The Bruins got exactly the kind of opening they were looking for in Dallas, then spent the rest of the night chasing the finish.
Boston jumped out early, took two separate one-goal leads, and still left Texas with a 3-2 overtime loss to the Stars on Tuesday night. Mikko Rantanen scored all three Dallas goals, including the winner on the power play in OT, after the Bruins had one last mistake swing the game.
That ended the Bruins’ bid for a perfect four-game road trip, though they still banked seven of a possible eight points.
“I thought the guys played great. They deserved definitely a point,” said coach Marco Sturm.
“A little unfortunate to give up the second point but, looking back, what a great road trip. But I really liked our effort.”
Boston’s early push was exactly what Sturm had asked for after some sluggish first periods in Anaheim and Los Angeles. This time, the Bruins were on the board just 2:09 into the game when Matt Poitras scored his fourth goal of the season.
The sequence started with Mason Lohrei keeping in a Miro Heiskanen clearance at the blue line. Lohrei chipped it to Tanner Jeannot, Jeannot moved it to Frederic Brunet on the right side, and Brunet quickly found Poitras in the slot. The centerman unloaded a one-timer past Jake Oettinger.
The Bruins had chances to build on it, too. Morgan Geekie missed wide on a backhander, and James Hagens nearly caught Oettinger flat-footed at the top of the crease before the Dallas goalie kicked out the rookie’s backhand attempt.
Dallas didn’t generate much in the opening period until Tanner Jeannot was whistled for roughing Radek Faksa with 1:33 left. The Stars got a handful of looks on the power play, including a tough Wyatt Johnston shot from the slot that hit Jeremy Swayman in the mask, but Boston carried a 1-0 lead to the room after blocking 11 shots in the first.
The second period turned on a turnover, and Rantanen was ready to pounce. At 2:50, Fraser Minten couldn’t handle Lohrei’s breakout pass, and Rantanen jumped on it. Swayman stopped the initial chance and looked set to cover the rebound, but Jason Robertson got there first to poke it loose before Rantanen tapped it in.
Boston answered at 7:30. Nikita Zadorov, back after sitting as a healthy scratch on Saturday, moved the puck up ice from his own blue line to Casey Mittelstadt. Mittelstadt carried in, circled behind the net, and with Hagens driving the crease, sent a centering pass that the rookie redirected home for his third goal of the year.
“(Assistant coach Chris Kelly) does a good job and he’s been working with the kid,” said Sturm. “It’s not college anymore.
You’ve got to go to the hard areas and he went there. Good for him for going there and he got rewarded.”
The Bruins couldn’t create much with the man advantage, and that wound up mattering. They went 0-for-4 on the power play, and their first two chances produced no shots at all. Their third opportunity late in the second looked stronger, but Oettinger turned away four quality looks to keep Dallas within a goal.
Boston also had to lean on Swayman, who finished with 22 saves. The Bruins killed off Charlie McAvoy’s tripping penalty in the third, but they couldn’t protect the lead forever.
With 6:22 left in regulation, Rantanen tied it. He worked the puck below the goal line, it came to Roope Hintz in the slot, and Hintz’s shot deflected off McAvoy’s shin pad. The rebound landed right on Rantanen’s stick with an open net in front of him, and he buried it.
The Bruins spent much of overtime with possession to start, but the game flipped when David Pastrnak turned the puck over at the Dallas blue line. Swayman stopped Wyatt Johnston on a clean breakaway, then denied him again on a second straight-in chance. But after Pavel Zacha was called for slashing, Rantanen finished it off by lifting a backhander over Swayman for his third goal of the night.
It was a frustrating ending, especially with Boston’s veterans not doing much offensively. Pastrnak finished without a shot on goal, though four of his attempts were blocked.
Morgan Geekie had one shot on net. Zacha had four shots on goal and eight attempts overall, but he couldn’t beat Oettinger.
“That was probably a little bit the difference,” said Sturm. “We couldn’t find our rhythm and they were very aggressive.
But we had opportunities to shoot and we just didn’t. But other than that, it was a good performance.”
Sturm also opted to keep Poitras and Hagens on the bench down the stretch, choosing a conservative route as the Bruins tried to secure the extra point. They got one, but not the sweep they were chasing.
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