Geekie scores 2 more, Bruins recover for shootout win against Red Wings

BOSTON -- Morgan Geekie scored twice for the Boston Bruins, who recovered for a 3-2 shootout win against the Detroit Red Wings at TD Garden on Saturday.

Geekie has scored eight goals in his past six games and has 20 on the season, which is tied with Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche for the NHL lead.

“It’s awesome. I’m so happy for that guy,” Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman said. “It’s no surprise. He works his butt off during the summer and obviously during the year, and I just get the best seat in the house to watch him score. I couldn’t be happier for him, and we’re lethal when we have guys like that.”

Swayman made 24 saves and stopped all three attempts he faced in the shootout for the Bruins (15-12-0), who had lost four of six, including 6-2 to the New York Rangers on Friday. Elias Lindholm had two assists.

Boston was without forward David Pastrnak for a second straight game because of an undisclosed injury.

“It’s huge,” coach Marco Sturm said of Swayman’s performance. “You guys feel it, the fans feel it, and more importantly, our players feel it. It’s such a good feeling when you have that. Since Day 1 he’s been rock-solid off the ice and on the ice. The calmness he brings in every game and giving us a chance to win every game is a good feeling.”

Lucas Raymond and Michael Rasmussen scored, and Dylan Larkin had two assists for the Red Wings (13-11-2), who have lost four in a row (0-3-1). Cam Talbot made 17 saves.

The teams will complete a home-and-home series in Detroit on Tuesday.

“It was really important for our team,” Detroit coach Todd McLellan said about earning a point. “It was a tough game to play I think for both teams. There was a lot of checking, not a lot of loose ice, and at times, frustrating for both teams. For us to find our game as the night went on was a real positive sign. A little disappointing with special teams: power play, penalty kill and shootout. We were on the short end of it. You can’t lose all three and we did tonight, so that’s why we gave up a point. We had some good efforts from some players, and we’re going to need more of it.”

Geekie gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead at 4:25 of the second period. Red Wing defenseman Ben Chiarot tried to clear the puck up the right boards, but it went right to Lindholm, who sent a quick one-timer toward the net, where Geekie redirected it short side on Talbot.

Raymond tied it 1-1 at 6:38 of the third period, chipping in a slap pass from Larkin at the left post.

Geekie put the Bruins back in front 2-1 at 13:39, scoring a power-play goal with a one-timer from the left circle.

“Just try to find the right spots,” Geekie said. “Both goals tonight don’t happen without [Lindholm] on the first one and [Casey Mittelstadt] on the second, so just try to be in the right spot for those guys to see me and hopefully good things will happen. They’ve been finding me, so I’m just trying to put the puck on net.”

Boston was 1-for-2 on the power play. Detroit was 0-for-5.

“We’ve got the personnel to do it, we’ve just got to play hockey,” Larkin said. “We’re forcing shots when we’re not at the net. I can’t win a face-off, so it starts there with winning face-offs on the power play, and then just playing. All five of us out there have good hockey instincts, so get moving, move the box, shift them and then attack when they’re vulnerable.”

Rasmussen tied it 2-2 at 18:06, tapping in a centering pass from Patrick Kane with Talbot pulled for the extra skater. The goal came shortly after Alex Steeves missed on his backhand attempt at the empty net.

“Very important,” Larkin said of earning a point. “We battled and stood up for each other, stood up for ourselves, and I thought we were right there. It was a good battle game, a good game for us to come together and show we can play in different ways.”