PREVIEW: Oilers at Bruins

The Edmonton Oilers continue their five-game road trip on Thursday at TD Garden against the Boston Bruins.

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PREVIEW: Oilers at Bruins

BOSTON, MA – Bouncin' into Beantown after a historic night in the Steel City.

The Edmonton Oilers will continue their five-game road trip on Thursday night at TD Garden against the Boston Bruins after Leon Draisaitl notched his 1,000th career point – plus three more – and Connor McDavid continued his blistering scoring streak in Tuesday's 6-4 victory over the Penguins.

Draisaitl notched his historic milestone with a secondary assist on Zach Hyman's opening goal at 8:22 of the first period on a five-on-three power play to become the first German-born player and the fifth-fastest from outside North America to reach the century mark, doing so in his 824th career game.

After Hyman scored in his fourth straight game against former teammate Stuart Skinner, he jumped onto Draisaitl in celebration before they were mobbed by the rest of their teammates on the ice and off the bench in acknowledgment of the German becoming the 103rd player in League history to achieve the feat.

"It's pretty amazing," he said. "There are some incredible names on there, some names that are absolute legends in our world, and to put myself into that list is special for sure."

"Growing up in Germany, it seemed like it was a long way away, so I'm extremely proud of that."

Draisaitl had four assists, recording his 1,000th, 1,001st, 1,002nd, and 1,003rd career points as part of a four-point night alongside Connor McDavid, who had two goals and two assists to give him 20 points (9G, 11A) over his last nine games, ending the day one back of Nathan MacKinnon for the League lead.

"He's been dominant," Draisaitl said. "He has stretches like that every season where he seems unstoppable. So hopefully, he can carry this on for a while."

McDavid scored on a beautiful solo effort against Stuart Skinner while Brett Kulak was in the penalty box just 14 seconds after Draisaitl's record-breaking moment arrived, giving the Oilers the lead for good on Tuesday after they went 3-for-4 on the power play to help improve to 6-2-1 over their last nine games.

Edmonton's power play is now 12-for-28 (42.9 percent) after dominating the Penguins and increased its PP% to 32.6 percent this season to take over the top spot in the NHL – a nearly nine percent increase from last season (23.7 percent) that was the only time since 2019-20 that they've ranked outside the top four.

Matt Savoie, Evan Bouchard and Vasily Podkolzin also found the goal column for the Oilers, with the Russian forward surpassing his goal total from last season in 48 fewer games. Bouchard is on a three-game point streak (1G, 3A), while Savoie has 10 points (6G, 4A) over his last 17 games.

It was an emotional reunion for Tristan Jarry and Stuart Skinner, who were both still wearing the masks adorned with the logos of their former teams from before last Friday's trade between the Oilers & Penguins, when they took to the opposite creases they were used to for Tuesday's tilt at PPG Paints Arena.

Jarry allowed four goals on 30 shots – two of those coming in the last four minutes with the Oilers ahead by multiple goals – to pick up his second win with Edmonton, while Skinner was beaten five times on 22 shots, falling prey to his former teammates in his Penguins' debut.

"I thought both boys handled themselves well," McDavid said. "Unique situation, obviously. Probably a strange night for both guys, and I thought they handled themselves just fine. Jarrs stood in there and made some big saves for us, and I wish we had shut it down for him better than that. We shouldn't have given up four, but credit to Stu, too, for stepping into a weird spot. I thought he made some good saves."

"I think the whole situation was odd just how quickly we played them after the trade happened," Draisaitl said. "I'm sure there are lots of people who felt a little odd about it. Two amazing human beings, two really good hockey players, and we wish them nothing but the best here."

The Oilers will face the Bruins for the first time this season before they wrap up their series in less than two weeks at Rogers Place on New Year's Eve.

Last year, the Oilers swept the season series by winning 3-2 in overtime in Edmonton on Dec. 19 before blanking the Bruins 4-0 at the Garden on Jan. 7, having earned at least a point in nine of their last 11 meetings (7-2-2) and winning on their previous five visits to Boston.

The Bruins are 20-14-0 this season – the only team without an overtime or shootout defeat – and have been one of the better teams in the NHL since the end of October with 16 wins in their last 23 games under Marco Sturm, who's the second in points among Germans all-time behind Draisaitl with 487.

Sturm's approach of having the Bruins outwork their opponents by grinding them down and keeping their energy up over the full 60 minutes has helped turn their season around, continuing on Tuesday in a 4-1 win over the Utah Mammoth that was their fifth victory over their last six games.

“I think as a team, I think we’ve really found an identity,” Casey Mittelstadt said. “Marco’s come in firm and strong on that. I think the way he wants to play fits the personnel we have as well.”

“We try to wear them down. The system we’re playing, when everybody is on the same page, it’s not easy to play against,” David Pastrnak said. “We just try to be patient, wait for our opportunities, and sometimes it works out in the third. That’s a perfect example today.”​

Morgan Geekie scored two more goals on Tuesday against Utah and leads them with 24 in 34 games – 11 ahead of David Pastrnak.

The Oilers will get a look at Viktor Arvidsson for the first time in a Bruins' sweater on Thursday when his Swedish countryman and previous Nashville & Edmonton teammate Mattias Ekholm plays in his 200th career game with the Blue & Orange.