A few moments after the midnight New Year rang in for everybody in Boston, David Pastrnak scored the final goal in a Boston barrage that left them with a 6-2 exclamation point road victory over the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place.
It was the first NHL goal scored in 2026 and perhaps portends better things for the Black and Gold in the New Year as they snapped a six-game losing streak with a winning effort against a juggernaut Edmonton club that was expected to demolish them on New Year’s Eve. Instead, it was a Boston effort very similar to the unexpected home win over the Colorado Avalanche that ended Boston’s other six-game losing slide this season.
Getting back to defensive basics appears to be the B’s New Year’s resolution, and they came through it in winning fashion as they turned things over to a new hockey calendar.
“It feels really good. I think everybody is sick of losing,” said Marco Sturm. “But I’m just proud of the way we played and the way we came out. I don’t think a lot of people thought we could grab two points here tonight, but we did [grab two points] and the fashion in which we did it was very good.
“There were times when we were up 1-0 and 2-0…every time they pushed, [Jeremy Swayman] had an answer. He was outstanding.”
The victory featured a Herculean effort from David Pastrnak with a pair of goals that bookended the Boston scoring in the game, and 11 total shots on net while once again playing very good hockey on a line with Marat Khusnutdinov and Fraser Minten.
And Jeremy Swayman was just as brilliant on the other end of the ice with 34 saves in the win that included turning away both Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl on a night when both Oilers superstars (a combined 21 shot attempts) had their “A” games.
Swayman stopped McDavid cold on a breakaway in the first period that seemed to announce it was going to be a long night for the Oilers’ shooters for the rest of the evening.
It was also the second straight game when the B’s held their opponent under three goals scored after being outscored 23-10 in the previous four games during the extended losing streak, a clear indicator that poor defense was the hallmark of their slump. Edmonton got its share of Grade-A scoring chances on New Year’s Eve, to be sure, but the Bruins are getting back to playing good fundamental defense while taking three out of four points in the last two games.
That is not a coincidence.
“It was good to get out of that slump and to do it the right way,” said Swayman. “I think we can take a lot out of this game and build a lot of confidence. We know what we can do this in league and consistency is everything, so I think we can take this and move forward, and really build some momentum.”
Still, the other part of the equation is getting offense up and down the lineup as the Bruins are