Bruins rally from two goals down to beat Golden Knights 3-2 in a shootout

By Vancouver Television Sports Desk

The Boston Bruins used a late comeback to defeat the Vegas Golden Knights 3-2 in a shootout Monday at TD Garden, recovering after surrendering a two-goal lead. Boston won for the sixth straight time at home, moving to an 11-4-1 record, while Vegas dropped to 9-5-2 and entered the week at 1-3-2 in its previous six games.

James Hagens scored the game’s first goal at 7:23 of the first period, finishing a play created by Elias Lindholm. Lindholm threaded a centering pass from below the goal line, allowing Hagens to chip the puck over Carter Hart’s stick-side shoulder from in front to give Boston a 1-0 lead.

Vegas responded with a turning point in the second period after a major penalty. Following elbowing Boston forward Matthew Poitras by Vegas forward Braeden Bowman at 2:49 of the second period, Bowman was assessed a five-minute major and a game misconduct. The Bruins capitalized at 3:23 on Morgan Geekie’s power-play goal to quickly extend the lead to 2-0.

Poitras went to the room after the incident and returned to the bench with a full shield, but he did not take another shift. After Swayman stopped Tomas Hertl’s shot from the left circle, Mark Stone scored to make it 2-1 at 14:58, converting on the rebound. Stone pulled the puck back on his stick before scoring into the right side of the net to cut the deficit on the power play.

The game leveled in the third period when Trevor Connelly tied the score 2-2 at 7:23. Connelly scored from a sharp angle on the left side off a wraparound feed from Hanifin, forcing the matchup into a shootout after the teams remained even through regulation.

In the shootout, David Pastrnak provided the winning finish for Boston. Pastrnak beat Hart with a backhand-to-forehand move and tucked the puck past Hart’s left skate for the lone shootout goal of the extra session.

For the Bruins, Jeremy Swayman made 21 saves and held Vegas to the shootout after keeping the game tied late. Mitch Marner added two assists to extend his point streak to 10 games, with one goal and 13 assists over that span. Mark Stone and Trevor Connelly were the regulation goal scorers for Vegas, and Hart finished with 25 saves.