Oilers shut down Bruins for second consecutive win

The Oilers appear to be rounding into form.

After a 6-4 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins earlier this week, Edmonton rolled into Boston and took down the Bruins by a score of 3-1.

The two teams exchanged power play tallies in the first period, recent American Hockey League call-up Quinn Hutson buried his first NHL goal in the second frame, and Connor McDavid scored a shorthanded insurance goal early in the third.

It wasn’t all good news for the visiting team on Thursday night, as starting goaltender Tristan Jarry left the game with a lower-body injury late in the second period. Backup Calvin Pickard stopped all 12 shots he faced in relief to help the Oilers to victory.

The question now for Edmonton is whether they can turn these back-to-back wins into their first winning streak of the season. Through over two months of play this year, the Oilers have yet to win more than two games in a row.

They’ll face a tall task with the Minnesota Wild on Saturday, who have been dominant since bolstering their blueline with the addition of Norris Trophy-winning defenceman Quinn Hughes from the Vancouver Canucks.

What they said…

Former Boston University forward Quinn Huston on scoring his first NHL goal…

“I’ve just been playing hard, moving my feet and playing a simple game. It’s been going well for me.

“I’ve had some cool goals in this rink, but that was definitely the coolest, so that was great. Just hard on the forecheck, it bounced out, and I went to the net. I thought he got a stick on it, and I watched it barely go in, so it was nice to see it go.”

Zach Hyman on the Oilers winning consecutive games…

“When things are going well, you want to make sure they continue to go well. Obviously, we have a lot of different looks we can go to, and it’s nice when we’re getting the opportunities too. We gotta be able to draw penalties, and I thought we did a good job of that tonight.”

Head coach Kris Knoblauch on Edmonton’s defensive game…

“I thought we were pretty air-tight defensively. I didn’t think we gave up very much early in the game, and then as soon as he went in, that’s when the chances started rolling in and he had to make some big saves. Three big-time saves late in the second and a couple more in the third, especially on the penalty kill.

“Obviously, we gave up the first one, but then after that, we made some nice kills, especially late in the game. We’ve seen that a lot lately, where we’ve needed a big kill in the third period, and they were able to deliver.”

Boston head coach Marco Sturm on losing to the Oilers…

“That little bit of pop, little bit of energy was missing. It was a good game. But little mistakes cost us.”

Up next…

The Oilers will wrap up their five-game road trip on Saturday with an afternoon match against the Minnesota Wild, who are one of the hottest teams in the NHL right now. The Wild are riding a six-game winning streak and they’ve outscored opponents 16-to-4 in three games since trading for Quinn Hughes.