David Pastrnak scored the game-winning goal 15 seconds into overtime and added an assist, lifting the Boston Bruins to a 3-2 win over the visiting Nashville Predators on Tuesday night.
After Boston’s Mark Kastelic won the opening draw, Charlie McAvoy possessed the puck and drove into the offensive zone before sending a perfect backhand pass to Pastrnak to slot home from the doorstep for the deciding goal.
Morgan Geekie reached the 30-goal plateau for the second straight season, Hampus Lindholm also scored, and Jeremy Swayman made 28 saves for Boston, which is 9-1-1 in its last 11 games and has an eight-game win streak on home ice.
Pastrnak has logged points in his last eight games (three goals, 11 assists) and is just the fourth player in Bruins history to record 20 helpers in a calendar month.
Roman Josi and Nick Blankenburg scored back-to-back goals to bring Nashville out of a 2-0 deficit.
Blankenburg’s 4-on-4 goal with 6:43 left in regulation forced the extra session.
Juuse Saros stopped 25 shots for the Predators, who have lost four of five.
After being named earlier in the day to Team Sweden for the upcoming Winter Olympics in Italy, Lindholm scored his first goal in six games since returning from injury to put the Bruins in front at 13:16 of the first. The defenseman took a shot from the left point that sailed past the moving screen of Fraser Minten, whose faceoff win started the play.
Boston doubled its lead at 2:48 into the second as Geekie scored his fifth goal in five games. Pastrnak held the puck in the zone and guided it along the boards with one hand to Geekie, who drove toward the net and slipped a top-shelf shot on Saros.
After Saros made several quality saves throughout the middle period to hold Nashville’s deficit at two, Josi’s one-timer from the right side with 35 seconds left brought the visitors back in the game. Ryan O’Reilly’s point-to-point pass on the power play led to the goal.
The Predators climbed back to tie in the third, as Adam Wilsby walked the line and exchanged passes with Blankenburg, who snapped a perfect shot from the high slot that sailed through traffic and past Swayman.
Due to upper-body injuries, both teams’ forward lineups were one short by game’s end. Nashville’s Fedor Svechkov played just four shifts in the first period before going out, while Boston’s Elias Lindholm was dinged up while taking a draw in the neutral zone in the second.
–Field Level Media
