Bruins Notes: Boston Survives Golden Knights Push, Snaps Losing Streak

BOSTON — The Boston Bruins outplayed the Vegas Golden in the first and third periods to capture the 5-4 win at TD Garden on Thursday night.

Boston came out buzzing, scoring three first-period goals in a span of 2:20, but in the second period, Vegas took over the game, notching three goals and outshooting the Bruins 15-7 in the frame.

Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery pointed to a familiar breakdown in Boston’s play after the game.

“It’s game management,” he said. “It’s making sure you’re doing the right thing. You’re on the right side of the puck. We’re just not consistently doing that.”

Charlie Coyle said that even though Vegas came out with a push in the second period, the Bruins didn’t play to their standard, allowing the Knights to get back in the game.

“I think we kind of did come out on our heels a little bit,” Coyle said. “We weren’t attacking or kind of playing the right way, and we weren’t doing anything flashy at first. We just put the puck in behind them and possess it.”

The top-line center added that the Bruins usually get into the scoring lanes to block shots, but it didn’t carry over from the first period to the second.

“It’s just things we can learn from,” he said. “It’s never going to be an easy game, pretty game or perfect game. It’s you do whatever you can to grab two points, and we did that.”

After Vegas potted the first two goals of the middle frame, Boston answered to regain a two-goal lead, but the Knights added a third before the end of the period and then knotted the game at four just five minutes into the final period.

“I think we really just need to stay aggressive when we have three-goal leads, one-goal leads … doesn’t matter, it shouldn’t change our mindset if it’s in the first period or second or third,” Bruins defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk said. “Teams go through this. It’s good that we’re going through it now. We just have to make sure that we stay aggressive.”

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Here are more notes from Thursday’s Bruins- Golden Knights game:

— Morgan Geekie registered his first career hat trick by scoring two goals in the opening frame and a third in the second period.

“It’s good,” Geekie said after the game. “It’s something that you don’t ever really think about coming into the game, but it’s always fun. Especially when you get two points for sure.”

— Jesper Boqvist extended his point streak to three games with his fourth goal of the season in the first period. He has two goals and one assist in the streak. The fourth line center has 10 points in his first season with Boston.

— Jeremy Swayman made 32 saves, including three on the penalty kill to earn his 19th win of the season.

— The Bruins begin a tough stretch of three games in four nights beginning on Saturday when they travel to New York to take on the Islanders. Puck drop from USB Arena is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET, and you can catch all the action on NESN, following an hour of pregame coverage.