Hertl scores late in 3rd, Golden Knights rally past Bruins

BOSTON -- Tomas Hertl’s power-play goal broke a tie with 1:10 remaining in the third period, and the Vegas Golden Knights rallied for a 4-3 win against the Boston Bruins at TD Garden on Saturday.

Hertl took a pass from Jack Eichel at the left hash marks and scored with a wrist shot to the glove side.

“It was pretty exciting, especially at the end,” Hertl said. “It was a good game. Obviously, our start wasn’t the way you want to play, but after that we played a great hockey game and finished the road trip strong before the break (for the 4 Nations Face-Off from Feb. 12-20).”

Mark Stone had a goal and an assist, and Eichel and Shea Theodore each had two assists for the Golden Knights (33-17-6), who scored the final three goals of the game. Stone and Theodore will represent Canada at the 4 Nations; Eichel will play for the United States.

Ilya Samsonov made 21 saves for Vegas, which had lost four of its previous five (1-2-2).

“When we were struggling (offensively) we were trying to be too fancy,” Hertl said. “Sometimes you just have to put it on the net and create chaos and things will open up.”

Nikita Zadorov had a goal and an assist, and David Pastrnak had an assist to extend his point streak to 13 games for the Bruins (27-24-6), who have lost two in a row. Jeremy Swayman, who will represent the U.S. at the 4 Nations, made 34 saves.

It was the final game for each team before the tournament.

“I thought we did a good job of managing their pushes,” Swayman said, “and even if we had breakdowns, we still got out of them alive, and that’s something we can build on and use to our advantage when stuff doesn’t go our way sometimes. It’s something we need to control, and I have no doubt in this group that we will.”

Brad Marchand, who will play for Canada at the 4 Nations, gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead at 3:17 of the first period. Zadorov collected the puck along the left boards just inside the offensive blue line and made a tape-to-tape backdoor pass to Marchand, who scored at the far post.

Zadorov made it 2-0 at 13:49. After a scramble in front of the Vegas net, the puck trickled out toward Zadorov, who scored with a one-timer from just above the left face-off circle past a sprawling Samsonov.

Stone cut it to 2-1 on the power play at 15:09, redirecting Theodore’s point shot.

Morgan Geekie pushed the lead to 3-1 at 15:07 of the second period. After Samsonov misplayed the puck behind his net, Pastrnak fed Geekie from behind the goal line for a one-timer in the left circle.

Pastrnak has 26 points (11 goals, 15 assists) during his streak, which is tied for the longest of his career (2019-20).

Zach Whitecloud pulled Vegas within 3-2 at 19:26 when his slap shot from the point trickled through Swayman’s legs.

“I liked our game,” Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy said. “Our transition was good. Between the blue lines we managed pucks and got through there with speed at times. I thought we had the puck in their end for about 18 minutes in the second period and that goal from Whitecloud really helped. We need a break and we got it. We took care of business in the third.”

Pavel Dorofeyev tied it 3-3 at 4:54 of the third. He scored on a wrist shot from the bottom of the right circle off Theodore’s pass across the slot.

Dorofeyev had a goal overturned at 18:19 after the Bruins challenged for goaltender interference.

“They pushed and we sat back a little bit,” said Marchand, the Boston captain. “We knew they would be better in the second and third and they were. We got caught sitting back a little bit, and a team like that will make you pay.”

NOTES: Vegas forward Victor Olofsson left the game early in the first period with an upper-body injury after getting hit in the chest or throat area with a shot. There was no update. … Eichel has 50 assists for the second time in his 10 NHL seasons. ... The Golden Knights came back in the third period to win for the seventh time this season. … Marchand scored his 20th goal of the season, reaching the milestone for the 14th season to tie Patrice Bergeron for the second most in Bruins history, behind Johnny Bucyk (16). Marchand also has 12 straight seasons with at least 20 goals.