Bruins Grab 1 of 4 Points in Back-to-Back

When the puck dropped last night in Edmonton, it felt like a new game. The Bruins lost in disappointing fashion against the Flames Wednesday night, 5-2. The Bergeron line started the game with a solid shift. The Krejci line, now featuring Danton Heinen, dominated with offensive zone time on their first shift. Less than thirty seconds into the third lines shift, the Bruins were hit with an obstacle.

David Backes would miss the rest of the first period after taking a high hit from Matt Benning. After the game, Bruce Cassidy said Benning’s elbow was down, but was a shoulder to the head and he expects the league to take a look at this. Luckily, Backes was alright, and the Bruins took the right precautions.

However, the Bruins didn’t let this bother them in the first period. They dominated in shots and scoring chances. 5v5 shot attempts were 20-9 in favor of the Bruins, and scoring chances were 10-3. The Bruins also had a powerplay opportunity where they got 3 of 6 shot attempts through to the Oilers goaltender, but there was no score after one.

Backes was back for the second period, but the rest of the Bruins weren’t. The Oilers controlled play in the second period, outshooting the Bruins 23-10, with 14 scoring chances to the Bruins four. The Bruins took the lead midway through the second with a Krejci goal off of a beautiful pass from Matt Grzelyck, but it didn’t last long as Kailer Yamamoto scored his first NHL goal off of a wonderful stretch pass from Adam Larsson to tie the game just a couple of minutes later.

The third period started out pretty even. Both teams traded momentum in the first few minutes until Charlie McAvoy took a penalty to lead into the first media timeout. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was able to make the Bruins pay after putting one home on a behind-the-net bank pass from Connor McDavid.

The Bruins either picked themselves up after that goal, or the Oilers caved, but Boston dominated from then to the end of regulation. David Pastrnak came up with another clutch goal to tie the game at two midway through the third. Then the Bruins pelted Cam Talbot, but nothing got through.

After a Marchand stretch pass to Bergeron failed in the opening seconds of overtime, the Oilers had a 3 on 2 the other way. Marchand played McDavid aggressively, taking himself out of the play, and securing the Oilers the victory.

Last night it was Anders Bjork’s game to sit out. After a few turnovers in the game against Calgary, we all had a feeling this was coming. Ryan Donato sat a game, and Danton Heinen sat two. Nevertheless, the Bruins third line was awful last night.

The third line produced almost now offense while giving up a high rate of shots. They were on the ice for the only 5v5 goal the Oilers scored, and didn’t produce a single shot on goal when they were all together.

As we expect almost all season, there will most likely be lineup changes for Saturday’s matchup against the Canucks. Some have wondered whether or not Halak or Rask will start in goal Saturday, but my money would be on Rask.