Bruins Bounce Back with Gutsy Effort in Edmonton

EDMONTON - There were plenty of chances for the Bruins to make excuses on Thursday night.
Fresh off a disappointing shootout setback to the Canucks, Boston was set to battle the Edmonton Oilers and one of the NHL's most potent offenses paced by Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl - the league's two leading scorers.

The Bruins would also be down one of their most stout defenders with Brandon Carlo sidelined by a lower-body injury. Several other players, meanwhile, were still recovering from bouts with non-COVID illnesses.
Not to mention it being the second end of a back-to-back just two days removed from a cross-continent trek.
But the Black & Gold made sure they didn't need to lean on any excuses as they grinded out a gritty 3-2 victory over the Oilers at Rogers Place. Matt Grzelcyk potted the winning tally with 2:33 to play in regulation and Linus Ullmark made 41 saves - in, perhaps, his best performance in the Spoked-B - to guide the Bruins.
"We ended up getting a point but weren't incredibly happy with the way we played [in Vancouver]," said Grzelcyk. "We knew we had a back-to-back coming into a tough building playing one of the best teams in the league. We have a lot of character on this team, a lot of believability.
"We sort of adjusted before the game that we wanted to play with a little more urgency, play with some more passion. Think that was kind of missing from our game [Wednesday] night. I thought everyone bought in and did a great job."
The Bruins also could have faltered after surrendering a two-goal lead, but Boston buckled down in the third to overcome two power-play tallies from Leon Draisaitl - one with 1:46 left in the second and the other at 9:50 of the third - to secure the victory with a gutsy final 20 minutes.
"We just started playing. We just started playing our game in the third," said assistant coach Joe Sacco. "It took us a couple periods to get going. But our group knew that we hadn't played our best hockey through two periods, and they went out and played hockey.
"The circumstances are what they are, but we felt like we're in the game after two and we're in a good situation here - keep playing, just play hockey, stay on the attack, don't sit back, don't be so passive.
"And it was a better third, it was a good response after they got their second goal. I thought our guys played well."
Sacco was also quite pleased with the effort of the second line on the winning tally. After splitting up Taylor Hall, Charlie Coyle, and Craig Smith on Wednesday in Vancouver and another quiet offensive output through two periods in Edmonton, the trio put it all together on Grzelcyk's marker with a textbook combination of forechecking, puck-movement, and net-front presence.
"They did a lot of good things right," said Sacco. "It started with a strong forecheck. We won some puck battles, we did a good job of using our third forward high, kicked it out to the D; they were overloading their coverage. We had good net-front presence.
"Charlie Coyle did a great job in front of the goaltender and they had a defenseman trying to take him out and the goalie ended up losing sight of it. It was a good shot by Grizz. A lot of good things on that goal."

Here are some more new items and notes from the B's win in Edmonton:

TAKING HIS SHOT:Grzelcyk also complimented the work of the second line on his tally, which came in the closing minutes off a nice dish from Smith. The blue liner saw the Edmonton winger in front of him diving down to cover Smith and decided to let one rip from the top of the right-wing circle, beating Edmonton goalie Stuart Skinner far side for his first goal of the season.
"If the forwards are gonna do a good job of going low to high, getting to the net, it's our job to kind of find space and reward them with getting some pucks to the net," said Grzelcyk. "And I think just as a team in general we want to get more traffic in front of the goalie, sort of play off the shot that way. That was definitely a focus tonight."

BACK FOR MOORE:John Moore was initially awarded the secondary assist on Grzelcyk's tally, but a scoring change after the game credited it to Hall instead. Nevertheless, Sacco was happy for the blue liner, who was playing his first game with the big club since Oct. 22 in Buffalo and first game of any kind since Nov. 19 with Providence.
Moore - subbing in for Brandon Carlo, who is day-to-day with a lower-body injury - played 17:31 in his second NHL game of the season.
"The play of Johnny was more important, how he played, how he responded after being away from the team for a while. Kept his game simple and he was effective tonight," said Sacco.
NOTHING PRETTY:While the end result was certainly appealing, Coyle noted that the winning tally was the outcome of some fairly "simple hockey" and "nothing pretty."
"At least I don't think. Maybe it was pretty from the top," said Coyle. "Nothing too flashy, just a shot, retrieving pucks, winning battles, and Smitty coming off the wall with it and making a good play, finds the open man and Grizz finishes it, guys going to the net…we execute that, and we bring our compete, win battles, we're gonna see our opportunities."
Coyle acknowledged that his line has not played its best at times during the trip but added how important it is to stick with things even when a lack of success may be leading to some frustration.
"It's not always gonna be perfect, it's not always gonna go in your favor," said Coyle. "Sometimes you've got to kind of grind it out and just go back to just simple. Sometimes you get away from it, but we just have to stay with it.
"It's always a work in progress, keep working at it and we're still doing that. You see what happens. It doesn't always happen right away. You work thought it and you get a big goal at the end."
CATCHING WIND:Ullmark put forth a stellar effort in his first start since Nov. 30 as the netminder kept Boston in the game with Edmonton surging late in the third period in search of the tying goal.
"He was awesome tonight. He was very special," said Coyle. "He made some huge saves when we needed it. He played awesome for us. We know he's capable of that. We don't always want to rely on our goaltenders a whole lot even though we have the most confidence in them. He showed it tonight and he helped us tremendously to win."
Ullmark's night was highlighted by a two-pad, windmill-style stop on Oilers forward Warren Foegele in the third period.
"I started extending and then I realized I needed to start building coverage upwards so that's when I kind of leaned away with my body and got my leg underneath the other one and did a solid windmill," said Ullmark, who was donning his news pads adorned with the Boston skyline in game action for the first time.
"One of those saves that's good to have in your arsenal, in your toolbox, but it's not something that you want to always rely on."

THE HOMETOWN BOY:Jake DeBrusk scored for the first time in his career against his hometown team as he deposited a Hall feed just 2:02 into the second with a wicked wrister over the shoulder of Skinner on the power play. It was the winger's fifth goal of the season.
"I thought he was good tonight," said Sacco. "I liked the way he was skating. I thought that he put some speed, him and Haula too, on that line with Nicky [Foligno]. Jake was good. Anytime one of your players score you're happy for them. But there's other things that you're looking for in their game and his details were better tonight."

THE SHORTY KING STRIKES:Brad Marchand extended his franchise lead with his 32nd career shorthanded goal on a breakaway with 3:45 left in the first period. The play began with longtime penalty killing partner Patrice Bergeron digging out a loose puck along the wall and finding Marchand in the neutral zone.
The helper was the 553rd of Bergeron's career, tying him with Phil Esposito for fourth in Bruins history.