Bruins Fall in OT to Stars, Earn Seven of Eight Points on the Road

DALLAS –– After over a week away, the Boston Bruins had one more stop: a matchup against the Dallas Stars on Tuesday night at American Airlines Center.

They knew it would be a challenge to close out what had already been a successful trip. And yet, the B’s saw it through, picking up another point in the 3-2 overtime loss. Boston earned a total of seven out of eight points through four games on the road.

“I thought the guys played great; I really do. Deserved definitely a point. Unfortunate to give up the second point, but looking back, what a great road trip. I really, really liked our effort tonight,” head coach Marco Sturm said. “It’s been a long ride. We’re excited to go home and see our families and also see our fans in a few days.”

Jeremy Swayman kept things close all evening, especially during overtime, and finished with 22 saves.

“That’s a hard game to play. Just really proud of the boys, the way they maintained a good, solid 60 minutes,” Swayman said. “Give a lot of credit to them for locking down, playing our system right and giving a full effort at the end of this road trip.”

The Bruins got out to a quick start. Matt Poitras put them ahead 1-0 just over two minutes into the game with his fourth goal of the season – and third in four games. Mason Lohrei kept an attempted Stars clear in the zone, chipping it to Tanner Jeannot, who found Frederic Brunet on the right side. The rookie defenseman zipped the puck over to Poitras in the left circle, where he one-timed it home at 2:09.

“It was pretty cool to score a goal from him,” Poitras said of Brunet. “We’ve been playing together for the last few years and kind of just made our way up together. It’s pretty cool to do that together.”

​Mikko Rantanen found the 1-1 equalizer for the Stars with a snapshot at 2:50 of the middle frame, but the B’s regained their lead thanks to James Hagens. Nikita Zadorov pushed the puck up to Casey Mittelstadt, who looped around the net and tossed it in front, where Hagens tipped it in. Hagens’ third goal of the season – and third point in three games – made it 2-1 at 7:30.

Zadorov was back in the lineup after sitting out on Saturday, and had one shot, one hit and two blocks through 20:48 of ice time on the second pair with Will Borgen.

​“I thought we played pretty well. Obviously, would like to grab two points in that game,” Zadorov said. “If you compare it to last year, we started pretty well, and then we had those six games when we couldn’t just get a bounce, and we lost those games. Now we’re finding a way to win the games, even when we don’t have our A game. That’s the league right now…It’s important to build something like that.”

​Rantanen forced overtime with his third-period tally, which came at 13:38, before securing the extra point and 3-2 scoreline while on the power play at 3:52 of the extra hockey.

The B’s will now head back to Boston for Thursday’s contest against the Nashville Predators at TD Garden. The team returns with a stronger identity and believability than when it left. What did Sturm learn about his group this trip?

“That we’re right in there. It’s nice to see that every game was pretty consistent. For a coach, that’s what you’re looking for,” he said. “Doesn’t matter – goalie, D, forwards – every line did their job. We were very consistent, very structured, didn’t give up much and got rewarded with some big points here.”

Swayman agreed.

“It’s hard to win in this league,” Swayman said. “We were all laughing – it’s been the best trip ever, just because of the camaraderie, the way we’ve competed and just been able to stick together every single day.”