In Edmonton, the Oilers lost their fourth straight game, this time, 3-2, to the Boston Bruins.
The Oilers offense and defense have sagged in the last four games, being outscored 16-7.
Leon Draisaitl scored both goals for Edmonton.
“I think the last two games probably could have gone either way,” Draisaitl said. “I thought we were the better team tonight, but that’s the NHL. We’ve won games too where we got outplayed. We just have to find a way to keep that last one out of the net and take it into overtime and give ourselves a chance.
“I thought our power play was all right, but if we had been able to get this into overtime and give ourselves a chance, at least we would have had a point. That is a big step when you have lost three in a row. That is the way it goes when you are slumping, you find a way to lose these kinds of games. We have to find a way to get out of it.”
Edmonton dropped to 16-9-0.
Linus Ullmark made 41 saves in the Bruins win.
“Linus played a strong game for us tonight, we needed that,” Bruins assistant coach Joe Sacco said. “We knew coming into the game they were here waiting for us and we played last night [2-1 shootout loss at Vancouver Canucks]. We knew our goaltender was going to have to be sharp, and he was. Good for him because we needed that from him at certain times. We got into some penalty trouble and they have a good power play and they capitalized on a couple of their chances, but overall, he played a fantastic game today.”
Brad Marchand and Jake DeBrusk scored to give the Bruins a 2-0 lead.
Boston improved to 13-8-2.
“It always feels better when they come back from a 2-0 deficit and we score the game-winning goal late in the third,” Ullmark said. “They have two of the best players in the whole world, so it’s not like you can anticipate the pass at all times. There are plenty of times when McDavid and Draisaitl shot it as well, so they keep you honest. If you start cheating that’s when the pass comes over, so it’s really about being patient and not giving anything up.”
Draisaitl evened the game up at 2-2.
Matt Grzelcyk snapped the tie with under three minutes left in the final frame.
“I don’t know who was in front, maybe [Charlie] Coyle and [Taylor] Hall and they did a great job of taking [Ullmark’s] eyes away,” Grzelcyk said. “I knew I had a lot of space so I tried to play with my head up and tried to hit the net first and foremost, and luckily it found some daylight.”
Stuart Skinner made 27 saves in the Oilers loss.
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