BOSTON — The Bruins held Connor McDavid in check all night, but the Edmonton Oilers found a way to climb out of a hole and beat the mighty Bruins without a major contribution from the best player in the world.
The Bruins coughed up a 2-0 lead and the Oilers scored two third-period goals to snap the Bruins' 10-game winning streak with a 3-2 victory. It was just the Bruins' third regulation loss at TD Garden.
Darnell Nurse gave the Oilers their first lead of the game with a long shot from the left point that found its way behind Jeremy Swayman through the pads with 4:49 left in the third period.
The Bruins took a 2-1 lead into the third period but did not protect it. Patrice Bergeron could not connect on a neutral zone pass to Charlie McAvoy and the Oilers wound up with possession on the Boston zone. From behind the net, Devin Shore fed Ryan McLeod out front for the equalizer at 6:08.
After an initial push from Edmonton to start the game, the Bruins eventually found their footing and took a 2-0 lead in the first period that ended painfully for the Oilers.
The Oilers had the Bruins hemmed in their own zone on the first few shifts but after the Bruins finally nudged the puck out of the defensive zone, David Pastrnak threw the puck into space for Brad Marchand to track down. Upon catching up to the puck in the left circle, Marchand immediately snapped a shot from the dot that goalie Stuart Skinner should have had but it broke through him for Marchand’s 20th goal at 3:51. It was Marchand’s 10th straight 20-goal season and 12th of his career.
The Bruins held a 10-5 shot advantage and had the only two power plays. They thought they had pushed the lead to 2-0 on the second PP when David Krejci whistled a one-timer off a Charlie McAvoy pass but it was ruled that the Bruins were offside well before the goal.
Just when it looked like the Bruins would have to go into the first intermission with a slim one-goal lead, Skinner made another gaffe. With less than 10 seconds left in the period, he went behind the net and tried to rim it around the boards but Krejci picked it out of mid-air. The ever patient Krejci surveyed the ice before finding Pastrnak in the slot. And with 00.2 seconds left in the period, Pastrnak’s one-timer beat Skinner and the clock for his 45th of the year.
At the other end, Jeremy Swayman was good when called upon, turning away a Warren Foegele breakaway.
As tough as it was for the Oilers to end the first how the way they did, it did not carry over into the second period, when they cut the deficit in half.
In a swift-moving second, chances were few for both teams but the Bruins were starting to assert a territorial edge. But disaster struck when they were moving the puck around the Oilers' end. As Matt Grzelcyk skated to collect a puck along the right wall, he fell down and Edmonton broke out on a rarely seen 4-on-1. Eventually, Evan Bouchard buried a wrister from the high slot over Swayman’s blocker at 10:44.
That’s how it stayed through 40 minutes, though Charlie Coyle turned down two prime scoring chances for passes that didn’t connect.
The Bruins held a 19-13 shot advantage through two periods.
