Maroon's three goals lift Oilers past Bruins
BOSTON -- Patrick Maroon produced his first NHL hat trick and the Edmonton Oilers spoiled the Bruins' tribute to Milt Schmidt with a 4-3 victory over Boston on Thursday night.
Schmidt, the Hall of Fame and patriarch of the Bruins family, died Wednesday and, among other tributes, his No. 15 was emblazoned behind both nets.
But other than the pregame ceremony, the night belonged to the Oilers, who rebounded from a dismal performance in Columbus on Tuesday night and from a 2-1 second-period deficit to deny the Bruins at least a point for the first time in the last 17 games of the series between the teams (Boston was 13-0-3 coming in).
After Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had a rebound deflect off his body and past Tuukka Rask 14 seconds into the third period, Maroon capped his hat trick by making the Boston defense and Rask look silly while walking out of the corner and getting the puck by the goaltender.
It was Maroon's 14th goal of the season and his sixth in the last seven games.
The Bruins challenged the goal, saying Maroon was offside as the play entered the zone. Replays appeared to show his dragged left skate up in the air, which would have made him offside, but the goal stood. Bruins coach Claude Julien pointed up at the video board and then made a phantom pair of binoculars with his hands.
While the play was reviewed, Bruins president Cam Neely was seen walking briskly through the press level toward the elevator. He didn't looked pleased -- as his team dropped its second straight and fell to 9-10 at home.
Down 4-2, the Bruins (20-14-4) were given a late two-man advantage, with David Krejci banging home a rebound on a Patrice Bergeron shot with two seconds left in the first penalty. They then had a minute left on the power play but couldn't get the puck past Cam Talbot either then or after they pulled Rask.
Talbot, making his NHL-high 36th start of the season, made 33 saves and was also beaten by goals by Colin Miller and Bergeron.
Connor McDavid, who turns 20 next week, had two assists to grab the top spot in the league in scoring for Edmonton (20-13-7).
Rask made 21 saves in the loss.
After the Bruins honored Schmidt pregame, it took the visitors just 68 seconds to score -- Maroon converting a nifty pass from McDavid.
The Bruins had the scored tied at 1 just 7:16 into the period.
Miller took his shot from the right point and, with teammate Jimmy Hayes and defenseman Matt Benning locked up in front, the puck deflected off Talbot and hit Benning before going in. It was Miller's third goal of the season.
Boston took a 2-1 lead 7:16 into the second period when Bergeron scored his third in the last four games.
Maroon tied it at 2, whirling and converting a rebound of an Eric Gryba shot at 10:43.
NOTES: The Bruins honored former player, captain, coach and general manager Milt Schmidt, the Hall of Famer passing away Wednesday. The team is wearing a commemorative No. 15 patch, the No. 15 was emblazoned behind each goal and there was a pregame video presentation for the man called "The Ultimate Bruin." ... Edmonton LW Milan Lucic, a former Bruin, tweeted: "Rip Milt Schmidt. One of the greatest Bruins of all time." ... Bruins G Anton Khudobin cleared waivers but still dressed as Tuukka Rask's backup Thursday. Rookie Zane McIntyre, 10-0 at Providence, may well be recalled to play one of the two back-to-back road games on Saturday at Florida and Sunday at Carolina. ... Bruins RW David Backes, cleared to practice Wednesday, wasn't quite ready and missed his third game with a concussion. ... Oilers coach Todd McLellan on Lucic, in his first year with the team: "He's been a great addition," noting that applies to on and off the ice. ... The Oilers play the third game of their four-game road trip on Saturday at New Jersey.