GAME RECAP: Oilers 5, Bruins 3

BOSTON, MA - They may have been down, but the Oilers were never out.
Leon Draisaitl overtook the National Hockey League scoring lead with three points, Cody Ceci set up the game-winning goal and added an insurance marker, and netminder Mikko Koskinen made a crucial game-saving stop late as the Oilers displayed a resilient performance to down the Boston Bruins 5-3 at TD Garden on Colby Cave Night.

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FIRST BLOOD

After seeing his stick explode on a one-timer attempt from his spot within the left circle on the power play, David Pastrnak grabbed a fresh twig to open the scoring off the rush minutes later. The sniper walked in from his strong side on the right and whipped a quick wrist shot that zipped through Koskinen's wickets at 4:45 of the opening frame.
Pastrnak lit the lamp for his fourth of the season but the lead was short-lived as Evan Bouchard knotted the game up with an accurate wrist shot of his own 44 seconds after.

HIGHLIGHT OF THE NIGHT

Anything you can do, Zach Hyman can do better.
The winger's backhand goal at 5:30 of the second period is the Highlight of the Night. Just 24 seconds after Brad Marchand deposited a backhander to give the Bruins a 2-1 lead, Hyman wasted no time in answering back in a better way. The forward corralled the puck along the boards, sifted to the goal-line and dangled around Derek Forbort before going farside on Ullmark for the backhand beauty.
McDavid earned the only assist on the play, extending his point-scoring streak to 12 games with his 15th assist for career point No. 598.

TURNING POINT

Special delivery.
Boston blueliner Brandon Carlo's giveaway in the third period landed right onto the blade of Draisaitl, who fired the gift into the back of the net for the equalizer and his 11th of the season. Just over three minutes later, the German finished a great setup by Ceci for the game-winning goal, and Ceci followed that up with the insurance marker at 17:41 of the final stanza.

SAVE OF THE GAME

Koskinen's unbelievable skate save in the waning moments of the game with the Oilers up by a single is the Save of the Game.
Following a mad scramble in front that caused Koskinen to fall out of position, Pastrnak found himself with a glorious opportunity to level the score but the keeper elevated his right leg to get a skate on what appeared to be a sure goal. Koskinen ended the night with 26 saves and his robbery of Pastrnak bested Linus Ullmark's diving pad save on a Kailer Yamamoto one-timer in the first period.
TOP PERFORMER
Draisaitl's heroics are worth the applause, but Ceci's strong all-around outing on both ends of the ice earns him Top Performer honours. The defender acted the part of playmaker with a heads-up dish to Draisaitl for the game-winner and then capped the night with a late snipe for his first goal in an Oilers uniform. The 27-year-old logged 21:11 on the night, including over two minutes of shorthanded ice time, registered four shots on goal and had a plus-one rating.

PARTING WORDS

Head Coach Dave Tippett's comparison between the win over Boston and loss to Detroit:
"We competed way harder. All the way through our lineup, we competed hard. We got behind quick but the ability to get it right back again and not chase the game much was a big factor. We turned one over and the second one shouldn't have been a goal because there should have been a penalty on the play. The third one, Mikko should have stopped. For the most part, we were pretty strong but we competed hard. It's good, we didn't want to lose two in a row, so we came out and played well."
Tippett on the missed tripping call against Connor McDavid:
"Did you see that up there, too? I saw that on the bench, too, just didn't know if anybody else saw it. It's frustrating because the tone is set on the first call of the game on Draisaitl, which shouldn't be a call. If you're going to set the tone like that, you better call the rest of the game like that. That's not the way it went. There was a missed call on the goal and the Draisaitl penalty to start it off, when a referee does that early, he sets the standard of the game and that wasn't the standard that was upheld throughout the game."

Tippett on Koskinen's excellent showing in the third period:
"They pushed a little bit and he had a couple around the crease there that he made big saves on. He made the saves when we needed it."
Draisaitl on Ceci's two-point performance:
"He's been amazing. Probably not the prettiest guy to watch, if that's what you want to say, but he's so effective and so good at what he does. Especially for guys like that who work so hard and do the things that don't get noticed all the time, it's especially nice for him to get a goal and make a huge play on the game-winner. He's not all D-zone and hard to play against. There's lots of skill there too, and that's great to see. We're happy for him."
Draisaitl on missed penalty calls:
"You have to. You don't have a choice, right? You can complain about it a little bit but at the end of the day, if it's not called, then it's not called. Just got to continue to play and try and draw the next one or just keep playing."
Hyman on the resilience of the Oilers:
"Boston is a really good team but I think we just kept pushing and are confident in our ability to score goals and come back. We had a strong belief in the team and kept pushing, kept getting pucks to the net. Leon got a couple, Ceci made a couple of great plays and we got the win."