Andrew Ference of the Edmonton Oilers battles for the puck against Carl Soderberg of the Boston Bruins during the NHL game at Rexall Place on Thursday in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The Bruins defeated the Oilers 4-2. (AFP)

 

Agencies/Edmonton, Alberta

The Boston Bruins seemed to be cruising toward a win before they had to hold on to beat the Edmonton Oilers. Jarome Iginla scored a pair of goals, and the Eastern Conference-leading Bruins outlasted the West cellar-dwelling Oilers 4-2 on Thursday. Dennis Seidenberg and Brad Marchand also had goals for the Bruins (22-8-2), who have won four in a row and eight of 10.

The Bruins had a 3-0 lead after the first period, but found themselves under siege for much of the rest of the game.

‘’I told the guys that they would come back hard on us,’’ Boston coach Claude Julien said. ‘’I didn’t like the goals we gave up for what we expect of our team. They were sloppy, but credit to the Oilers.

‘’They skated and showed their skill level and gave us a really tough game. At the end we were just hanging on. Our bench is short and we have been struggling with the health of our team and you could see that it was a matter of winning it in regulation or I don’t think we come out of here with a win.’’

Elsewhere, Joe Pavelski scored two of San Jose’s season-high three power-play goals as the Sharks snapped a four-game winless streak with a 3-1 win over the Minnesota Wild.

The Sharks were sharp on special teams, converting three of seven power-play chances, including two in the opening period. In addition, they snuffed out all three Minnesota power plays.

Goaltender Antti Niemi stopped 28 of 29 shots.

Elsewhere, Claude Giroux had a goal and assist and goaltender Steve Mason made 20 saves to help the Philadelphia Flyers edge the Montreal Canadiens 2-1.

Michael Raffl also scored a goal and Jakub Voracek had two assists for Philadelphia (14-15-3), who made it six straight home wins. The Canadiens (19-11-3) have lost two in a row.

The Columbus Blue Jackets beat the New York Rangers 4-2, picking up two important points in the Metropolitan Division in the process.

The win moved the Blue Jackets into a tie with the Rangers (31 points each) for fourth place in the division.

The Rangers (15-17-1) dropped their third straight while Columbus (13-15-3) won for the fourth time in their last five games.