McAvoy scores in OT as Bruins edge Oilers in dramatic overtime win

EDMONTON — Charlie McAvoy scored the overtime winner as the Boston Bruins won their second game in a row, emerging with a thrilling 6-5 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday.

McAvoy sent a backhand past Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner 3:10 into an overtime which started with an Edmonton power play.

Morgan Geekie, Brad Marchand, Trent Frederic, Jake Debrusk and David Pastrnak also scored for the Bruins (34-12-11) who had lost four straight before their latest pair of victories. Recent call-up Mason Lohrei had three assists.

Warren Foegele had a pair of goals and Mattias Janmark, Corey Perry and Zach Hyman also scored for the Oilers (33-18-2) who saw their run of consecutive home wins halted at eight — one shy of tying a franchise record. Edmonton has nonetheless gone 28-7-0 in its last 35 games.

Boston got off to an early start with a power play goal coming just 2:34 into the opening period as Geekie picked the top corner with a long shot that eluded Skinner for his 10th of the season.

The Oilers tied the game with 8:20 to play in the first as Connor McDavid tipped a puck off a defender’s stick off the boards to Foegele who drove hard to the net before slipping a backhand past Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman for his 12th. McDavid’s assist extended his home-game point streak to 20 games. It was the second time in his career he’s had a home point streak of 20 or more games — having achieved a streak of 21 games last season — and only the eighth in Oilers history.

The Bruins surged back in front just 25 seconds into the second period as Edmonton coughed up the puck and Marchand ended up coming up the side boards and beating Skinner to the short side on a bit of a soft goal. It was Marchand’s 26th goal of the campaign, leaving him two shy of the 400 mark for his career.

Boston took a two-goal lead just four minutes later as Frederic redirected in a Jesper Boqvist shot for his 16th of the season.

The Bruins kept coming with another goal coming with six minutes remaining in the second period as a big rebound on a shot through traffic by David Pastrnak came to Debrusk, who scored his 13th.

Edmonton responded a minute-and-a-half later when Zach Hyman came out of the corner and spotted Foegele in front, and he swept his second goal of the game past Swayman on the backhand.

The Oilers made it a one-goal game six minutes into the third period as a Cody Ceci point shot trickled through Swayman’s legs and was slammed home by Janmark, just his third of the season.

Edmonton tied the game 1:10 later as Perry continued to make an impact since joining the Oilers tipping a Darnell Nurse shot and then depositing the rebound for his seventh.

Boston regained the lead with 7:19 to play in the third as Evander Kane coughed up a puck at the blue line and it ended up going to Pastrnak, who wristed a shot from the top of the circle into the net for his 36th.

However, Edmonton knotted the game back up again just 42 seconds later as the rebound from a long Mattias Ekholm shot was sent home by Hyman for his team-leading 34th, eventually sending the game to extra time.

James Van Riemsdyk had a breakaway in overtime after coming out of the penalty box, but was stopped by Skinner.

NOTES

It was the first of a pair of meetings between the two teams, which will play again in Boston on March 5th… Skinner made his 100th career start in net. He came into the contest with 61 wins, second only in franchise history to Andy Moog’s 67 in his first 100… Oilers forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins missed the game with an illness. Foegele started the game in his place on the top line with McDavid… The Bruins were without Jakub Lauko (upper body) and Hampus Lindholm (undisclosed). With Lindholm sidelined, Mason Lohrei was recalled from Providence for his third stint with the parent club this season, earning assists on Boston’s first two goals, as well as its fifth… McDavid became the sixth player in NHL history to have multiple home points streaks of 20-plus games.

UP NEXT

Bruins: Face the Calgary Flames on Thursday in the second game of their four-game road trip.

Oilers: Play the second game of a five-game homestand on Friday against the Minnesota Wild.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 21, 2024