Bruins defeated by Oilers, ending point streak at nine

BOSTON --The Edmonton Oilers ended the Boston Bruins' point streak at nine games with a 4-1 win at TD Garden on Saturday.

Leon Draisaitl had a goal and an assist, and Connor McDavid scored for the Oilers (22-17-5), who are 1-0-1 on their five-game road trip after winning for the fourth time in their past 13 games (4-7-2). Mike Smith made 35 saves for his first win since Nov. 23.
"We've done a lot of good things but haven't done it for the whole game," Smith said. "We talked about that before the game … playing a full 60 minutes against a really good hockey team and kind of give ourselves a little bit of a measuring stick against a good team. So I think we got that out of our team tonight. We got a full 60 minutes, we didn't panic when we got behind. We pushed for that third goal] when we were ahead, and that's what it's going to take."
***[WATCH: [All Oilers vs. Bruins highlights]*
The Bruins (24-8-11), who are 4-1-5 in their past 10 games, have scored four goals in their past three games (0-1-2), one at even strength. Jaroslav Halak made 22 saves for Boston, which has four wins in its past 15 games (4-5-6).
"I think right now we know the goals aren't coming easily, so you know it's going to be every goal matters," Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said. "So I think that's in everybody's head. It's just the stretch we're in right now. You go through the opposite where nothing seems to faze you, and we went through that. … Right now, we've got to find a balance where we get the lead and play the right way, protect the lead. I think that's how we play our best hockey."
David Pastrnak scored a power-play goal at 3:10 of the first period to give Boston a 1-0 lead. His half slap shot from the top of the left face-off circle went in off defenseman Kris Russell.
Gaetan Haas tied the game 1-1 at 7:41 of the second period. Bruins forward Jake DeBrusk fanned on a clearing attempt, and Haas stole the puck before scoring.

"That was a nice gift," Haas said. "That was, I think, good for me, good for the team too. It feels good if you score."
Darnell Nurse scored from near the left corner at 19:53 went his shot got past Halak on the short side to put the Oilers ahead 2-1.
McDavid extended the lead to 3-1 at 1:48 of the third period. He beat Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara down the ice and scored after a pass from Zack Kassian.
"Against a team like that, I think you got to manage the puck a little bit better because obviously they have pretty good forwards," Bruins center David Krejci said. "So if you make them chase the puck a lot then they get frustrated. But I don't think we managed the puck really well today."

Draisaitl scored an empty-net goal at 19:51 for the 4-1 final.
Smith was 0-3-2 in his previous five starts.
"It's been a while since me personally was in for a win," he said. "So obviously you want to contribute to the team's success, and that was just a great team effort by everyone. Everyone played a big part in that game, and that's what we're going to need to get wins down the stretch here."

They said it

"Yeah, it can carry over but we've got to bring the mindset to carry it over. And we can. I think we know what we're capable of when we do it, and we showed it tonight. We move on to the next one, we've got to bring that same effort, that same compete that we had tonight."-- Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse
"It's about rolling up your sleeves and getting to the net. I think there's a lot of fancy plays that we can get rid of in our game and go back to maybe funneling the puck and knowing that we're going there, and there's a lot of loose pucks that were there even tonight that we can find and maybe find some urgency to get them and bear down on those goals." -- Bruins center Patrice Bergeron

Need to know

With two points, Draisaitl (24 goals, 41 assists) tied McDavid (23 goals, 42 assists) for the NHL lead in points with 65. … Haas ended a nine-game goal drought. … Pastrnak extended his point streak to 10 games (five goals, 10 assists). He leads the NHL with 31 goals. … The Bruins have scored a power-play goal in each of their past 10 games, tying their longest streak since March 7-27, 1996.

What's next

Oilers:At the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday (7 p.m. ET; TVAS, SNW, TSN4, NBCSN, NHL.TV)
Bruins: At the Nashville Predators on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; ESPN+, FS-TN, NESN, NHL.TV)