Everything you need to know from the Bruins’ 4-1 win over the Oilers in quickie form, with BSJ insight and analysis:
BOX SCORE
HEADLINES
B’s second line breaks through: Just as we all expected (?), it was Joakim Nordstrom who finally solved the scoring troubles of the Bruins’ second line. Bruce Cassidy raised a few eyebrows when he opted to sit Ryan Donato for a forward who only scored two goals over 75 games last season — even moving Jake DeBrusk to the off wing in order to insert Nordstrom into the lineup.
But the free-agent acquisition made the most of his top-six promotion, burying a crisp feed from David Krejci on the rush at 15:13 in the first — capping off a two-goal outburst from the B’s that spanned just 36 seconds.
Logically, Nordstrom is not the long-term solution on the second line for the remainder of the season, but it was overall a strong showing from the regulars in David Krejci and Jake DeBrusk.
Krejci — who openly criticized his play this season when asked following Thursday’s morning skate — was buzzing against the Oilers, recording three takeaways and logging 19:11 of ice time.
DeBrusk has yet to score this season, but it’s certainly not for a lack of trying, as he took a beating all game while driving to the goal. He nearly scored while crashing the net midway through the second period, but he collided with Oilers goalie Cam Talbot and appeared to ding up his shoulder after hitting the netminder.
DeBrusk also sprung Krejci and Nordstrom’s scoring rush after fighting for the loose puck along the boards and prying it away from Milan Lucic, who has close to 40 pounds on the 21-year-old winger. Expect the goals and production to come soon for DeBrusk, who also had three takeaways Thursday night.
FOUR UP
David Pastrnak: The Bruins’ winger could have taken a pair of penalties and skated in circles for a couple of shifts and he still would have earned high marks just for this disgusting power-play goal at 9:20 in the first.
That’s just filthy. Boston’s scoring is still extremely top-heavy, but when you have a line and a power-play unit consisting of guys like Pastrnak, Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron — you can still pile on points when those guys are rolling.
Boston is now
4-for-9 on the power play this season, while the top line trio of Pastrnak, Marchand and Bergeron is now up to a mind-boggling 22 points in its last three games.
Matt Grzelcyk:
After a shaky showing against Ottawa on Monday (three giveaways), Grzelcyk responded with a poised performance against the Oilers, tying a career-high in points with a pair of helpers on the power play. Skating in place of Torey Krug on the B’s top man-advantage unit, Grzelcyk assisted on both Pastrnak and Marchand’s goals, while also playing a key role in shutting down the dangerous Leon Draisaitl line.
Brandon Carlo
Connor McDavid
Zdeno Chara
Jaroslav Halak:
Halak enjoyed what was Boston’s best collective defensive performance in front of him against a lackluster Edmonton squad, but the backup netminder still impressed against a team up with a lot of talent up front in McDavid and Draisaitl. His biggest save of the night came with 8:33 remaining in regulation, as he denied Tobias Rieder of a shorthanded with a split save. Halak stopped 25 of the 26 shots that came his way Thursday and is now 2-0-0 on the season with a .961 save percentage. Pretty, pretty good.
Zdeno Chara:
Other blueliners like Kevan Miller or Carlo could have earned recognition for some strong performances, but we gave a tip of the cap to Chara for directly preventing a goal with a clutch stick save.
A shot from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins managed to skitter past Halak and bring the Oilers within one goal in the final stanza of play, but Chara’s long reach allowed him to fish the puck off the line and keep it as a two-goal game.
Upon scanning the stat sheet, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that Chara once again led all Bruins skaters with 23:06 TOI.
TWO DOWN
The TD Garden glass:
In honor of Lucic’s return to TD Garden, Sean Kuraly did his best impression of the former B’s bruiser, popping out a panel of glass after delivering a big hit against Edmonton defenseman Matt Benning.
It was another strong showing from the B’s fourth line, as Chris Wagner delivered a crushing hit against Edmonton center Jujhar Khaira in the opening minutes of the first period. Kuraly finished a team-high six shots on goal in the win.
B’s third line:
It was another quiet showing from Boston’s third line of
David Backes
,
Anders Bjork
and
Danton Heinen
, with the trio failing to get on the scoresheet once again while firing three shots on goal.
UP NEXT:
The Bruins will be back at it on Saturday, with Boston set to host the Detroit Red Wings. Puck drop is set for 3 p.m. — with the start time changed in order to not conflict with Game 1 of the ALCS between the Red Sox and Astros. First pitch is slated for 8:09 p.m.
