Oilers Battle Back and Defeat Bruins 3-2 in Overtime – Hockey Writers – Edmonton Oilers

The Boston Bruins conclude their five-game road trip with a stop in Edmonton to play the Oilers on Thursday night (Dec. 19). The game was sloppy at times, caused by poor passing and poor turnovers. In the end, the Oilers walked away with a 3-2 overtime victory. With this win, Edmonton improves to 19-11-2, and with the loss, Boston's record is now 17-13-4. Here's how we got there.

Recap of the game

The Bruins opened the scoring 1:07 into the contest with a low shot by Elias Lindholm that found a hole past goaltender Stuart Skinner. Boston then made it 2-0 on Mark Kastelic's fourth of the season 17:35 into the period. He came running, crossed the net, and went for a backhand that beat the Edmonton netminder. Boston were the better team after 20 minutes, and the scoreboard shows that.

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The Oilers pulled away in the second half and finally got on the board with Zach Hyman's season-high 11:17 in the middle. The puck bounced off Leon Draisaitl's skate, to Hyman's right, and his sharply angled wrist shot ricocheted past goaltender Jeremy Swayman. That was the only goal when Boston took a 2-1 lead into the second half.

The Bruins were unable to catch up late in the third period as Connor McDavid tied the game for Edmonton with 2:21 left. He drove hard to the net and blocked it in from Swayman after the Bruins came out of midfield. Just like that, this game is headed to overtime.

In overtime, Mattias Ekholm won the game for the Oilers with his fourth goal of the season just 1:04 into the period. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had a 2-on-1 with Draisaitl, which was denied, but Nugent-Hopkins got the rebound. found Ekholm on the nose, and ripped a shot upstairs to seal the win. Skinner stopped 24 of 26 shots for a .923 save percentage (SV%), and Swayman stopped 23 of 26 shots for a .885 SV%.

Both teams are back in action on Saturday (Dec. 21). The Bruins return home to play the Buffalo Sabres, and the Oilers continue their five-game homestand against the San Jose Sharks.