Grzelcyk scores late, helps Bruins send Oilers to fourth straight loss

EDMONTON -- Linus Ullmark made 41 saves, and the Boston Bruins handed the Edmonton Oilers their fourth straight loss, 3-2 at Rogers Place on Thursday.

Matt Grzelcyk broke a 2-2 tie on a slap shot through traffic at 17:27 of the third period for Boston (13-8-2), which is 5-0-1 in its past six road games.
"I don't know who was in front, maybe [Charlie] Coyle and [Taylor] Hall and they did a great job of taking [Ullmark's] eyes away," Grzelcyk said. "I knew I had a lot of space so I tried to play with my head up and tried to hit the net first and foremost, and luckily it found some daylight."
Leon Draisaitl scored two goals, Connor McDavid and Tyson Barrie each had two assists, and Stuart Skinner made 27 saves for Edmonton (16-9-0), which has been outscored 16-7 in the streak.
"I think the last two games probably could have gone either way," Draisaitl said. "I thought we were the better team tonight, but that's the NHL. We've won games too where we got outplayed. We just have to find a way to keep that last one out of the net and take it into overtime and give ourselves a chance.
"I thought our power play was all right, but if we had been able to get this into overtime and give ourselves a chance, at least we would have had a point. That is a big step when you have lost three in a row. That is the way it goes when you are slumping, you find a way to lose these kinds of games. We have to find a way to get out of it."
Edmonton was 2-for-5 (40 percent) with the man-advantage after going 1-for-16 (6.3 percent) the past five games.
Brad Marchand scored shorthanded at 16:15 of the first period to give the Bruins a 1-0 lead. He took a breakaway pass from Patrice Bergeron following a turnover just inside the Boston blue line by Barrie and scored on a backhand.

Jake DeBrusk made it 2-0 on the power play at 2:02 of the second period, taking a pass from Hall and scoring from the slot.
Draisaitl cut it to 2-1 with a power-play goal at 18:14, one-timing a shot from the right face-off circle on a pass from Barrie. Edmonton outshot Boston 27-15 through two periods.
"Linus played a strong game for us tonight, we needed that," Bruins assistant coach Joe Sacco said. "We knew coming into the game they were here waiting for us and we played last night [2-1 shootout loss at Vancouver Canucks]. We knew our goaltender was going to have to be sharp, and he was. Good for him because we needed that from him at certain times. We got into some penalty trouble and they have a good power play and they capitalized on a couple of their chances, but overall, he played a fantastic game today."
Draisaitl scored on the power play at 9:50 of the third period to tie it 2-2, converting a pass from McDavid.
Draisaitl leads the NHL with 23 goals but had only scored once in the past five games.
"It's never ideal, you never want to be in a situation like that, but we were still in a tie game and it was a hockey game to win," Coyle said. "There were still two points up for grabs and we had to still play the right way, and we did that and it paid off."

Ullmark made 15 saves in the third period.
"It always feels better when they come back from a 2-0 deficit and we score the game-winning goal late in the third," Ullmark said. "They have two of the best players in the whole world, so it's not like you can anticipate the pass at all times. There are plenty of times when McDavid and Draisaitl shot it as well, so they keep you honest. If you start cheating that's when the pass comes over, so it's really about being patient and not giving anything up."
Oilers defenseman Kris Russell left with an upper-body injury after taking a hit in the corner from Erik Haula at 3:55 of the second period.
"I talked to him between periods and it didn't look very good, but I haven't got a full update on it yet," Oilers coach Dave Tippett said. "I got a feeling he might miss some time."
NOTES:Marchand scored shorthanded for the opening goal for an NHL-record 12th time, passing Peter Bondra, Bob Pulford and Mark Messier. … Bergeron had an assist, his 553rd to tie Phil Esposito for fourth in Bruins history behind Ray Bourque (1,111), John Bucyk (794) and Bobby Orr (624). … McDavid has 16 points (six goals, 10 assists) in the past 10 games. … Oilers defenseman Cody Ceci had three shots in 18:04 after missing four games in NHL COVID-19 protocol.