Knights rally to earn point, but lose to Bruins in shootout

Given the opponent and location, it was a better effort than what the Vegas Golden Knights had shown recently.

That’s not the best silver lining, considering the Knights’ rally ultimately fell short Monday against the Boston Bruins.

A 3-2 shootout loss at TD Garden earned the Knights a point, and it’s commendable given they rallied from two goals down to force overtime.

Boston captain David Pastrnak ended hopes of a second point with the lone goal in the third round of the shootout to hand the Knights (9-5-2) their fifth loss in six games.

The Knights had to rally shorthanded. Forward Braeden Bowman was ejected early in the second period for elbowing Boston forward Matthew Poitras, leaving the Knights with 11 forwards the rest of the game.

Bruins forward Morgan Geekie scored on the ensuing five-minute power play and gave Boston a 2-0 lead.

“I thought our leaders did a good job of leading us,” coach Ryan Craig said. “We get down a forward there when we lose ‘Bones,’ but we stayed with it.”

Captain Mark Stone scored his team-leading 10th goal, and rookie forward Trevor Connelly scored the tying goal after leaving in the first period following a hit from Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy.

Goaltender Carter Hart made 25 saves after missing the last two games with a lower-body injury.

“Good effort. I think most of it is just making the next play,” Stone said. “I think we had some pretty good chances to score more goals tonight.”

The Bruins (11-4-1) improved to 7-1-0 at home to start the season.

The Knights were gliding uphill given they started a season-long four-game road trip in a tough environment.

It was a tougher hill to climb once Connelly was drilled into the end boards by McAvoy and had to be helped to the locker room late in the first period.

He returned for the start of the second period. McAvoy was assessed his first of three minor penalties for the game on the hit.

Near the same spot as the hit, Connelly found a soft zone near the Boston net and finished a pass from defenseman Noah Hanifin to tie it 2-2 at 7:23 of the third.

“He’s a resilient guy,” Stone said. “Good to see him get rewarded in the third.”

Forward Mitch Marner had two assists to extend his personal point streak to 10 games. Marner’s shootout attempt in the third round hit the crossbar.

The Knights felt they could have gotten more against Boston goaltender Jeremy Swayman, who finished with 21 saves.

Boston held the Knights to four shots in the third period.

The Geekie goal was the only one the Knights allowed on the five-minute power play. They felt the game tilted in their favor once they completed the kill nearly unscathed.

“It was big for us,” Hanifin said. “After you give up that first one up early, sometimes the momentum can swing in their favor. I thought we did a good job just staying aggressive, staying with it and not giving them too much after that.”

The Knights continue the road trip in Pittsburgh for the second leg of a back-to-back Tuesday against the Penguins at PPG Paints Arena.

“We got a point,” Craig said. “Now, we move on to Pittsburgh and build on it. That’s our job is now to build on it and get two (points) tomorrow.”

Contact Danny Webster at [email protected]. Follow @DannyWebster21 on X.

Up next

Who: Golden Knights at Penguins

When: 4 p.m. Tuesday

Where: PPG Paints Arena, Pittsburgh

TV: KMCC-34

Radio: KVGS 107.9 FM

Line: Knights -115; total 6½