GAME RECAP: Oilers 4, Bruins 0

Stu and the Oilers were brewing in Beantown, Edmonton, Alberta.

Tuesday night’s 4-0 victory over the Boston Bruins at TD Garden gave the Edmonton Oilers their fourth consecutive victory, with winger Adam Henrique scoring two goals and netminder Stuart Skinner earning the unofficial shutout with 26 saves.

After being run over in his own crease by defenseman Nikita Zadorov, Skinner missed the last 5:25 of the first period. However, the Edmonton-born goalie was flawless after recovering from concussion protocol, making clutch save after clutch save to give the Oilers their 16th victory of the year in a full-out performance.

“It was amazing,” Skinner recounted the performance of his team. “We’ve been playing excellent defense, in my opinion. Even when a team comes in and gets a lot of shots, I believe we’re still defending incredibly effectively, limiting things to the perimeter, and simply fighting. You can tell by the number of shots we give up during the game. Tonight’s teamwork was excellent. It feels wonderful to win because it’s difficult to do it in this building.

At 11:11 of the second period, captain Connor McDavid scored a power-play goal on a breakaway, his 16th goal of the season, thanks to a spectacular short-handed stop by Stuart Skinner on Pavel Zacha just seconds before Ryan Nugent-Hopkins found McDavid to go in alone and end his eight-game goalless streak. Henrique scored two goals to record his first multi-goal game in an Oilers uniform.

“Everyone played well in the game. From beginning to end and from top to bottom, we were strong,” Henrique remarked. “I was fortunate to get to get the two goals, but Nuggy and Davo made a great play on the power play, and Stu took the hit and made big saves at key times, so a lot that went right tonight.”

With 3:25 remaining in the second period, winger Jeff Skinner extended his point streak to three games by helping Henrique score his second goal, making it 3-0. Meanwhile, Leon Draisaitl’s 14-game point streak came to a stop in the victory, just one goal short of the German setting a new career best.

The Blue & Orange put on a fantastic display, winning five straight games in Boston, with defenseman Brett Kulak recording two assists and Viktor Arvidsson adding an empty-netter.

The Oilers, who have a 15-4-1 record in their previous 19 games, will play the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena on Thursday to continue their four-game road trip.

The initial period
Regardless of the coast they are on, the Blue & Orange had another excellent first quarter.

The Oilers dominated the Bruins in the first 20 minutes in Boston, outscoring them 14-4 and scoring the first goal for the sixth consecutive game thanks to Adam Henrique’s fourth goal of the season. This comes after they thrashed the Kraken on the West Coast for two goals and outshot them 10-4 in the first frame this past Sunday.

Six:33 into the game, Henrique received a feed from Corey Perry below the goal line and went top shelf on goalie Jeremy Swayman to give the Oilers a 1-0 lead. This was the 34-year-old’s 10th goal in an Oilers shirt since joining from the Anaheim Ducks prior to last season’s Trade.

Henrique commanded, “Get them on and off the tape,” “Warren Rychel says, ‘Always shoot a rolling puck,’ so you gotta be there and just try to make that quick play.”

The Oilers had a 15-3-3 record in games this season where they scored the first goal going into Tuesday’s matchup in Boston.

Both Brett Kulak and Perry contributed assists to give them points in back-to-back games, while Kulak, who just celebrated his 31st birthday on Monday, scored on the same shift after being struck by a hit from center Mark Kastellic in the Bruins’ zone.

The next Oilers collision would be a little more worrisome after Stuart Skinner was flattened in his own crease by the onrushing Nikita Zadorov, who made no attempt to evade the goalie as he cut to the net and came straight through the blue paint. Kulak was unharmed by the impact.

Calvin Pickard took over between the pipes for the last 5:25 of the first frame when Skinner left the game due to concussion protocol. He then returned to between the pipes for the beginning of the second period. On the ice, Head Athletic Therapist T.D. Forss informed Skinner that he would have no choice but to go to the dressing room if the concussion spotter called to have him examined, but the goalkeeper was fine with the choice.

“I believe Toronto is the source of their call. When we were on the ice, T.D. alerted me,” Skinner remarked. “He asked me how I was feeling, and he just replied, ‘I don’t really have too much control, so if they call down, you’ve got to come out,’ obviously due to all the protocol he has to follow. It is what it is.

“To be honest, it was a wise decision for them to call down. He did me a good job. He apologized at the beginning of the second period, which was very kind of him, but I think that was about my fifth hit this year.

“It’s an NHL play and it happens.”