Recap: Bruins drop, 4-3, to rallying Golden Knights

The team’s woes continue in disappointing loss.

The Boston Bruins fell 4-3 to the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday afternoon at the TD Garden as Tomas Hertl broke a tie with just over a minute left in the third period.

Hertl scored with 1 second remaining on Vegas’ power play to ultimately win the game on three unanswered goals. The game-winner came as the Bruins failed to complete their penalty kill after gaining some energy moments before with a Golden Knights’ goal called back due to goaltender interference.

“We have to kill that one off, that’s a huge momentum boost for us there,” Interim head coach Joe Sacco said. “When they disallow the goal, we have to do the job and kill it off. We should have gotten it done and we didn’t.”

The ruling was the second goal of the game called back, one in each favor of each team.

The Bruins started the game off strong, getting up 2-0 midway through the first period on tallies from Brad Marchand and Nikita Zadorov. But then Mark Stone scored the first power-play goal of the night to close the gap before the period ended.

Then the game shifted to Vegas’ favor as the Golden Knights’ offense ramped up in the second period. Still. Morgan Geekie and David Pastrnak continued to press and eventually connected as Geekie’s goal cushioned the Bruins’ lead.

Zach Whitecloud found the back of the net late in the second period as the puck hovered on the goal line with 34 seconds remaining in the middle frame.

The Golden Knights held the Bruins to only eight shots through a crucial 30 minutes of play from the second period into the third period.

Pavel Dorofeyev, who had his fair share of chances throughout the contest, notched the tying goal early in the third off a feed from Shea Theodore.

Zadorov had what would have been the Bruins’ go-ahead goal called back due to goaltender interference by Marchand.

Then the Bruins got in some penalty trouble with about four minutes to go in the third. Vegas had a power-play goal called back for goaltender interference from Stone, but Hertl capitalized on the man-advantage moments later with 1:10 remaining in the third to hand the Bruins the loss.

“They pushed, we sat back a little bit,” Marchand said. “We knew that 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.”

Here are the highlights:

First period:

Nikita Zadorov fired a shot from left point. The rebound found Brad Marchand at the back door where he had a wide-open net on Ilya Samsonov at 3:17 of the first period. 1-0 Bruins.

Zadorov extended the lead with a one-timer past Samsonov still on the ice after Elias Lindholm, Charlie Coyle and Marchand swarmed him with pressure. 2-0 Bruins.

Shea Theodore sent a wrist shot toward net from the blue line which out front, Mark Stone tipped past Jeremy Swayman at 15:09 of the first period on the power play. 2-1 game.

Second period:

Samsonov mishandled the puck behind the goal like for David Pastrnak to pick it up and backhand a pass out front which Morgan Geekie found to put a wrist shot past Samsonov at 15:07 of the second period. 3-1 Bruins.

Noah Hanifin sent a pass to the point to Zach Whitecloud who threw a one-timer at Swayman who thought he had the puck covered, but it trickled across the goal line at 19:26 of the second period. 3-2 game.

Third period:

Theodore found Pavel Dorofeyev wide open at the far post for a quick wrist shot past Swayman at 4:54 of the third period. 3-3 tie game.

Jack Eichel sent a pass to Tomas Hertl in the slot where he adjusted before throwing a wrist shot past Swayman’s glove at 18:50 of the third period with one second left on the power play. Final score: 4-3 Golden Knights.

Game notes

• For the second game in a row, the Bruins dropped the ball and allowed third-period goals to dig themselves into a hole that they couldn’t climb out of. It’s a tough loss to swallow, as heading into this break, the Bruins remain out of a playoff spot.
• The Bruins went about 30 minutes between the start of the second period and halfway through the third period where they only had about eight shots on net. The Golden Knights held them to a mere two shots in almost 10 minutes of play in the third period as Vegas rallied.
• Marchand was asked postgame what he thought the team’s mindset needs to be when they return with 25 games left in the season: “We have to come back with the right mindset,” Marchand said. “A few days before the first game, we have to make sure we’re getting back, working hard, get back in shape. Then it’s do-or-die hockey the rest of the year here.”
• Marchand concurred with Sacco’s sentiment after the game how they should have killed off that third-period penalty after the “no-goal” ruling. “They’re one of the top power plays in the league, they don’t need much,” Marchand said. “It’s disappointing. When we got that call and then we can’t finish it off.”
• Pastrnak had five shots on net, the most for a Bruin.
• The B’s fourth line TOI clocked in at 7:35 (Johnny Beecher), 7:09 (Mark Kastelic) and 6:33 (Cole Koepke).
• The Bruins won’t practice until Feb. 18 as the 4 Nations Faceoff gets underway.
• The Bruins will play next on Feb. 22 when they host the Anaheim Ducks at 7 p.m.