Only time will tell if the Edmonton Oilers are going to be a good team this season or if they simply got off to a nice start.
Regardless, the Oilers (9-4-2) came into the TD Garden tonight having won seven of their last eight games. They had the third most points in the NHL but that didn't seem to matter as the Bruins (7-7-0) climbed to .500 for the first time in 2011-12 with a 6-3 victory.
Boston has now beaten Edmonton ten times in a row, dating back to October 2000. It is ironic that the Bruins struggled so much to score to begin the season because they have potted 24 goals (6 per game) in their last four contests.
The B's are riding a four-game win streak and even more promising, they've won Tuukka Rask's (27 saves) last two starts. Even the power-play is starting to come around with two more goals this evening.
Brad Marchand (2 goals) shook off a 10-game goalless stretch, Joe Corvo added three assists, Tyler Seguin (1 goal, 1 assist) continue to put the puck in the net while Nathan Horton had two assists.
Rich Peverley sat out another game with his undisclosed injury and Daniel Paille missed the contest following the surgery for his broken nose. Providence Bruins standout Zach Hamill made the most of his first appearance (this season) with the big club, picking up his third NHL assist. Unfortunately, Andrew Ference left in the second period with an injury and he never returned. If he can't go on Saturday, expect Steven Kampfer to return to the lineup.
With games in Detroit and Chicago this weekend, the Oilers sat their starting goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin. It was an all backup occasion with Devan Dubnyk (22 saves) taking on Rask.
Boston took an early 2-0 lead in the first period as Johnny Boychuk (2nd of the season) scored at 7:11 from David Krejci and Horton then Jordan Caron (1st of the season) doubled it with an assist from Hamill. Boychuk's shot was a blast from the point, his specialty; Caron mishit his shot but the pass was so good that a simple redirect got the job done.
Edmonton tied it up with a pair of goals in 29 seconds (12:02 and 12:31). Mark Recchi lite aka Ryan Smith (8th of the season) tipped a shot from the point by Theo Peckham. 2011 No. 1 pick Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (7th of the season) finished a feed from 2011 No. 1 pick Taylor Hall.
Boston took control with two unanswered tallies in the second. Marchand (3rd of the season) deflected Corvo's shot from the point on the power-play (Seguin assisted too). Seguin showed he's not afraid to go to the net and he was rewarded with his ninth goal of the season, from Corvo.
Smyth's tap in at 15:18 of the third period brought the Oilers within a goal but no worries, the Bruins had this one in the skate bag. Milan Lucic (8th of the season) got an easy power-play goal thanks to Corvo's gorgeous feed. Horton assisted on Lucic's goal and Marchmont ended it with an unassisted snipe at 17:57 that looked like something he did in the playoffs last spring.
The Buffalo Sabres make their first pilgrimage to Boston on Saturday night. Their Northeast Division rivals still have All-World goaltender Ryan Miller, who's off to a slow start by his impossibly high standards. For whatever reason, the Sabres usually give the Bruins trouble and the games are almost always very competitive.
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