Things were looking awfully bleak for Jeremy Swayman and the Bruins late in the third period of Wednesday’s head-to-head with the Oilers out at Edmonton’s Rogers Place.
At one point up by a 4-1 score, the Bruins saw that three-goal lead evaporate and found themselves tied with the Oilers at 4-4, and with 12:36 remaining in the third period of action. And though the Bruins regained the lead just over five minutes later behind David Pastrnak’s 36th goal of the campaign, the Bruins squandered that lead, this time in just 42 seconds.
Then came a James van Riemsdyk tripping penalty with less than 30 seconds remaining in the third period, and it seemed like the Bruins were well on their way to a true gutpunch of a loss.
Feb 21, 2024; Edmonton, Alberta, CAN; The Boston Bruins celebrate a goal scored by forward Morgan Geekie (39) during the first period against the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place. (Perry Nelson/USA TODAY Sports)
On the power play just 65 seconds into this game after Ryan McLeod tripped Bruins defenseman Matt Grzelcyk, the Bruins cashed in early behind a Morgan Geekie power-play strike for his 10th goal of the season.
Geeks' got a new career-high 🚨 pic.twitter.com/hGfnRiGRMF
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) February 22, 2024With 10 goals through 51 games this season, Geekie established a new single-season career-high on that front after scoring nine goals in 69 games with the Kraken a year ago. The goal was also good for Geekie’s 26th point of the campaign, putting him two behind matching last year’s single-season career-high of 28.
And though the Oilers tied things up before the end of the opening frame thanks to a Warren Foegele backhand through Swayman midway through the period, the second period came with an offensive takeover from the B’s.
Feb 21, 2024; Edmonton, Alberta, CAN; The Boston Bruins celebrate a goal scored by forward Brad Marchand (63) during the second period against the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place. (Perry Nelson/USA TODAY Sports)
Boston’s middle-frame push kicked off with a Brad Marchand goal at the 25-second mark of the frame, and continued with a Trent Frederic tip through Stuart Skinner just 4:15 after Marchand’s marker.
And in a homecoming night for Jake DeBrusk, No. 74 tucked home a loose puck with 6:03 remaining in the period on a goal that put the Bruins up by three.
Feb 21, 2024; Edmonton, Alberta, CAN; Boston Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman (1) makes a save on on Edmonton Oilers forward Connor McDavid (97) during the third period at Rogers Place. (Perry Nelson/USA TODAY Sports)
But the Oilers made their third-period push, and it was a heavy one, as Edmonton tagged Swayman for four goals on 18 shots in the final 20 minutes of action.
The first two strikes came from the Oilers’ ‘lesser’ talents, too, with goals from Mattias Janmark and Corey Perry before Zach Hyman’s goal made it 5-5 after Pastrnak’s tally gave the B’s a 5-4 lead.
They were the kind of goals that Swayman would like back, too. But there’s no denying that Swayman made up for it with his overtime showing to keep the B’s alive until McAvoy called game.
Feb 21, 2024; Edmonton, Alberta, CAN; Edmonton Oilers defensemen Cody Ceci (5) and Boston Bruins forward David Pastrnak (88) Battle along the boards for a loose puck during the second period at Rogers Place. (Perry Nelson/USA TODAY Sports)
Already without Hampus Lindholm, the Bruins suffered another loss from the backend in this one, as Matt Grzelcyk left this game with a lower-body injury in the opening minute of the game.
UPDATE: Matt Grzelcyk (lower-body) will not return to tonight's game.
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) February 22, 2024But the good news is that the Bruins got a strong outing from Mason Lohrei in his first NHL outing in over a month, as Lohrei finished this game with three helpers.
Mason Lohrei (three assists) is first Bruins rookie to have a three-assist game since Jake DeBrusk in Mar. 2018. First Bruins rookie defenseman to do it since Matt Hunwick, who accomplished feat twice in 2008-09.
— Ty Anderson (@_TyAnderson) February 22, 2024Under fire for the second game in a row, the Bruins, who allowed 44 shots on goal, were just a single shot against away from allowing 45-plus shots in back-to-back games for the first time since Jan. 1965.
The Bruins are back in action Thursday night against the Flames.
