GAME RECAP: Oilers 3, Bruins 2

BOSTON, MA - Something was brewin' in Beantown.
After falling behind 2-0 to the Boston Bruins, who had the opportunity to clinch a playoff spot and become the fastest team in NHL history to reach 50 wins on Thursday night, the Edmonton Oilers orchestrated a terrific comeback effort over the final 40 minutes to hand the league leaders only their third regulation loss at TD Garden and put an end to their 10-game win streak with a 3-2 victory.
"We just kept playing, but emphasis on finding the next one and not giving up anymore," defenceman Darnell Nurse, who scored the game-winner, said post-game. "We were focused tonight. Everyone was out there just doing their job and it was great to see."
Evan Bouchard kickstarted the comeback with his first goal in 43 games on a 4-on-1 rush in the second period before Devin Shore contributed his third assist in four games on Ryan McLeod's equalizer 6:08 into the third period.
Just inside the final five minutes of regulation, Darnell Nurse's seeing-eye wrist shot through traffic lifted the Oilers into a 3-2 lead before being able to shut the Bruins down defensively to capture two massive points in the League's toughest building to play in this campaign.
Goaltender Stuart Skinner showed mental fortitude after allowing two first-period goals to settle into the crease and end the night with 26 saves on 28 shots, securing his 19th win of the campaign.
"It felt very nice if I'm going to be honest. I was very excited after the game," Skinner said. "The guys were smiling and coming to the net after the win, and I was doing the same thing back to them. I was pretty excited, so this one feels really good."
After Thursday's stellar comeback win, Edmonton wraps up its four-game road trip at Scotiabank Arena on Saturday night against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
"In the end, we stuck with it a little bit harder and a little bit longer and found the two points," Woodcroft said.

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FIRST BLOOD

The Oilers found themselves on the front foot early, but conceded the opening goal on Boston's first shot that came against the flow of momentum in the first four minutes of regulation.
A pass across the neutral zone by Brandon Carlo intended for David Pastrnak was redirected gently by the Czech forward into the path of Brad Marchand, who picked up the bounce off the boards in the right circle of Edmonton's zone after having just jumped on the ice following a change in a close shave with a Too Many Men penalty.
Marchand snapped a shot towards Stuart Skinner for the Bruins' first attempt on goal before it trickled across the line through his five-hole for an early 1-0 advantage.
Prior to the rush up ice that led to Marchand's goal, the Bruins had spent just 13 seconds of the first 3:51 of regulation in the offensive zone.
"I really liked how we came out of the gate tonight," Coach Woodcroft said. "I thought we controlled the first few minutes of the game. We were able to roll line after line and come at that team win waves. They scored that first goal, we thought on the bench it looked like there was a lot of players on the ice, but sometimes you don't get those calls. That didn't go our way."
"We were aware of what their record was when they score first or when they lead after the first period, but we felt that we were doing a lot of really good things out there. We just needed to find that first goal to cut it in half, and then our guys got it done in the third period."

BUZZER BEATER

In the dying seconds of the first period, a clearance from Skinner that ended up getting knocked down by a Bruins stick cost them a second goal with three tenths of a second on the clock.
The Oilers netminder delayed clearing the puck from behind the net for as long as he could, but when he did, David Krejci was there to knock it down and force a last-gasp opportunity for the Bruins before the buzzer. The 36-year-old Czech forward threw it between the circles to another Czech in Pastrnak, who let go of a one-timer that snuck through Skinner as the horn sounded on the first period at TD Garden.
Upon review by the officials, there was three tenths of a second left in the period, so the two-goal Boston lead was upheld. The Oilers were successful on a challenge for offside earlier in the period, but the review trigged by the officials went against them on this occasion in painful, last-second fashion.

STRENGTH IN NUMBERS

Bruins defenceman Matt Grzelcyk blew a tire and the Oilers took off with numbers.
Grzelcyk tried to turn back up towards the blue line in Edmonton's zone but lost an edge, allowing Mattias Janmark to pick up the puck and for the Oilers to attack the Boston net in a 4-on-1 scenario just past the midway mark of the second period.
The Swede kicked it to Bouchard at the top of the attack, where the defender decided to look off other options and finish the play himself with a 'Bouch Bomb: Wrist-Shot Edition' to the glove side of Swayman to draw Edmonton back within one with half the game still to go.
The tally was Bouchard's fourth of the season and first goal since a two-game stretch from Nov. 26-28 when the 23-year-old scored in back-to-back games against the Florida Panthers and New York Rangers, but was able to contribute three assists in Monday's win over the Buffalo Sabres.
"I see somebody who recognized an opportunity, and he's making the most of it. He made a lot of really good plays," Woodcroft said. "I think he has a chemistry with Ekholm. Ekholm has a good effect on Bouch, and in the end, it's him that's going out there and playing the way he is. So, good on him because he's taking advantage of that opportunity."

PLAY OF THE GAME

Leave it to the scorching-hot Devin Shore to create a turnover and set up the equalizer for Edmonton.
The 28-year-old forward, who now has three assists in his last four games since his insertion back into the lineup on Mar. 3 against the Winnipeg Jets, got low in the Boston zone to get his body in front of a failed Patrice Bergeron clearance and open himself up to find Ryan McLeod in between the hashmarks.
Shore sifted it onto the stick of McLeod, who lifted the twig of defenceman Charlie McAvoy before wiring the game-tying goal and his 11th of the season between the legs of Swayman six minutes into the third period.
Edmonton's depth shined through on Thursday with Evander Kane, Connor McDavid, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Zach Hyman all going pointless on the evening. Leon Draisaitl had a single helper in the win.
"I think if you look up and down our roster, we have numerous people that can find the back of the net and that's what you need as you come down the stretch here," Woodcroft said. "We're going to have quite a few people at double-digit goals. We think we're a deep team. We have a bunch of people in that room that care about each other, that know how to navigate through some sticky circumstances which we found ourselves in. We down 2-0 against the top team in the league after the first period, but we stuck with it."
The Bruins entered the third period with a 32-0-2 record after 40 minutes, and the Oilers had the league leaders on the ropes in danger of adding one of the flew blemishes to that sparkling success rate with well over a period to go.

TURNING POINT

The Doctor delivered the dagger to Beantown to seal the comeback.
Falling behind 2-0 against the league leaders didn't deter the resilient Oilers, who forged their way back at TD Garden to take the lead when Nurse put a wrist shot on goal with traffic in front that prevented Swayman from getting a glimpse at the effort, which beat him far side to give Edmonton a 3-2 lead with 4:49 on the clock in regulation.
The Bruins pulled their netminder for the extra attacker in the final two minutes, but Edmonton saw out the tense moment of the game to take two massive points away from TD Garden and into Saturday night's meeting with the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena.
"Obviously, we have confidence in our group," Nurse said. "I think I was saying this morning that we can play with anyone this League. It's one thing to say it, but it's another going out there and doing it."

PARTING WORDS

Skinner on rebounding from two first-period goals and being able to reset:
"Every single game I've gotten scored on at least once this year, so I think having that experience, getting scored on an NHL, the fans were loud especially here at the Garden, and just being able to reset always like how I always do and thought I did a good job doing that. Then, they got a second one. Kind of the last little bit took a little bit momentum off, but the guys did a great job not letting that affect us. Huge props to the guys in front of me."
Woodcroft on the mental strength of Skinner to shake off two early goals and put in a great game:
"You nailed it. Mental strength. Obviously, I think he'd probably want to have him back. He'd be the first guy to say it, but I like the way he stood in there. I don't think we gave up a ton tonight, neither team. There wasn't a lot of space out there. It felt like a playoff game, but you got to fight for your ice out there, including goaltenders having to fight for their ice. I thought he made a couple of big saves down the stretch and gave us a chance to win the game."

Woodcroft on McDavid's status after colliding with Derek Ryan knee-on-knee in the third period:
"I didn't even see it. My mind was on the play, but he felt good enough to finish the game. So, I felt good about that."
Woodcroft on taking two points from the Bruins after they did the same at Rogers Place in late February:
"In the end, it's (just) two points and the goal heading into today was to take care of our business. Today it's two points on the board. They're the class of the NHL, you can see why, but we felt we played a really good game against them in Edmonton and we didn't come away with any points. We aren't in the moral victory business. We're in the points collection business and in the end, we found a way to get what we needed tonight. That's a credit to our players."
Nurse on the group banding together in Boston to come back and earn the victory:
"I think we come in here every day and we believe in this group. We play for each other and obviously, it builds on that confidence. But with that said, we're a group that is out here just fighting for each other."