Bruins shut out by Oilers on home ice, now winless in last 5 games
The Boston Bruins fell to 20-18-5 on the season with a 4-0 loss to the Edmonton Oilers at TD Garden on Tuesday night. The B’s are now 0-4-1 in their last five games, after being shut out for the first time since Nov. 26 against the Canucks.
Edmonton opened the scoring in the first period, and even as the Bruins appeared to keep some form of defensive structure around the slot. Corey Perry was able to slip a pass from behind the net to teammate Adam Henrique in the slot through heavy traffic, anyway, and Henrique beat goaltender Jeremy Swayman high, glove side, to give the Oilers a 1-0 lead.
The Oilers out-shot the Bruins 14-4 in the first period. And it didn’t get much better for Boston in the second period, as Edmonton extended its lead to 2-0 off the stick of who else but Connor McDavid. The Oilers superstar found his way behind the Bruins defense during a power play, then received a neutral zone pass for a breakaway, and beat Swayman low for his 16th goal of the season.
It only went from bad to worse for the B’s in the middle period. Henrique nabbed his second goal of the game, again from the slot off a pass from “Gretzky’s office,” to make it 3-0, Oilers, and officially suck the energy out of the TD Garden crowd.
Amid a sleepy third period, an appreciable percentage of fans at TD Garden started chanting “Fire Sweeney,” obviously in reference to Bruins GM Don Sweeney. It sounds like they know who to blame for the Bruins’ struggles this season, particularly at the offensive end.
Up Next: It’s not going to get much easier for the Bruins. They get their next chance to right the ship on Thursday night, when they hit the road to take on the Tampa Bay Lightning for the first time this season at Amalie Arena.
Matt Dolloff is a writer and digital content producer for 98.5 The Sports Hub. Read all of his articles here.
