Bruins recover to defeat Golden Knights in shootout

BOSTON -- The Boston Bruins blew a two-goal lead before recovering for their sixth straight home win, 3-2 in the shootout against the Vegas Golden Knights at TD Garden on Monday.

James Hagens and Morgan Geekie scored, and Jeremy Swayman made 21 saves for the Bruins (11-4-1). David Pastrnak scored the lone goal in the shootout, going backhand-to-forehand before tucking the puck past Carter Hart’s left skate. 

“It’s good,” Geekie said of the win. “We knew coming in that they’re a good team. Obviously, they went to the (Stanley Cup) Final last year, so it was a good test for us, especially being able to sneak out that one the other night (5-4 overtime win against Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday), and then find a way to get this one, too. It doesn’t really matter how you get them in this league because points are points.”

Mark Stone and Trevor Connelly scored for the Golden Knights (9-5-2), who are 1-3-2 in their past six. Mitch Marner had two assists in extending his point streak to 10 games (15 points; one goal, 14 assists), and Hart made 25 saves. 

Vegas fell behind 2-0 early in the second period before coming back.

“Just stay with it. We were just trying to fight for that next goal,” Golden Knights defenseman Noah Hanifin said. “We knew if we got one the momentum would come back to our side and it would be a game. I thought we did a good job after they scored that second one and we started to take the game over a little bit after that. ... The effort was there and that’s the important thing in the long run. There’s going to be some good, some bad in every game, but tonight we competed, and the effort was there. We battled, but it’s just about making that next play, putting the puck in the net and that will come for us.”

Hagens made it 1-0 at 7:23 of the first period. Elias Lindholm threaded a centering pass from below the goal line, and Hagens chipped the puck to Hart’s stick side.

“It’s nice to be here. It’s nice to be part of this,” said Hagens, a 19-year-old rookie forward who has four goals in his past seven games. “Day by day you feel more comfortable and that comes with just the guys in this room. They were so welcoming to me. It’s fun to be around here and it’s exciting.”

After Vegas forward Braeden Bowman was given a five-minute major and a game misconduct for elbowing Boston forward Matthew Poitras at 2:49 of the second period, the Bruins quickly capitalized for a 2-0 lead on Geekie’s power-play goal at 3:23. Pastrnak controlled the puck below the goal line on the right side and made a backhand pass to Zacha, who quickly fed Geekie for a one-timer from the right circle.

Geekie, who finished with an NHL career-high 39 goals last season, has scored in consecutive games for the first time this season.

“It doesn’t cross my mind a whole lot,” he said. “Obviously, it’s nice to see them go in. For me, it’s a product of being in the right place at the right time. We kind of spun it around the power play the last couple of games, so to be able to capitalize on those are huge, but it always feels good to see them go in.” 

Poitras went to the room and returned to the bench with a full shield but did not take another shift. Bruins coach Marco Sturm did not have an update on him after the game. 

Stone credited Vegas for regrouping after that power play for Boston.

“Good effort,” Stone, the Golden Knights captain, said of his team’s overall performance. “Most of it is just making the next play. We had some pretty good chances to score some more goals tonight, but didn’t give up a ton after that five-minute power play. We did a good job of settling the game down and getting to our game. Big goal to get us to overtime. We had some chances in overtime, but didn’t score and lost in a shootout. All in all, definitely a step in the right direction for the way we’ve been playing.”

Stone cut the deficit to 2-1 on the power play at 14:58 with his 10th goal of the season. After Swayman stopped Tomas Hertl’s shot from the left circle, Stone beat the goalie to the rebound by pulling the puck back on his stick before scoring into the right side of the net.

“We got some big bodies at the net, and me and Tommy love getting those pucks around the net and winning those stick battles,” Stone said. “Anytime it gets in there we feel like confident we’re going to come out with the puck and at least give us a chance.”

Connelly tied it 2-2 at 7:23 of the third period. He scored from sharp angle on the left side off a wraparound feed from Hanifin.

“That was a huge goal,” Stone said. “We were pressuring and had them running around a little bit. (Hanifin) made a nice play to jump down the wall and makes a great play to hit Trevor back door. Trevor took a big hit in the first period but came back and scored a huge goal for us. He’s a resilient guy and it was good to see him get rewarded in the third.”

Hanifin said he had a good read on the play once Marner dropped him the puck along the wall.

“We’ve had a few of those situations where we were trying to get some scissors going and crisscrossing,” Hanifin said, “and Mitch left it to me and I saw some guys going to the net, so I just tried to put it in that area and luckily Trevor found that soft spot and put it in.”

NOTES: Hagens’ goal was his sixth of the season. Only two Bruins teenagers have scored as many for the team since 2010-11: Tyler Seguin (19 in 2011-12 and 11 in 2010-11) and Pastrnak (15 in 2015-16 and 10 in 2014-15). ... Pastrnak’s assist on Geekie’s goal gave him 300 power-play points for his career (135 goals, 165 assists) and made him the sixth player in Boston history to reach the mark. ... The Bruins tied the Tampa Bay Lightning (active) and New York Rangers for the longest home winning streak by any team this season. ... Hart returned after being sidelined for two games with a lower-body injury.