Bruins cruise past Oilers, end 6-game losing streak

EDMONTON -- David Pastrnak had two goals and an assist for the Boston Bruins, who ended a six-game losing streak with a 6-2 win against the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place on Wednesday.

“It was obviously a great win,” Pastrnak said. “It’s good to be back in the winning column to end the year. The penalty kill was outstanding (5-for-5). It was amazing. It just feels good.”

Hampus Lindholm and Elias Lindholm each had a goal and an assist for the Bruins (21-18-2), who were 0-4-2 during the losing streak. Viktor Arvidsson and Fraser Minten each had two assists, and Jeremy Swayman made 34 saves.

“It’s good to get out of that slump and do it the right way,” Swayman said. “I think we can take a lot out of this game and build a lot of confidence. ... We know what we can do in this league, and consistency is everything. I think we can take this moving forward and build some momentum.”

Zach Hyman and Jack Roslovic scored, and Connor Ingram made 23 saves for the Oilers (20-15-6), who had won three of their previous four.

“We just weren’t hard enough to play against,” Edmonton forward Leon Draisaitl said. “Just not detailed enough. We can certainly be a lot better.”

Connor McDavid had an assist to extend his point streak to 14 games (13 goals, 21 assists).

“He’s a force to be reckoned with,” Swayman said. “I think we did a good job of shutting him down and getting pucks out of the zone and keeping them at bay.”

Pastrnak put the Bruins ahead 1-0 at 7:28 of the first period, scoring shortly after a 5-on-3 power play expired. Charlie McAvoy's initial attempt went wide of the net, but Pastrnak quickly got the rebound and banked a shot in off Ingram's right pad from below the goal line.

Casey Mittelstadt pushed the lead to 2-0 at 18:13. He took a drop pass from Arvidsson, skated into the left circle, and scored with a wrist shot that beat Ingram short side under his blocker.

Hyman cut the lead to 2-1 at 19:19. McDavid cut through two defenders in the left circle, made another move around McAvoy in tight, and slid a backhand pass over to Hyman for a one-timer into an open net.

Hyman extended his point streak to six games (four goals, five assists).

“We have not been playing as well as we were before the break, obviously. It kind of took away our momentum,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said. “Tonight, I think the first period was a pretty good period. We were down 2-1, but their goalie made a lot of saves.

“The breakaways we had and the opportunities we had on the power play, I think that really took away our opportunities to have a lead. There are things we can do better, but I thought our game was certainly better than the score indicated.”

Hampus Lindholm made it 3-1 at 7:05 of the second period, scoring from the outside edge of the left circle with a wrist shot that found its way past Ingram’s right shoulder.

Jonathan Aspirot extended the lead to 4-1 at 18:19. Pastrnak skated in on a 2-on-1 rush, toe-dragged Alec Regula, and tried to pass back to Aspirot, who was still able to knock the puck into the open net after it deflected off stick of Darnell Nurse and Ingram's left pad.

Elias Lindholm made it 5-1 at 4:20 of the third period. Alex Steeves passed the puck to Morgan Geekie, who fell to the ice but recovered in time to set up Lindholm for a one-timer that fluttered in off Ingram’s glove.

Roslovic closed the gap to 5-2 at 7:22. He faked a pass to get Swayman off his angle before scoring short side with a wrist shot from the left circle.

“I thought our first period was pretty strong, we just had a couple too many turnovers,” Roslovic said. “We’re a skilled team, we can make plays. You weren’t seeing it tonight, but there’s times to keep it simple, too.”

Pastrnak made it 6-2 at 14:34 with a one-timer from the right circle off a short pass from Minten.

“I was proud of the way we played today and the way we came out,” Bruins coach Marco Sturm said. “I don’t think a lot of people thought we could grab two points here tonight, but we did and in the way we did it, I think that was really good.”