record in the league, so they're a really good team and it's tight game out there. And as you continue to progress in the season, you play against teams like that. They're getting ready for the playoffs, so that'a how they're playing.
"We can beat anybody. I think we're a strong team. Today's game was tight. I don't know what the chances were, but there weren't many both ways. You don't win every game you're in. Obviously that was one that we wanted to win, but I thought that our effort was there. I thought that we executed on a bunch of plays, a couple we didn't, and they were really good team and made us pay. So I think we're at the point now where we're confident in what kind of group we have and you've got to be able to beat those good teams."
Tyson Barrie on small errors and the Oilers showing character in defeat to the Bruins:
"It's a good team over there and we made one or two little mistakes and little miscommunication and ends up in your net. But overall, I thought we played really hard. We showed a lot of character tonight and it was a good game for us to realize there's another level to our game. If we play like that most nights, we should be on the right side of it."

Barrie on McDavid hitting 50 goals in a season for the first time in his career:
"Yeah, 50. And that's pretty quick, too. We had 61 games or whatever. That's quite the pace. And you can see the way he's doing it. He's kind of doing it in every fashion -- he's shooting, he's deking. You guys (the media) watch it the same as I do. It's incredible to see him every night and you almost become immune to it, but it's pretty special the way that he's producing and scoring goals. He's lethal."