The Edmonton Oilers defeated the Boston Bruins 3-2 at Rogers Place on Thursday (Dec. 19), with Mattias Ekholm scoring the winning goal in overtime.
Zach Hyman and Connor McDavid also tallied for the Oilers, who rallied from a 2-0 deficit after 20 minutes. Boston had jumped ahead early with first-period goals from Mark Kastelic and Elias Lindholm.
Related: Oilers Battle Back and Defeat Bruins 3-2 in Overtime
The Oilers are now 9-2-0 in their last 11 games overall, and 8-2-0 in the 10 most recent NHL contests at Rogers Place. Edmonton has moved into sole possession of third place in the Pacific Division, its highest position in the standings since the season began.
This wasn’t the prettiest win for Edmonton, but in some ways, it was more encouraging than a blowout victory. Facing a Boston team trying to choke the life out of the game, the Oilers demonstrated poise in coming back to win a game after trailing for 56:32 of regulation. Here’s a look:
Oilers Grind it Out
Things couldn’t have started any worse for the Oilers: Lindholm scored at 1:07, firing a shot that deflected off the stick of Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl and behind goaltender Stuart Skinner. Kastelic’s goal at 17:35 added to Boston’s lead, capping off a great first period for the visitors, who outshot the Oilers 11-5 over the opening 20 minutes.
Leading by two goals, the Bruins were in control, and while that allowed Boston to dictate the game, the Oilers didn’t panic and start taking chances that could have proven costly. Instead, Edmonton remained patient, knowing that chances would come.
Midway through the game, at 11:17 of the first period, Edmonton finally got on the board, with Hyman scoring a goal that Boston netminder Jeremy Swayman would probably like back. Shots on goal in the middle frame were 10-6 in favour of the Oilers, who played a lot better as the game wore on.
Still, Boston was just a couple minutes away from victory, before McDavid took a pass from Hyman and drove to the net, willing the puck past Swayman at 17:37 of the third period. Up until then, Boston had been largely successful in keeping the Oilers to the outside. But Edmonton stuck with it, finding a way to get to overtime. And that’s when this team is at its best.
Overtime Is Edmonton’s Jam
Ekholm potted the winner just 64 seconds into sudden death, blasting the puck from point blank past a helpless Swayman. Boston’s goalie had stopped the initial shot by Draisaitl, but Nugent-Hopkins collected the rebound and made a fantastic feed to the trailing Ekholm in the slot.
The three-on-three format of overtime highly favours teams with incredible individual talent like the Oilers. Edmonton is now 6-2 in sudden death, for a winning percentage of .750, which is the highest of any NHL team that has played at least four OT games this season.
Stars Shine for Edmonton
Depth scoring has been a big part of Edmonton’s recent success, but it was the stars that delivered for the Oilers on Thursday: the MVP duo of Draisaitl and McDavid, along with last season’s 54-goal scorer Zach Hyman.
Hyman, playing with a full face shield after breaking his nose against the Florida Panthers on Monday (Dec. 16), scored for the eighth time in seven games. McDavid did his Superman thing to force OT. And then there’s Draisaitl, who is making a serious early case for the Hart Memorial Trophy.
900 CAREER POINTS FOR LEON DRAISAITL! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/5DZXthzxkV
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) December 20, 2024
The German centre assisted on all three of Edmonton’s goals, more than atoning for the unfortunate deflection that resulted in Lindholm scoring. Draisaitl is now second in the NHL with 50 points, trailing only Colorado Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon, and he continues to lead the league with 23 goals.
This was also a milestone game for Draisaitl, who during Thursday’s tilt recorded his 900th career point and 2,000 career shot for the Oilers. He becomes the sixth and eighth player, respectively, in franchise history to reach those benchmarks.
Oilers Run the Gauntlet
The Oilers have gone through a grueling schedule of late. Six of their last nine games have come against the last six Stanley Cup champions (St. Louis Blues, Tampa Bay Lightning, Avalanche, Vegas Golden Knights, Panthers). Three of Edmonton’s last four games have come against teams that were leading their division (Minnesota Wild, Golden Knights, Panthers). And over their last five games, the Oilers have played some of the hottest teams in hockey: Tampa Bay, Minnesota, Vegas, Florida, and the Bruins.
That makes Edmonton’s great recent record even more impressive. And the Oilers should get a bit of a break with their next game, which comes at home on Saturday (Dec. 21) against the cellar-dwellers of the Pacific Division, the San Jose Sharks. Then it will be right back to facing a red-hot team, the Ottawa Senators, who are 7-1-0 over their last eight games, on Sunday (Dec. 22) at Rogers Place in what will be Edmonton’s final outing before the Christmas break.
