Strome goal lifts Oilers past Bruins
BOSTON -- Ryan Strome scored the tiebreaking goal early in the third period, and the Edmonton Oilers beat the Boston Bruins 4-2 on Sunday at TD Garden.
Strome took a pass from Leon Draisaitl in the high slot 2:07 into the third and fired it past Boston goaltender Tuukka Rask for a 3-2 lead.
The Oilers, at the tail end of a miserable road trip on which they lost three of four games, went home with smiles after taking their sixth straight victory over the Bruins, a streak that stretches back to Nov. 6, 2014.
Cam Talbot made 23 saves for Edmonton while Rask stopped 32 for the Bruins in his first appearance in five games.
Boston's David Pastrnak opened the scoring at the 14:03 mark of the first on the power play. Pastrnak walked in through the right wing, put a nifty deke on Oscar Klefbom and wristed a shot over Talbot's glove for a 1-0 Boston lead. The goal, which came 39 seconds into a hooking penalty to Michael Cammalleri, marked the Bruins' first power-play tally in 17 tries.
Patrick Maroon tied it for the Oilers 9:50 into the second period, settling a cross-ice pass from Zack Kassian and snapping it between Rask's blocker and the left post to make it 1-1.
The Oilers took a brief lead at the 14:20 mark of the second when Adam Larsson's wrister deflected off Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy to make it 2-1.
Boston tied it just 71 seconds later when Riley Nash drove deep into the Edmonton zone and fed David Krejci for the equalizer.
After Strome put the Oilers back on top for good, Draisaitl added an empty-net goal with 50.7 seconds to go.
NOTES: G Tuukka Rask made his first appearance for the Bruins since Nov. 15. Rask, who sat in favor of G Anton Khudobin for four straight games, fell to 4-8-2. His last win was Nov. 6. ... Oilers F Leon Draisaitl slotted into the center position between LW Drake Caggiula and RW Ryan Strome after playing most of this season on the right wing. ... G Cam Talbot made the start for Edmonton after missing the Friday game with the flu. ... The Bruins announced that LW Peter Cehlarik, who sustained a leg injury in Boston's Friday win over Pittsburgh, will be out a minimum of four weeks. ... Oilers LW Patrick Maroon's goal in the second period was his sixth in just three games against the Bruins over the past two seasons.