Not even close.
Any concerns that a cross-continental flight from Seattle to Boston might have softened up the Edmonton Oilers were put to rest Tuesday, along with the humbled Bruins, in a lopsided show of force at TD Garden.
The Bruins used to be the black-and-gold standard for the NHL, but the Oilers reminded them again that that was then and this is now.
Edmonton controlled the Bruins from start to finish in a 4-0 victory that flattered a home team (shots were 29-12 with the Oilers up 3-0 through two periods) that got booed off its own ice.
It was hard to find many flaws in their game as the Oilers extended their winning streak to four games and improved to 15-3-1 in the last 19.
“They’ll find something, coaches always find something,” grinned Adam Henrique, who led the way with a pair of long-awaited goals. “It was a good game from everybody, start to finish and top to bottom.”
The only real drama in this one was whether or not Stuart Skinner would shut out the Bruins and whether Leon Draisaitl would extended his points streak to 15 games.
Skinner did and Draisaitl didn’t. Despite being knocked out of the game for the last 5:25 of the first period after being run over by Boston’s Nikita Zadorov, Skinner was outstanding — stopping all 26 shots for the goose egg.
“Toronto called down and told them I had to do concussion protocol, which is smart, life after hockey is really important, too,” said Skinner, who is 10-2-1 with a .929 save percentage in his last 13 starts. “It’s their call. I got to go in and do a couple of fun little things for the mind.”
Even though Calvin Picard didn’t face a shot, Skinner doesn’t get credit for the shutout. It’s credited as a team shutout when two or more goalies see the ice.
“Shutout, no shutout, it’s not that big of a deal at the end of the day,” said Skinner.
Draisaitl, meanwhile, was held off the score sheet for the first time since Dec. 3
COMING TO LIFE
It was an underwhelming start for just about every veteran forward but Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl this season. Everyone from Connor Brown to Jeff Skinner to Adam Henrique to Viktor Arvidsson to Zach Hyman to Ryan Nugent-Hopkins struggled to find traction.
But slowly, one by one, they are all gaining speed. Hyman had a run of 10 goals in nine games, Nugent-Hopkins has nine points in 10 games, Arvidsson has seven points in the last seven games, Jeff Skinner has a three-game points streak and now Henrique is escaping the offensive quagmire.
He had one goal in the previous 21 games and just three goals in the first 39 games of the season, before erupted for a pair Tuesday.
“I was fortunate to get two goals,” he said. “It’s nice to get on the board. It certainly helps with the confidence. But it’s the overall game and making sure I’m solid in all situations.”
McDAVID ENDS DROUGHT
McDavid hadn’t scored since Dec. 19 against Boston, a span of seven games. Believe it or not, it was one of the longer droughts on the team. But after Skinner stopped a partial breakaway at one end McDavid scored on a power-play breakaway of his own at the other to make it 2-0.
JUMPING ON THEM
The Oilers used to have a habit of easing their way into games but they’ve become especially strong starts lately. Tuesday marked the seventh-straight game in which they’ve scored first and they outshot Boston 14-4 in the first period after outshooting Seattle 10-3 in the first last game.
TURNING THE CHEEK
The Oilers are a skilled, puck-possession team that doesn’t have much in the way of physical deterrence and it was evident early in the first period when the 6-foot-6, 248-pound Zadorov absolutely steamrolled Skinner and knocked him into concussion protocol for the remainder of the first period.
“It’s tough for me to get out of the way because I have to do my job and keep the puck out of the net,” said Skinner. “He looked a lot bigger than 6-foot-6 when he was coming down on me. He looked about 7-foot-2.
“He got a good piece of me. I think it’s about the fifth hit I’ve had this year. He said ‘Sorry’ at the start of the second period which is nice of him, he didn’t have to do that. It’s a hockey play. It happens all the time.”
There was no response from the Edmonton players, which doesn’t send a very strong message to other teams, but Skinner didn’t fret over it.
“I wasn’t too worried about it,” said Skinner. “He’s also eight feet tall, so I wasn’t expecting anyone to go fists with him.”
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