Fresh off a come-from-behind victory, the Boston Bruins are set up with a chance to clinch a winning Western Conference swing when they head for Edmonton and a Thursday night clash with the surging Oilers.
The Bruins have split the first four games of their trip, losing the first two before bouncing back for consecutive victories — including a 4-3 triumph Tuesday over the Calgary Flames in which they scored twice in the third period and once in overtime to erase a two-goal deficit.
“It wasn’t the start that we had anticipated coming off (a strong showing in Saturday’s) Vancouver game,” Boston interim head coach Joe Sacco said. “We got down two, but the guys regrouped, found our game and stuck with it for the next 40 minutes or so.”
While leading scorer David Pastrnak found the overtime winner in Calgary, two other sources helped the Bruins reach that point with their third-period tallies in Morgan Geekie and Marc McLaughlin, who have each scored in back-to-back games.
A 25-year-old Massachusetts native who has played in just 22 career NHL games, McLaughlin’s goals were his first two this season. The latest came as a result of a hard-working style that Sacco has sought more within his lineup.
“This is a second-effort league, and that was a good second effort by Marc,” Sacco said of McLaughlin crashing the net to score on a rebound on Tuesday.
When it comes to late-game and overtime situations, though, the Bruins know who to turn to for a winning play. That is a fortunate position as four of the team’s last five wins have been decided by one or two goals.
“Just give the puck to 88 (Pastrnak) or 63 (Brad Marchand) and then pray,” Boston forward Nikita Zadorov said of the feeling in overtime. “They are our best players, so put it in their hands, they’re going to make it happen.”
The Bruins will certainly need their stars to produce against a roster full of them in Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and the Oilers, who had won five straight and eight of nine games before a 6-5 loss to the Florida Panthers on Monday.
After losing the first rematch of last spring’s Stanley Cup Final, Edmonton begins a stretch of three games in four days after McDavid and Zach Hyman both survived recent injury scares.
Hyman is not expected to miss time despite suffering a broken nose from an Evan Bouchard shot to the face on Monday, while McDavid collided with Darnell Nurse during Tuesday’s practice.
“You don’t want to see any of that, and sometimes it happens,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said. “And you have to be careful on the drills that you do so you don’t set up a situation where players get hurt. But also, if you never have any contact, you don’t have game-like practices and situations.”
Forward Viktor Arvidsson, who has missed 15 games with an undisclosed injury, could also return on Thursday after impressing in recent practices.
“I think he might have been the best player on the ice for us. I thought I was that impressed with him,” Knoblauch said. “But that’s one thing about practice and games, so I think it’s ease him in there.”
The Oilers will not only be looking to shake off their first loss since Dec. 3 at Vegas, but also their first time allowing more than three goals since Nov. 21 against Minnesota.
“I think the sense of urgency goes up,” McDavid said. “We talked about not letting losses turn into two, three, or four games. You gotta respond. We always have and I would expect the same on Thursday.”
–Field Level Media
