BOSTON — History told us the Boston Bruins would find a way to pull out Thursday night’s game against the Edmonton Oilers.
After all, the Oilers, a one-time Boston nemesis, hadn’t beaten the Bruins since Oct. 17, 2000 and hadn’t won at TD Garden since Nov. 7, 1996, when it was known as the FleetCenter.
Sure enough, it happened.
The Bruins, asleep for much of the first 2 1/2 periods, scored three goals in a 2:34 span to escape with a 5-2 victory, their 13th in a row over the Oilers.
“We got the flow,” said center Carl Soderberg, who scored the middle of the three goals after assisting on the first. “A lot of the time when we play at home and get one goal, we get the whole team going; we got some power plays and we scored.”
Right winger Loui Eriksson, Soderberg and defenseman Dougie Hamilton all scored in the rally as the Bruins (9-6-0) won their fourth straight before getting three days of rest/practice. Hamilton assisted on the first two and had an assist on the third, but a scoring change after the game gave him his third goal of the season.
“With our team we never quit,” said Hamilton, who has 10 points in 15 games. “So there’ not going to be a lot of third periods when we’re getting outplayed.”
Said coach Claude Julien: “Those games aren’t always perfect but you like the way your team responds to different situations — and we’re down 2-1, instead of panicking, we just picked up our game and put our foot on the gas pedal and found a way to get some goals here.”
The goals by Soderberg, his fourth, and Hamilton both came on the power play, with a tripping penalty called on Edmonton defenseman Nikita Nikitin as the first goal went in. Eriksson got an assist on that goal, as did right winger Riley Smith, who scored the first Boston goal against goaltender Ben Scrivens.
“You can’t give a dangerous team like that power play chances, and they were converted,” said Scrivens. “They’re a good team, obviously.
“We need to find ways to close games out. We’ve just got to find a way to do it. You can’t step backwards and play cautious and just defend. We’re a much better team when we’re going after the other team.”
The Oilers, playing Game 2 of a five-game road trip, lost their fourth straight and fell to 4-8-1 on the season, 0-4-1 on the road. They have scored six goals in the four games.
Left winger Milan Lucic, playing in his 500th NHL game, scored an empty-net goal with 7.5 seconds remaining.
Edmonton had taken a 2-1 lead 1:44 into the third. Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask came out to slap a clear-in off the boards, but it went right to right winger Nail Yakupov. Rask left a long rebound of his shot and center Mark Arcobello slapped it home for his third of the year.
Then came the rally.
“Even when they scored the second one, I felt like we were still in control,” said coach Dallas Eakins. “But our penalty kill on the third one with the big mistake killed us.”
Edmonton right winger Boyd Gordon scored his first goal of the year, on the power play, 14:49 into the game but right winger Reilly Smith tied it for Boston with 1:15 left in the period.
The Bruins had two goals waved off, one in each of the last two periods, because they were put in after the whistle. Julien was not happy, but the calls were correct after the official on the goal line lost sight of the puck.
NOTES: Oilers D Andrew Ference, a former Bruin, was with the team Thursday but couldn’t play because of a three-game NHL suspension for his head hit on Vancouver RW Zack Kassian. … Bruins C David Krejci returned after missing two games with what was reported as a hip injury. He had six minutes in penalties in the first period, two more than he had in his first nine games. … The Oilers play Game 3 of their five-game road trip at fellow cellar-dwelling Buffalo on Friday night, while the Bruins end their four-game homestand Monday against the New Jersey Devils. … RW Iiro Pakarinen, just recalled from the minors by the Oilers, made his NHL debut but played just 5:50. … Oilers D Keith Aulie, recalled from the minors, made his debut with his new team as D Martin Marincin sat.