The Bruins held Connor McDavid in examine all night time, however the Edmonton Oilers discovered a method to climb out of a gap and beat the mighty B’s with no main contribution from one of the best participant on the earth.
The B’s coughed up a 2-0 lead and the Oilers scored two third-period objectives to snap the B’s 10-game successful streak with a 3-2 victory. It was simply the B’s third regulation loss on the Garden.
It was probably the most uncharacteristic of Bruin losses. When they have been up 2-0 and seemingly had a goalie on the ropes, they pulled their punches for some unknown motive. Despite being a league-best plus-50 in third intervals this yr, they spit up a 2-1 lead and couldn’t even get it to extra time. And their most dependable participant registered a expensive turnover.
For the high-flying B’s, the loss was a moist sock slap throughout the face.
“I thought we checked pretty good tonight, but I thought the Oilers were the better team,” stated coach Jim Montgomery. “They were good. We weren’t good enough. I thought they outplayed us, outworked us and outcoached us.”
Darnell Nurse gave the Oilers their first lead of the sport with a protracted shot from the left level that discovered its approach by way of Jeremy Swayman’s pads with 4:49 left within the third interval. Screened firstly, Swayman didn’t get a great take a look at it.
“I didn’t see the release, so I had a feeling it was going to the left side of the net,” stated Swyam. “I put myself in position, but it beat me. I don’t know if it was tipped or not.”
The B’s took a 2-1 lead into the third interval however didn’t defend it. Patrice Bergeron, of all gamers, despatched a impartial zone move meant for Charlie McAvoy that was off the mark and the Oilers wound up with possession within the Boston zone. From behind the web, Devin Shore fed Ryan McLeod out entrance for the equalizer at 6:08.
“That’s the first time I’ve seen him make a mistake. I’m going to let him go on that one,” stated Montgomery.
Bergeron, nevertheless, wasn’t letting himself off the hook. He conceded that bottling up McDavid — 0-0-0, one shot — can take a number of vitality, however he didn’t use that as an excuse for the errors that have been made.
“A lot of it is on how we played, myself including on that second goal, turning the puck over. When it’s self inflicted like that, they’re going to make you pay,” stated Bergeron. “There’s areas we want to improve as a team. I think turnovers has been one of those and tonight is a good example. Yeah, we’ve been a great third period team throughout the year and tonight wasn’t the case. That’s why we have to realize that teams are coming for us and we have to take that as a good challenge.”
The B’s jumped out to a 2-0 lead within the first however it was largely due to a few miscues by goalie Stuart Skinner.
The Oilers had the B’s hemmed in their very own zone on the primary few shifts however after the B’s lastly nudged the puck out of the defensive zone, David Pastrnak threw the puck into house for Brad Marchand to trace down. Upon catching as much as the puck within the left circle, Marchand instantly snapped a shot from the dot that Skinner ought to have had however it broke by way of him for Marchand’s twentieth objective at 3:51. It was Marchand’s tenth straight 20-goal season and twelfth of his profession.
The B’s held a 10-5 shot benefit and had the one two energy performs. They thought that they had pushed the result in 2-0 on the second PP when David Krejci whistled a one-timer off a Charlie McAvoy move however it was dominated that the B’s have been offside properly earlier than the objective.
Just when it seemed just like the B’s must go into the primary intermission with a slim one-goal lead, Skinner made one other gaffe. With lower than 10 seconds left within the interval, he went behind the web and tried to rim it across the boards however Krejci picked it out of mid-air. The ever affected person Krejci surveyed the ice earlier than discovering Pastrnak within the slot. And with 00.2 seconds left within the interval, Pastrnak’s one-timer beat Skinner and the clock for his forty fifth of the yr.
But if Skinner was shaky, the B’s let him off the hook. They didn’t get one other by him – and good a part of it was for an absence of making an attempt.
“After the first, we said we were lucky to be up 2-0. They were the better team. I thought we were better in the second but we passed up too many opportunities to push the lead,” stated Montgomery.
In a swift shifting second, probabilities have been few for each groups however the B’s have been beginning to assert a territorial edge. But catastrophe struck once they have been shifting the puck across the Oiler finish. As Matt Grzelcyk skated to gather a puck alongside the precise wall, he fell down and Edmonton broke out on a not often seen 4-on-1. Eventually, Evan Bouchard buried a wrister from the excessive slot over Swayman’s blocker at 10:44.
The B’s had a territorial benefit within the second however they handed up open pictures, Most notably, Charlie Coyle had two prime scoring probabilities on the identical shift that he eschewed for passes that by no means related.
That gave the Oilers some oxygen for the third interval, they usually didn’t waste it.
Said Montgomery: “We were a very non-competitive team tonight offensively.”
Uncharacteristic, certainly.
Source: www.bostonherald.com