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Bruins beat Kings on David Pastrnak’s goal in overtime
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Bruins beat Kings on David Pastrnak’s goal in overtime

Jeremy Swayman earned his keep, and Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak woke their teammates from an afternoon nap as the Bruins earned a 2-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday afternoon at TD Garden.

While the Bruins essentially slept in, Swayman kept them in contention, making his second start since signing an eight-year, $66 million contract. The Bruins rallied after Trevor Moore opened the scoring early in the second period. But it took until 16:50 of the period for Elias Lindholm’s equalizer to finish off the rebound of a Marchand shot.

With Swayman (33 saves) holding down the fort, the Bruins extended the game to the regulation limit. Then Pastrnak and Mason Lohrei combined for a give-and-go, with Pastrnak finishing from the right circle for his third goal of the season at the 3:03 mark of overtime.

The Bruins (2-1) close out a three-game homestand and get a chance for revenge for a season-opening loss to the Florida Panthers on Monday afternoon.

“It’s still early in the year,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said. “We haven’t played a full 60-minute game as a team yet, so there are a lot of areas for growth, both offensively and defensively. We struggled defensively in the first two games. I thought we struggled with our transition offense. And it’s still early in the year and I have to tell myself all the time to be patient with our group, because there’s a lot of growth within that lineup, and that’s what gets you excited about what we can do.

The Bruins came out with blanks, and it took almost 15 minutes for them to officially record their second shot, when Trent Frederic nearly opened the scoring and Matt Poitras sniffed the rebound.

Luckily for the Bruins, Swayman was on his game as the team floundered offensively and retreated defensively. But Swayman found himself helpless when Moore finished behind the door at 5:22 of the second. Swayman stopped Phillip Danault’s wrist and, along with the rest of the Bruins, prepared for the rebound. But Alex Turcotte sniffed forward, giving Moore an open shot.

The Bruins equalized on a four-on-four, capitalizing on a Jordan Spence mishandling, Marchand leaping up for a shot and Lindholm finishing the rebound.

“His instincts allow him to anticipate, jump and go the other way,” Montgomery said of Marchand. “Really smart shot, he shoots from the far pad to create a rebound when his shot didn’t go in.”

Lindholm said: “Marchy predicted very well in the neutral zone, and it was well done to get a good rebound for me. Obviously it’s one of those bounces that doesn’t come in very often, but today it did.”

Montgomery credited the Poitras-centered third line and the Mark Kastelic-centered fourth line with offsetting the Bruins’ dazzling start.

“It’s nice to have,” Montgomery said. “What people noticed is that our bottom six carried us and gave us the opportunity, next to Swayman in the nets, to stay in the game and then cash in.”

Pastrnak decided the game, finding Lohrei and then finishing from the right circle to break the deadlock.

“I saw Mason flying at full speed, criss-crossing like that,” Pastrnak said. “The LA guys looked a little tired, so I skated, made a nice move and it was give and go.”

So in the end, both teams were apparently ready for 40 winks. But the Bruins hit the snooze button one last time and came out of it.

“Incredible commitment to the goal,” Marchand said. “Those guys were really tired, so the fact that they made that play when they did shows you the talent level.”


Frank Dell’Apa can be reached at [email protected].