Bruins vs. Oilers 2/19/20 RECAP: David Pastrnak lifts B’s 2-1 over Oilers in OT!

First Round:

The first period was just incredible. The B’s constricted the Oilers like a python, keeping them to only two shots in the entire period. And who else would take advantage of the Bruins putting on such a suffocating performance but Patrice Bergeron, who cashed in mid-way through the first period to put the B’s up 1-0!

Mike Smith tried. He just wasn’t beating Bergeron today.

And with that, we head to the 2nd period.

2nd Period:

The Oilers made up for nearly every shot they missed out on in the first period in this one. Part of that was the penalty time, but a big part of it was Boston sort of sitting back and playing with fire in letting the Oilers right back into it.

Thankfully, Tuukka Rask was up for the challenge! He made several fantastic stops to keep the score as is, and onto the third we go.

3rd Period:

Things didn’t start great as Boston spent a good portion of this period shorthanded, starting with Karson Kuhlman tripping up Caleb Jones, and the Oilers capitalizing on Chara and Chiasson creating a screen out in front of Rask, and Sam Gagner tipped it through everybody to even things up at 1-1.

It can happen when you have a mass of humanity like Chiasson and Chara in front of Rask. I’m not sure he saw that until the last second.

Also, roughly halfway through the period, Matt Grzelcyk took a big hit, and the Fourth line was not having it.

It ended with a penalty for Boston and honestly it was a clean hit, but it’s nice to see the guys standing up for each other.

The rest of regulation solved nothing, both teams received a point, and Overtime began:

Overtime:

We really take David Pastrnak’s scoring acumen for granted. Just like we tend to take David Krejci’s passing acumen. We really should stop every once in awhile to marvel at how lucky we are to get to cheer for some of the best Czech hockey players in the world.

And tonight, we got a chance to see why.

Just incredible. 2-1 Bruins win!

Game Notes:

• Tuukka Rask was cold-blooded tonight. His .966 SV% only belied just how important he was to getting this win. There were several sequences where the Bruins could’ve given up a goal quite easily, especially in the second, and he never budged an inch. The phrase “Vezina Candidate” should probably start being tossed around for how he’s been playing. Just sayin’.
• Your TOI leader was once again Charlie McAvoy, with just a hair over 22 minutes at all situations and at 5-on-5.
• Bruins went a catastrophic 0 for 7 on the power play. Part of that was Mike Smith being freaking unstoppable for stretches of this game. This game was a wild time primarily for the giving out of discipline, but neither side felt particularly inspired to take advantage of it. Felt like there was miles of open ice as a result. Go take a look at the TOI splits on NaturalStatTrick at 5-on-5, it’s hysterical.
• Again, I’m not against sticking up for your teammate and I do applaud the entire fourth line for sticking up for Gryz, but c’mon...fight the enemy when they actually do something wrong. Get those guys when the hit’s actually bad. Taking a penalty like that was dumb.
• Seriously. David Pastrnak is something else. 43 goals, finishes the game like a hero.
• You could tell the Oilers really missed Oscar Klefbom. They were allowing breakouts and 3/2-on-1s to happen a lot.

Bruins get a day for travel, then take on the Calgary Flames as the start of yet another back-to-back.

We’ll see you there!