Oilers score seven to defeat Bruins

EDMONTON-- Connor McDavid and Brad Marchand each had three points to maintain a share of the NHL scoring lead, and the Edmonton Oilers defeated the Boston Bruins 7-4 at Rogers Place on Thursday.
McDavid had three assists for Edmonton, and Marchand had a goal and two assists for Boston. The forwards have 79 points each.
"It's good that we are finding ways to create offense, but we also gave up a lot of chances tonight," McDavid said. "Giving up four goals is not good enough."

WATCH: All Bruins vs. Oilers highlights
Pat Maroon had two goals, and Benoit Pouliot, Anton Slepyshev, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Leon Draisaitl and Milan Lucic scored for the Oilers (37-24-9), who moved ahead of the Calgary Flames for third place in the Pacific Division. Draisaitl had two assists. Cam Talbot made 32 saves.
"We wanted a good start, we talked about a good start and I thought we had a really good start," said Maroon. "The guys played hard, the first 20 minutes of that period was really strong for us."
David Pastrnak, Dominic Moore and David Krejci scored for the Bruins (38-27-6), who had won four in a row and are third in the Atlantic Division. Tuukka Rask gave up five goals on 17 shots before being pulled at 2:06 of the second period. Anton Khudobin made 17 saves in relief.
Maroon scored on the power play at 4:29 of the first period to give Edmonton a 1-0 lead. Maroon scored his second at 5:28 to put the Oilers up 2-0, taking a pass from McDavid in tight and beating Rask.
Pouliot put the Oilers up 3-0 at 8:23, converting a centering pass from David Desharnais. Pastrnak made it 3-1 on the power play at 12:29, on a pass from Marchand.

Marchand scored his NHL-leading 37th at 17:44 to make it 3-2, taking a pass from Patrice Bergeron in front and lifting the puck past Talbot. Slepyshev made it 4-2 at 19:09.
Nugent-Hopkins scored on the power play at 2:06 of the second period to give Edmonton a 5-2 lead. Rask was pulled after the goal and replaced by Khudobin. The Oilers were 3-for-6 on the power play.
"That's unusual for us; our penalty kill has been really good, but you sometimes get one of those games that things are not going your way, and today was one of those," Rask said. "We battled back, but it was not enough. It was a tough start to the second period, but we never quit."
Moore scored shorthanded at 4:17 to make it 5-3. Draisaitl scored at 6:46, off a turnover by Bruins defenseman Adam McQuaid, to give Edmonton a 6-3 lead. Lucic scored on the power play at 14:49 to make it 7-3, and Krejci scored on the power play at 19:28 to make it 7-4.

Goal of the game

McDavid took a pass from Draisaitl on a rush down the right wing and found Maroon in front with a backhand pass to set up Edmonton's second goal.

Save of the game

Khudobin stopped Slepyshev on a breakaway at 11:17 of the third period.

Unsung performance of the game

Oilers defenseman Kris Russell had a game-high seven blocked shots.

Highlight of the game

Slepyshev batted the puck out of the air and over Rask for his goal.

They said it

"I put it on the group, I'm not going to nitpick about the goaltending. They finished well in front of our net; we can't give up those opportunities. I thought we had some chances in front of their net and we could have finished better on when the game was still in the balance, and it didn't happen." -- Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy
"He's had a pretty good run against the Bruins. He has the ability as a big man to play against that team. He's got a lot of courage, a lot of strength and a good sense of space when there are big people around him." -- Oilers coach Todd McLellan on forward Patrick Maroon
"Somebody needs to teach me how to shoot at an empty net. I'm usually not out there when the net is empty, so it was something new for me." -- Oilers forward Patrick Maroon, who missed twice attempting to get a hat trick

Need to know

Draisaitl passed Marco Sturm to set the record for most points in a season by a German-born player with 61 (24 goals, 37 assists). Sturm had 59 points (29 goals, 30 assists) for the Bruins and San Jose Sharks in the 2005-06 season. … Marchand tied his NHL career high for goals, equaling last season. … Maroon scored his first NHL hat trick in a 4-3 win at Boston on Jan. 5. … Boston gave up seven goals for the first time this season. ... Edmonton, which defeated the Dallas Stars 7-1 on Tuesday, scored seven goals in consecutive home games for the first time since Dec. 4-7, 1988 (10-6 against the New York Rangers; 8-3 against the Quebec Nordiques).

What's next

Bruins: At the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday (7:30 p.m. ET; TVA Sports, TSN4, NESN, NHL.TV)
Oilers: Host the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday (10 p.m. ET; CBC, SN, NHL.TV)