The Boston Bruins may be sitting third in the Atlantic Division, but the Edmonton Oilers have made sure their position isn’t the most comfortable.
Stuart Skinner stopped 26 pucks, Connor McDavid scored a goal and the Alberta team inflicted a fifth loss in a row on the Bruins, this one by a score of 4 to 0.
This series of failures means that Boston has 45 points in 43 games this season. They have played more games than all their pursuers in the East, including the Montreal Canadiens who have 41 points in 40 games.
Adam Henrique was the one who led the charge offensively in this game for the Oilers with two goals. He first accepted the delivery in the slot from Corey Perry to open the scoring in the first period.
At the end of the period, Skinner was hit by Nikita Zadorov who was cutting into the net. After the shock of impact, the Oilers goaltender was removed from his net to be examined and it was Calvin Pickard who took his place for a little over five minutes. He didn’t face a single shot and Skinner was back at his post for the rest of the game.
The Oilers goaltender proved that he was not bothered by the situation when he stood up to Pavel Zacha on a breakaway in the middle period while shorthanded. On the restart following this stop, it was Connor McDavid who appeared alone in front of Jeremy Swayman and he made the red light sparkle for his 16th goal of the campaign.
Trent Frederic tried to change the pace of this match by engaging in a fight with Perry. It didn’t have the desired effect as Henrique followed up a few moments later with his fifth goal of the season.
Viktor Arvidsson scored his team’s final goal into an empty net and Edmonton recorded its fourth straight victory.
Leon Draisait saw his streak of games with at least one point slowed to 14. He had not been shut out since a game against the Vegas Golden Knights on December 3.
Swayman made 35 saves for the Bruins.
