Marco Sturm wouldn’t label Thursday night’s loss to the high-powered, explosive Edmonton Oilers as a measuring stick for his Bruins team, but he did admit afterward that the defeat will provide some key teaching moments for a hockey club still pushing the boundaries of exactly how good they can be this season.
Clearly the B’s fell a little short in the 3-1 loss to the Oil at TD Garden as their best players got dinged by Edmonton’s fourth line for the game-winning goal in the second period, and Connor McDavid clinched things in the third with a backbreaking, breakaway shorthanded strike that put things out of reach.
Before and after those impactful plays, it was a pretty evenly played game during 5-on-5 play, with the Oilers also gaining the special teams’ advantage by virtue of an early power play goal and the shorthanded insurance marker that effectively punched Boston in the gut.
Connor McDavid's your new co-leader in points with Nathan MacKinnon! 🚨
— NHL (@NHL) December 19, 2025
58 points in just 35 games! pic.twitter.com/KvkExw3Qbe
There is really no shame in losing to an Oilers team that’s earned back-to-back Stanley Cup Finals and boasts two of the best players in the world, and the Bruins knew exactly where they fell a little short.
“I like playing teams like that, because they make you better,” said Sturm following the loss. “That one mistake [on the game-winning goal for Quinn Hutson], it will make us better, trust me. And that's a good thing. Unfortunately, we have to learn the hard way. For me, it's a great teaching game…really good. Cost us maybe in two points, but overall, I do believe those kinds of games will help you.
“I was really happy, actually, with our 5-on-5 game. We made one mistake, little mistake that cost us one goal. But other than that, I thought it was pretty good, exactly what we wanted. Special teams, yeah, you can't give up one. You can’t give up one on the power play, too, so that's a hard one. Overall, it's just a little bit frustrating, because I thought guys were into the game, guys were sharp, but that little pop was missing. I don't know, that little bit of energy on the bench wasn't there, but it was a good game from us. Just little mistakes cost us.”
It felt like the Bruins did a good job of reigning McDavid in during 5-on-5 play where they played him physically and limited him to just three shots on net, but losing the special teams battle is going to portend bad things for a Black and Gold group that routinely wins games thanks to their special teams. It’s a bit of where the Bruins are as a team this year, though, particularly when facing quality opponents like the Oilers, but it’s also a nod to just how their PP and PK have been this season.
The PP is cranking at a 25.4 percent success rate that has them fourth in the NHL, and their penalty kill is a decent 80.6 percent, which underscores a need for the Bruins to continue improving on their overall defense. Things are certainly better than they were at the beginning of the year, when the Bruins were still adapting to the hybrid man-to-man defense they are running in the defensive zone, but there are still breakdowns like Nikita Zadorov, Charlie McAvoy and Elias Lindholm getting beaten by a couple of fourth liners in old friend Max Jones and Quinn Hutson for his first NHL goal.
Grab that puck! 👏
— NHL (@NHL) December 19, 2025
Quinn Hutson's got his first in the NHL! pic.twitter.com/5oKUaAmZCS
“It’s one of those games where we should have played a little better. They played better than us so that’s why they won,” said Pavel Zacha, who scored the only goal of the game for the B’s on a nifty backhanded beauty. “We know their strength is offensively and it’s a little bit in the back of your mind that they want to take you 1-on-1, so maybe you stay a little bit back [defensively]. That’s something we talked about before the game was not getting too passive, and I think that’s something we did a little bit in the second period. I think that’s something we will see on the video too that there were areas where we could have been a little more aggressive.”
Sturm said one of the teachable moments was the Bruins actually showing “too much respect” for McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and the rest of the Oilers crew, an understandable misstep given how much hype No. 97 gets everywhere as “the best player in the world.” Still, it didn’t help that Boston’s own best players in David Pastrnak (1 shot on net, minus-2 and two giveaways) and Morgan Geekie (1 shot on net, minus-2 and four giveaways) did not have particularly good games when the Bruins needed an offensive push.
“If there’s one thing right now, I felt like at times we maybe gave them a little too much respect,” said Sturm. “You know we’re a good hockey team and we’ve done a really good job all season long. Don’t be shy. That’s the one thing…I wish we got maybe a little bit out of our comfort zone and pushed a little bit harder. But overall, I was really happy about the way we played, but it was the little details…that’s it.”
It's all a part of the learning process for the Boston Bruins, and part of the reason why expectations should be tempered a bit if they do indeed hit the Stanley Cup playoffs as it feels is going to happen this season. This is still a core group very much in their early stages in terms of team development, leadership and hitting their full potential while cementing their identity as a hard-working, physical team that isn’t going to take “no” for an answer.
Coming up a little short against the Oilers was a reminder that there is still some learning and maturing to be done, even as they’ve built things up quite a bit in Boston from the start of the year.