Boston Bruins Salvage Point In Shootout Loss To Oilers To Start Western Road Trip
Perry Nelson-USA TODAY Sports
Puck Prose
The Boston Bruins took on the Edmonton Oilers on the road on Wednesday night and came out with a loss in the shootout. This game marked the first time the Boston Bruins took on on Peter Chiarelli’s new team this season, and the game certainly meant a lot to both teams; although Bruins’ head coach Claude Julien suggested otherwise.”I think it’s pretty simple.” Julien told Amalie Benjamin of the Boston Globe on Tuesday. “I’m with the Boston Bruins and my goal is to win this game tomorrow. I’m sure he’s thinking the same thing from his end there. But there’s no animosity, not between Peter, I think, and myself, or the Bruins.” Julien also said. “”I think it’s just, it was one of those things that happened and you move on. Basically I haven’t looked at it any further than that. Coming in here, I’m really focused on having a good road trip here — not just this game, but all three of them. That’s where my focus has been.”
After a scoreless first period, the Oilers struck first in the second period while shorthanded. The Bruins evened the score by way of a Torey Krug goal with only 1:43 remaining in the second period. The Oilers once again regained the lead at the 9:22 mark of the third period before Zdeno Chara tied the game up once again for the Bruins as the 6-foot-nine defender skated unnoticed right up the middle of the ice at the 16:39 mark of the third. 3-on-3 overtime didn’t solve anything, and a shootout determined the fate of the game with Jordan Eberle scoring the only goal to end the Bruins win streak at five.
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The Bruins came into the game riding a season high five-game win streak. Not all of those wins were pretty, but the team found a way to come away with victories in each, even if some were by the skin of their teeth. Unforunately for the Bruins, they couldn’t pull out a comeback victory tonight despite a 34 save effort by goaltender Tuukka Rask. Starting the road trip with a loss — preventing a sixth straight win, which would have been their longest win-streak since their infamous “March on March” where the team won 12 straight games before finally losing in the shootout to the Montreal Canadiens — was not how the Bruins envisioned their Western Canada swing starting. The Bruins are now 4-4-1 against western conference teams and they will look to improve that record going into Friday and Saturday’s back-to-back games against the Calgary Flame and Vancouver Canucks.
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