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Bruins streak past struggling Oilers

The Boston Bruins shouldn’t be all that eager to return home.
HKN Canucks Oilers
Edmonton Oilers' Sam Gagner

Bruins 3 Oilers 2

EDMONTON — The Boston Bruins shouldn’t be all that eager to return home.

Michael Ryder had a goal and an assist as the Bruins won their fifth in a row, all on the road, beating the Edmonton Oilers 3-2 on Sunday.

Nathan Horton and Rich Peverley also scored for the Bruins (36-19-7), who have won all five games thus far on their six-game roadtrip.

“This trip has been a great opportunity for us to introduce our new players to the hockey club by being on the road,” Bruins head coach Claude Julien said. “The timing was good. We’ve got a better record on the road than we do at home. We seem to play some really good, smart games on the road. Hopefully we can carry that back to Boston and be a little bit better there.”

Rookie Tyler Seguin said the Bruins earned the win with a complete effort.

“I thought we were able to stay consistent through a full 60-minutes,” he said. “They stayed in there, they had their chances, but we were able to pull through.”

Ales Hemsky and Gilbert Brule replied for the Oilers (20-35-8), who have lost two in a row and three of their last four.

“We competed and we didn’t let numbers bother us,” Oilers head coach Tom Renney said after his team was outshot 40-17. “We just kept playing and wouldn’t go away, which is important. We did everything we could to play through it and play with them.

“I thought we did a pretty darn good job against one of the better teams in the National Hockey League.”

Added Oilers rookie Taylor Hall: “They’re big, they’re fast and they work hard. More than anything, I think, it’s their work ethic and their speed. This whole year is about learning and there’s a lot to learn about how to play against big, hard-working guys like that.”

The Oilers, often victims of early goals against this season, started the game off quickly themselves for once as Hemsky slid a rebound and under Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask just 1:05 into the game.

Boston came back to tie the game 1-1 with four and a half minutes left in the opening frame. Ryder scooped up a rebound and waited for Oilers goalie Devan Dubnyk to go down before sending a shot into the top of the net for his 17th goal of the season.

The Bruins went ahead by one with just 1:21 left in the first as David Krejci faked a shot before sending it over to Horton, who buried it into an empty net.

Boston continued to dominate play in the second period but weren’t rewarded until the final minute when Ryder fed Peverley, who deked out Dubnyk to score his first goal as a Bruin since coming over in a trade with Atlanta.

The Oilers got back into it just over three minutes into the third as Brule rifled a bullet from the far edge of the faceoff circle past a screened Rask.

Both teams are back in action on Tuesday as the Bruins close out their six-game trip in Ottawa and the Oilers play host to Nashville.