Bruins conclude road trip with overtime loss to Oilers
In a vacuum, Thursday’s overtime loss to the Oilers was actually a success for the Bruins.
Given the way that this five-game road swing for the Bruins started, with the Bruins winless and outscored 13-2 in the first two games of the trip, coming back to Boston with five of a possible 10 points was a victory for the club. Especially when you do the quick math and see that they finished it with five of a possible six points banked away thanks to Thursday’s 3-2 overtime loss in Edmonton.
But, keeping it to just Thursday night against the Oilers, there’s no denying ther bitter taste of this one, as the Bruins blew a 2-0 lead en route to that 3-2 loss to Connor McDavid’s club.
The Bruins began this one still riding the high of Tuesday’s comeback over the Flames, and were once again led by Elias Lindholm in that respect, with Lindholm on the board just 1:07 into the first period.
For Lindholm, it was his second goal in as many games, and gave him points in three straight games, marking (believe it or not) his third separate three-game point streak of the 2024-25 season.
And in what was an 11-shot opening period for the Bruins, Mark Kastelic got in on the fun with his fourth goal of the season and first since Oct. 26 against Toronto, scored with 2:25 left in the frame.
But with the Edmonton deficit halved behind Zach Hyman’s second-period strike, the white-knuckle ride of a third period found its game-tying bump when McDavid jumped on what was a horrendous change from the B’s and knotted things up with an almost-too-easy solo effort with just over two minutes left.
Off to overtime for the second straight game, the Black and Gold were once again hurt by a bad change, as David Pastrnak glided towards the bench after a backhand look that went nowhere, which forced Brad Marchand to get on his horse in what was always going to be a prayer kind of play. One that went unanswered when Marchand missed the puck on the backcheck and gave even more time and space for the Oilers on the way to a game-winning strike from Oilers defenseman Mattias Ekholm.
In addition to the bad change from Pastrnak, there was also an issue with how the sequence started, really, as Swayman made the ill-timed decision to rifle the puck up towards a gassed Pastrnak opposed to holding onto the puck and allowing the Bruins to get fresh bodies on the ice and maintain possession.
Swayman stopped 23 of 26 in the losing effort for the Bruins.
Up front, and almost a full week after he was claimed off waivers by Boston, winger Oliver Wahlstrom made his Bruins debut. Skating on Boston’s third line with Charlie Coyle and Trent Frederic, Wahlstrom finished Thursday’s game with one shot and two hits in 8:51 of time on ice.
The Bruins will return home for a Saturday night head-to-head with the Sabres.
