Oilers dominate in Boston, avoid injury scares: 5 takeaways vs. Bruins

BOSTON This was about as flawless of a performance as a team could have in a midseason game.

OK, maybe thats overstating things a bit.

Theyll find something (wrong), Edmonton Oilers centre Adam Henrique said in jest.

Coaches always find something.

Sure, the Oilers made a few mistakes in a 4-0 victory over the Boston Bruins , their fifth straight win in Massachusetts.

But they didnt make many.

Advertisement They were full marks for their 15th win in the last 19 games as they surrendered just 26 shots and didnt allow a goal against to improve to 25-12-3 on the season.

Im not surprised the players would see it that way, coach Kris Knoblauch said, laughing, when told of Henriques comments.

But it was a pretty good effort from everyone.

Unquestionably.

Here are the five things that stood out from the convincing performance.

It starts with defence The Bruins had some sustained zone time in the back half of the first period.

They had a few chances in the game.

Really though, the Oilers effectively kept them at bay.

The Oilers controlled the lions share of the play as evidenced by a 13-8 advantage in high-danger chances at five-on-five and 62 percent expected goals share in that game situation, per Natural Stat Trick.

The data largely matched the eye test.

This was a dominating effort from the crease on out.

I dont know if there is a perfect game, but I thought we played a really solid team effort, defenceman Mattias Ekholm said.

I thought (goalie Stuart Skinner ) saw the puck for the most part and, if there was garbage laying around in the crease, we cleared most of it.

For January, it was pretty close to it.

It didnt even matter a lick that Leon Draisaitl failed to extend his point streak to 15 games, which would have set a career high.

The Bruins were unable to impose their physical will on the Oilers.

That translated to offensive control for Edmonton.

Were not the biggest team, but were pretty good protecting the puck, Ekholm said.

We dont necessarily use power and size to do it.

Its more speed and cutbacks and using each other.

We do a really good job as a team to be hard to check.

The game changer It wasnt hard to figure out this one.

The game could have flipped to the point of being up for grabs but instead moved to the Oilers taking complete control within seconds.

Advertisement With the Oilers up 1-0 in the middle period and on a power play, Pavel Zacha was sent in on a breakaway courtesy of a back-handed saucer pass from Charlie McAvoy .

Skinner turned him aside with his blocker at 11:03.

Skinners save knocked the puck to the sideboards, where McAvoy retrieved it.

With three Oilers around him, the Bruins defenceman tried to send the puck back to a teammate out of the zone to kill time.

But Ryan Nugent-Hopkins intercepted his pass, corralled the puck and sprung Connor McDavid for a breakaway of his own.

McDavid made no mistake, beating Jeremy Swayman to the stick side.

That was huge, Henrique said.

That could have been one of those turning points.

He doesnt make that save, its probably a completely different game, Knoblauch said.

McDavids goal came at 11:11, just eight seconds after Skinners monumental save.

Its such a momentum swing, Ekholm said.

It gives us a little more leeway for the game.

We didnt look back from there.

The tally got McDavid on the scoresheet after hed gone pointless in back-to-back games the first time the Oilers won consecutive contests without McDavid recording a goal or an assist.

Reworking the blue line Josh Brown was tabbed to play his fourth game of the season after being recalled from AHL Bakersfield on Sunday.

He took Troy Stecher s place in the lineup, which forced assistant coach Paul Coffey to mix up his defensive pairs even more than usual.

Brett Kulak getting time with Darnell Nurse on the right side of the second pair typically means Stecher will slide down and play his off side next to Ty Emberson for a couple shifts a period.

That same rotation wasnt in the cards for Brown and Emberson.

It was Kulak who, once again, showcased his versatility.

He played with three different partners at five-on-five: Emberson, on his weak side with Nurse, and with Evan Bouchard .

The few Bouchard shifts came after Ekholm skated with Emberson.

Advertisement Kulak skated 10:33 with Emberson, 6:19 with Nurse and 3:51 with Bouchard in that scenario, per Natural Stat Trick.

Weve been pretty used to it, Ekholm said.

As a D corps, weve been playing pretty solid.

But weve got to keep it going.

Naturally, given this mix, Brown got the least ice time among Oilers blueliners at 11:49.

His most notable moment came in the first period when he levelled Trent Frederic with a hip check along the boards by the Oilers bench.

Brown was used on the penalty kill in the third when Ekholm was in the box.

Avoiding injury scare It wasnt just one Oilers player but rather two who got hurt on the same sequence late in the first period.

In the offensive zone, Mattias Janmark collided with Perry and appeared to have his head knocked by his teammate.

Janmark stayed down while the play went to the Oilers zone and headed immediately down the tunnel when the play stopped.

The play stopped when Bruins defenceman Nikita Zadorov ran into Skinner while cutting toward the net with the puck.

He contacted Skinners head, causing the goaltenders mask to fly off.

Skinner needed attention from Oilers head athletic therapist T.D.

Forss while Zadorov was being sent off for goalie interference.

Skinner was sent off for concussion protocol with 5:25 left in the first period.

Honestly, its a smart call, Skinner said.

He got me pretty good.

I think thats like the fifth hit Ive got this year.

He apologized at the start of the second period, which was really nice of him to do.

Thats an NHL play.

It happens.

Janmark returned to the bench while the Oilers were on their power play.

Skinner came back into the net after the intermission.

Skinner had to settle for a team shutout as was the case last season in Pittsburgh for Calvin Pickard when he went into concussion protocol amid a blank sheet.

Neither Skinner nor Pickard saw a shot when they entered the respective games off the bench.

Advertisement It was honestly pretty funny just because, when it happened, I looked at Cal and said, The same thing happened in Pittsburgh.

I stole a shutout from you,' Skinner said.

He was pretty upset.

I was like, Well, I guess were even now.' Skinner said hes glad no one challenged Zadorov to a fight because hes eight feet tall, Skinner said exaggerating a bit.

Ekholm was fine with the way the situation was handled.

Ive been on teams where you have a couple majors every night, basically, and I prefer being on a team like this, where you can actually play and hurt them by good plays and scoring goals, he said.

Henrique, the sniper Henrique hasnt exactly had the most robust offensive campaign.

He had just three goals and 10 points in 39 games before Tuesdays affair, albeit exclusively in a bottom-six role and with just dribs and drabs of secondary power-play opportunities.

Well, Henrique showed exactly why he had 266 goals and 540 points in 951 games before facing off against the Bruins.

Henrique was the beneficiary of two gorgeous feeds from behind the net to the slot and scored twice.

The first goal came in the opening period when Perry set him up.

The second one was in the middle frame when Jeff Skinner found him.

When theyre not going in, it seems impossible sometimes, but its nice to get on the board, Henrique said.

It certainly helps with the confidence.

Henrique rifled both shots home, using some advice he got from his former GM with the OHLs Windsor Spitfires and current Oilers head of pro scouting.

Get them on and off the tape, he said.

Warren Rychel says, Always shoot a rolling puck.

I was just trying to make that quick play.

I was fortunate enough to get the two.

It wasnt long ago that Knoblauch was talking about wanting more out of his bottom six.

The winds have slowly been turning on that.

They were swirling in the right direction in a big way on Tuesday.

Advertisement The way Ekholm sees it, swapping Zach Hyman and Connor Brown while adding Skinner to the line with Hyman and Brown has lengthened the Oilers offensive attack.

Its almost at the point where we have a one-two-three punch, Ekholm said.

We knew we have offence in here.

Thats never been the problem.

I do think we play a really good team game right now where we dont sacrifice the defense, which is as important.

(Photo: Bob DeChiara / Imagn Images).

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