Huge Third Period Leads The Bruins To Victory

After getting pummeled by the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday, the Bruins earned back-to-back hard-fought victories versus the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers. Hard to argue with the overall results.

The Bruins controlled the play for most of the first period and only allowed three shots on goal.  Unfortunately, it was that third shot that got in behind Anton Khudobin, while the teams play at 4v4, at the 18:29 mark.  Ryan Strome, who had the game winning goal in the first meeting between these two teams, came up the right boards and caught Khudobin cheating a bit for a cross-ice pass on a 2-on-1 rush and fired a wrist shot past him.

The Oilers doubled their lead with another odd-man rush at 11:38 of the second period.  The play started when the puck jumped over the stick of Torey Krug at his own blue line and ended when Jujhar Khaira used Noel Acciari as screen to fire a wrist shot from the slot over Khudobin. 

Edmonton nearly went up by three goals late in the second period, but Khudobin made a great pad save to deny Connor McDavid on a golden scoring chance.  The Bruins held a 29-14 advantage in shots at the second intermission and trailed 2-0 on the scoreboard. This save would be a huge factor in the final result.

Acciari cut the lead in half at 4:37 of the third period with a great individual effort.  His shot from the right boards went wide, but Acciari went behind the net to retrieve the puck where his wraparound attempt was stopped by Talbot, but the rebound hit off of Strome's skate and went back into the Oilers net.  Krug and Brandon Carlo picked up the assists on Acciari's seventh goal of the year.

The Bruins were all over the Oilers after Acciari's goal and their cycle game finally got things all squared at 11:42. With the acquisition of Nick Holden and the return of Kevan Miller, Matt Grzelcyk will likely be the odd man out, but he made his case for playing time.  After more extended zone time, Talbot made a save on Charlie McAvoy and Riley Nash took the rebound and made a no-look, backhand pass to a wide open Grzelcyk in the left circle where he one-timed the puck into exposed cage.

David Krejci gave the Bruins their first lead of the night with just 1:04 left in regulation. David Backes won a battle along the left boards and got the puck to Danton Heinen behind the net. Heinen found Krejci all alone in the slot where he went upstairs to beat Talbot's glove hand for his 11th goal of the year.

The Oilers spent the final 44 seconds of the game on a 6-on-4 advantage after Charlie McAvoy tripped McDavid, but they could not get the equalizer.

This was a game the Bruins should have won from the get go.  They kept battling and a finally found a way to break through in the third period to gain a big two points since the Tampa Bay Lightning and Toronto Maple Leafs both won tonight as well.

The Bruins five-game road trip continues in Toronto on Saturday after the team makes a quick stop back home.