Short on emotion and with their confidence wavering, the Bruins dropped their fifth straight game Tuesday night, falling to that well-oiled machine out of Edmonton, 4-0, at TD Garden.
The Bruins' first regulation loss on home ice since Black Friday dropped them to 20-18-5 as they cling to their precarious playoff position.
“Well, I mean it’s frustrating to lose five in a row. I mean, we’re on a skid right now. Not much confidence up there. I think we’re thinking too much,” said defenseman Nikita Zadorov. “We’re a half-step behind everybody, not playing hard enough, not connected. So, there’s a lot of things I think we’ve got to take it day-by-day. We played really good hockey before the break and we had our swagger, we had our hard work. We were so detailed and everything, so we just got to get back to basics, look at the mirror, and starting for myself, and just be better overall.”
If not for Jeremy Swayman (35 saves), the loss could have been much worse as the high-powered Oilers (25-12-3) continually swarmed the Bruins' end.
“They were certainly playing at a higher level than we were right from the drop of the puck,” said Bruins coach Joe Sacco. “They won the majority of races to pucks. They were quicker than us. They won more one-on-one battles. So, we pretty much got what we deserved.”
There was no early sign of jet lag from the Oilers, who came out flying, playing their brand of firewagon hockey that keeps opponents on their heels.
After the first 20 minutes, the visitors held a 1-0 lead courtesy of a 14-4 shot advantage.
Connor McDavid served notice early with a nifty speed rush around the reach of Zadorov and invading the blue paint before Swayman sticked it away.
It was a harbinger of things to come as the speed, stickhandling, and pure wizardry of McDavid was on display across his 18 shifts and 18-plus minutes.
The Oilers broke the ice when Adam Henrique nailed his fourth of the season at 6:33.
Parked behind Swayman’s net, Corey Perry dished a pass down the slot to an unmarked Henrique, who went top shelf over Swayman’s glove.
Zadorov tried to give his team a jolt by literally delivering a jolt to Edmonton goalie Stuart Skinner.
The big defenseman went hard to the Oilers net and with the help of a nudge from Brett Kulak bowled over Skinner, knocking the goalie’s mask and temporarily knocking him out of the game in the process.
Skinner was originally set to stay in after some attention from the medical staff, but a call from the NHL sent Skinner to the locker room for a concussion check. Skinner gave way to Calvin Pickard, but passed his tests, came out for the second, and stymied the Bruins the rest of the way.
Zadorov, who apologized to Skinner for the collision, said he was just going hard to the net and had no malicious intent.
“I wouldn’t want to hurt anybody on the ice, and I mean I wouldn’t want anybody to do that to my goalie either,” said the big defenseman, who was given a minor for goalie interference. “So, I felt like it was fair to say [there] wasn’t [any] intention to hurt him.”
Still trailing, 1-0, in the second, Trent Frederic tried to provide a spark when he dropped the gloves and then dropped Perry, a notorious agitator, with some heavy overhand rights.
Frederic, who left briefly to deal with some bloody knuckles, was hit with an extra two for roughing and the Oilers made it hurt.
After Pavel Zacha was denied on a shorthanded breakaway (Skinner with the blocker), the Oilers hustled back in transition. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins hit McDavid, who had split defenders Charlie McAvoy and Brandon Carlo and beared down on Swayman, beating the Boston goalie blocker side for a 2-0 lead at 11:11 of the second.
“Just stinks I got a penalty on that,” said Frederic, confirming he was looking to give his club some life. “So, it didn’t really work out that way.”
Henrique added his second of the night, snapping a behind-the-net pass from Jeff Skinner from the slot to up it to 3-0 at 16:35.
Both of Henrique’s goals were reminiscent of several the Bruins gave up in Toronto where coverage down the middle was lacking.
“Well, having your head on a swivel,” said Sacco, when asked how to shore up the slot coverage. “I mean we have the puck sail through two or three people, their sticks. So, it’s just recognizing where the danger is. Have your head on a swivel and make sure that you’re protecting that area. We didn’t do a good enough job protecting our goalie tonight. Not even close.”
Viktor Arvidsson’s empty netter closed the scoring.