Bruins score 3 in 54 seconds, hold on to defeat Golden Knights

BOSTON -- The Boston Bruins scored three first-period goals in 54 seconds and held on to defeat the Vegas Golden Knights 4-3 at TD Garden on Thursday.

David Pastrnak had a goal and two assists, Elias Lindholm had a goal and an assist, and Morgan Geekie had two assists for the Bruins (29-20-2), who have won seven of their past eight games.

“It was a great start,” Pastrnak said. “We talked about bouncing back (after a 6-2 loss at the Dallas Stars on Tuesday), have a good start and get the crowd into it. We had a good start and a good 40 minutes was enough to win a game. They had a big push in the third period, but we were able to hang on and it was a big win for us.”

Joonas Korpisalo made 30 saves and won his fourth straight start.

“It was great, a great response, especially in the first two periods we were lights out,” he said. “Obviously, last period wasn’t great, but we battled and that’s a win. That’s all that matters.”

Jack Eichel had a goal and an assist, Tomas Hertl and Pavel Dorofeyev also scored, and Akira Schmid made 24 saves for the Golden Knights (24-13-12), who have lost two in a row. Mark Stone had an assist to extend his point streak to 13 games (10 goals, 10 assists), the longest in Golden Knights history, surpassing Eichel’s run of 12 games in 2023-24.

“It was good to see us get to our game eventually, otherwise it was going to be a really long night,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “After the first, there was a lot of hockey left, and we’ll typically get some goals, and we eventually got to it. Unfortunately, we gave up the fourth one, but the guys pushed back, found our game, but it was a little too late.”

Boston scored twice on the same power play in the first period, capitalizing on Hertl being assessed a double minor for high-sticking at 9:01. After Charlie McAvoy’s one-timer from the point beat a screened Schmid to the stick side to make it 1-0 at 9:12, Lindholm scored 30 seconds later for a 2-0 lead when he finished from the slot off a centering pass by Pastrnak.

“They were quick and we were direct,” Pastrnak said of the two goals. “Those were two big goals and that sets up the confidence when we can help out the team with two quick goals. We were direct and got rewarded for it tonight.”

Tanner Jeannot then pushed the lead to 3-0 at 10:06. After Jeannot stripped the puck from Vegas defenseman Ben Hutton on the forecheck, Sean Kuraly gathered it and fed Jeannot, who beat Schmid from the left circle with a high shot to the short side.

“It’s been really good,” Jeannot said of playing with linemates Kuraly and Mark Kastelic. “All three of us play a real simple game, support each other well and just want to be hard on other teams, play in the O-zone as much as we can, and we got rewarded.”

Pastrnak increased Boston’s lead to 4-0 at 7:25 of the second period. He took Nikita Zadorov’s backhand pass from the bottom of the right circle and scored to the short side with a quick wrist shot from the left hash marks.

Vegas cut the deficit to 4-1 on Eichel’s goal 31 seconds into the third, putting a rebound into an open net from the top of the crease.

“We need more urgency to our game,” Golden Knights defenseman Kaedan Korczak said. “Once the second started we got to our game, and it was much better. Just all around we need more urgency.”

Hertl’s power-play goal cut it to 4-2 at 3:01, and Dorofeyev made it 4-3 at 17:25 by scoring from a sharp angle with Schmid pulled for the extra attacker.

“We need to do a better job of putting out fires,” Vegas forward Reilly Smith said. “Collectively, as a group, we need to be better at not letting those momentum swings hurt us like that. … We don’t have to dwell on it too much because we have a game (at the Toronto Maple Leafs on Friday) and it’s worth the same amount of points as tonight, so we have to make sure we get off to a good start in the first period.”

NOTES: Boston scored its three fastest goals since Brian Rolston, Andy Hilbert and Rob Zamuner scored in a span of 52 seconds during a 5-0 win against the Montreal Canadiens on Dec. 20, 2001. … Defenseman Rasmus Andersson, who was acquired in a trade with the Calgary Flames on Sunday, has yet to play for the Golden Knights while he waits for his immigration process to be complete. He arrived at TD Garden during the first period, but Cassidy did not know after the game if Andersson would be available to play Friday in Toronto. “It’s all immigration related right now,” Cassidy said. “There’s no injury, no roster issue, so going to Canada I don’t know if that makes it easier or harder. He’s here, so that means there’s a chance, otherwise he wouldn’t have come.” … Eichel extended his point streak to 10 games (six goals, 12 assists).