Bruins rally past Sharks in third, run point streak to eight

BOSTON -- The Boston Bruins scored four goals in the third period, including three straight in a span of 3:33, and ran their point streak to eight games by rallying for a 6-4 win against the San Jose Sharks at TD Garden on Saturday.

David Pastrnak scored to tie Patrice Bergeron for third on Boston’s all-time goals list (427), and James Hagens, Casey Mittelstadt and Fraser Minten each had a goal and assist for the Bruins (9-2-1), who are 7-0-1 in their past eight. Elias Lindholm and JJ Peterka each had two assists, and Jeremy Swayman made 23 saves.

“We were down by a goal (in the third period) and then we retake the lead and stay calm,” said Pastrnak, the Boston captain. “Even though we took two penalties, we stayed composed and end up getting the lead before the end, so it’s impressive how mature this group is sometimes during certain stages and it’s fun to see. We know we were far from our best today, but it’s OK because we ended up winning. It’s hard to win in this league, so we’ll take the two points, but we also know we can be much better than that.”

Michael Misa, Kiefer Sherwood, Dmitry Orlov and Will Smith scored for the Sharks (6-5-1), who concluded a six-game road trip (3-2-1). Jacob Trouba had two assists, and Alex Nedeljkovic made 29 saves.

“If you look at it on paper, not too bad,” Nedeljkovic said of the road trip. “Watching the games, probably could have gotten two more wins out of it, at least maybe four. We let that one slip in Detroit (a 4-3 shootout loss Oct. 17), and even tonight. We had chances. We had some momentum, just let it slip away and didn’t finish. It’s a tough one to swallow right now and leaves a sour taste in your mouth, at least for me.

“We did a lot of good things. There’s plenty of room for us to grow in certain areas. We’ll take the .500 record. It’s a tough trip, a long trip, and (we) played in some tough buildings. We’ll take the record, regroup at home and hopefully come out swinging on Tuesday (against the Buffalo Sabres).”

Pastrnak, just out of the penalty box, began the Boston rally when his wrist shot from the top of the right face-off circle knuckled past Nedeljkovic on the far side to tie it 3-3 at 8:27 of the third.

“It went off of a D-man’s stick and it just changed the whole trajectory of the play,” Nedeljkovic said. “He’s got a great release, but it’s tough to read when two feet into it (the puck) goes off a stick like that and you don’t know if it’s going up or going down. It was a tough bounce. It wasn’t a pretty goal. It’s hard to read. It’s hard to pick up and it makes it even worse on the timing of it. We just scored and we give up the lead again. Just a tough one to swallow.”

Hagens then gave the Bruins a 4-3 lead at 9:07 when he scored through the five-hole from the edge of the crease, before Minten increased the margin to 5-3 at 12:00 by knocking in a rebound on the power play.

“Impressive,” Pastrnak said when asked about Hagens’ ability to score netfront goals. “He’s got the touch. He’s been there and been around it the whole time and he’s been productive. It’s fun to watch him every day and every game, seeing him get more comfortable. He’s a great player and has scored some big goals. ... He’s very smart around the net.”

Smith scored 27 seconds later with the teams at 4-on-4 to cut the deficit to 5-4 at 12:27, but Will Borgen scored an empty-net goal at 19:32 for the 6-4 final.

“We’ve got to be better in front of our net,” Smith said. “(Boston) scored a couple of goals there, especially when our line is out there. We can’t let it happen.”

Mittelstadt gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead at 3:08 of the first period. After strong pressure from Boston on the forecheck, Lindholm chipped the puck across the crease to Mittelstadt on the right side, where he tucked it in under the arm of a lunging Nedeljkovic.

“It was good,” Mittelstadt said of the quick start. “Anytime you can jump on someone, especially we knew they had a long road trip and it was their last game. It was back and forth all night, but it was good to get one early.”

San Jose tied it 1-1 on the power play at 5:54. Tyler Toffoli sent the puck in from near the right wall, and it took a deflection before Misa tapped it in at the far post.

Marat Khusnutdinov’s goal on the backhand made it 2-1 for the Bruins at 8:20 of the second period.

Sherwood then tied it 2-2 on a short-handed breakaway at 13:34. He intercepted a pass from Lindholm in the neutral zone and beat Swayman with a high wrist shot to the stick side.

Orlov gave the Sharks a 3-2 lead at 4:03 of the third, scoring with a one-timer from the point.

“We got some results, but we still have a long way to go,” San Jose coach Ryan Warsofsky said of the trip. “We still have some things we need to get better at and it starts with protecting our net front, and we’ve got to start scoring 5-on-5. I liked our first (periods). We got to our identity, which we haven’t gotten to it very often this season, so that was a step in the right direction, getting to our identity, and now we’ve got to build off that.”

NOTES: Mittelstadt scored his 100th NHL goal. ... San Jose leads the NHL with four short-handed goals this season. ... Sharks forward Adam Gaudette had two shots on goal in 10:12 of ice time in his season debut.