EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) - Patience paid off for the Boston Bruins on Tuesday night.
David Krejci broke a tie with 1:04 remaining and Boston rallied for a 3-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers.
Noel Acciari and Matt Grzelcyk also scored for the Bruins (37-13-8), who have won seven of nine and are one point back of NHL-leading Tampa Bay in the Atlantic Division. Boston trailed 2-0 before scoring three times in the third period.
“We have a will to win,” coach Bruce Cassidy said. “There are 82 of these and sometimes you just don’t have it, but I think our group is pretty good at pushing right to the end. It would have been easy for us to say it was our third game in four nights and we were playing back-to-back games, and maybe it is not our night after the frustration early on of not being able to finish and (Oilers goalie Cam Talbot) being really good, but we stuck with it.”
Bruins goalie Anton Khudobin agreed the key was staying positive after falling behind a team they felt they were outplaying.
“If you are thinking things aren’t going your way, then they are never going to go your way,” he said. “You have to keep positive, keep playing and shooting and you are going to get rewarded. We were rewarded tonight.”
Ryan Strome and Jujhar Khaira had the goals for the Oilers (24-31-4), who have lost seven of eight.
“At the end of the day, you’re here for wins and losses and it’s tough to take moral victories out of the game,” Strome said. “We know the position we’re in and that’s a disappointing result after 40 good minutes.”
The Oilers scored the game’s first goal with 1:31 left in the opening period - despite being outshot 13-2 to that point - when Strome beat Khudobin on a 2-on-1 break for his ninth of the season.
The Bruins came close five minutes into the second when David Pastrnak’s shot clanged off the post behind Talbot, but instead the Oilers extended their lead just more than six minutes later when a knuckler by Khaira beat Khudobin up high.
The shots favored the Bruins 29-14 through 40 minutes.
Boston got on the board 4:37 into the third when Acciari swung a puck in front of the Edmonton net and it bounced off Strome and in to make it 2-1.
The Bruins tied it with eight minutes to play after a flurry in front led to Grzelcyk putting the puck past a diving Talbot.
Boston completed the comeback with just 64 seconds to play in the third, after the Oilers lost control of the puck in their own end. Danton Heinen sent it out in front, allowing Krejci to score his 11th of the season.
NOTES: It was the second and final meeting this season between the teams. The Oilers took the first game 4-2 in Boston on Nov. 26. … Oilers defenseman Kris Russell played his 700th NHL game. … The Bruins acquired D Nick Holden from the New York Rangers for minor league defenseman Rob O’Gara and their third-round pick in this year’s draft. Holden was not in Edmonton in time for the game.
UP NEXT
Bruins: Saturday at Toronto.
Oilers: Host the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday.
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