BOSTON — Patrice Bergeron scored a power-play goal with 2:26 left in overtime, and the Boston Bruins beat the Los Angeles Kings 5-4 Saturday after blowing a two-goal lead.
Brad Marchand, David Krejci and Danton Heinen each scored a goal in a 3:22 span early in the third period to give the Bruins a 4-2 edge before the Kings came back. Los Angeles tied it on Oscar Fantenberg’s slap shot from the point with 4:47 left in regulation for his first goal of the season.
Nate Thomson’s goal cut the score to 4-3 with 10:41 to play.
Charlie McAvoy had the other goal, Bergeron set up two other goals and Tuukka Rask stopped 25 shots for Boston, including Adrian Kempe’s breakaway in the first minute of OT. The Bruins have collected at least a point in eight of its last 10 games (4-2-4).
Alex Iafallo and Anze Kopitar scored for the Kings, who had their three-game winning streak snapped. Jonathan Quick made 28 saves.
With Ilya Kovalchuk off for tripping, Bergeron fired a wrister from the right circle for the game-winner.
Boston Bruins Patrice Bergeron is congratulated by teammates (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Krejci gave the Bruins a 3-2 lead just 90 seconds after Heinen tied it early in the third. Skating in on rush, Torey Krug fired a shot off the right post before Krejci sent the rebound into the net.
Heinen had banged in a rebound from the edge crease 3:27 into the third.
The Bruins then took their two-goal lead when Marchand converted on a perfect pass from Bergeron for a short-handed goal at the end of a 2-on-1 break.
Trailing 1-0 midway into the second period, the Kings scored twice in just under 6 minutes to move ahead. With Krejci in the penalty box for slashing, they tied it on Iafallo’s power-play goal at 8:13, a shot from the right point that hit off Rask and into the net.
Kopitar made it 2-1 when he one-timed a pass from Dustin Brown from the bottom of the right circle at 14:02.
The Bruins had moved ahead 1-0 when Bergeron set up McAvoy’s goal 4:38 into the second period. Bergeron collected a pass down low, twisted his hands quickly and made an off-balance feed to McAvoy, who was coming hard down the middle toward the net.
Quick made a couple of nice stops late in the scoreless first. The best was when he came across the crease to block Peter Cehlarik’s shot from the bottom of the right circle.
NOTES: The Bruins held a pregame ceremony for Bergeron, who became just the fifth player in team history to play 1,000 games with the club. He earned the milestone in the 3-1 win against the New York Islanders on Tuesday, scoring two goals. … The others are Hall of Famers Ray Bourque and John Bucyk along with current GM Don Sweeney and Wayne Cashman. . Los Angeles played the fifth of a six-game road trip; it was Boston’s first of three straight at home before it heads west for a five-game trip. . The teams meet again in Los Angeles on Feb. 16. . Bruins D Matt Grzelcyk was out with a lower-body injury. . Los Angeles C Jeff Carter missed his third straight with a lower-body injury.
LA-LA LAND
It was part of a Los Angeles-Boston professional sports doubleheader in TD Garden. The Celtics were set to host the Clippers at night. Loud chants of ‘Beat LA!’ echoed around the building after Boston tied it in the third.
UP NEXT
Kings: At the Capitals on Monday night.
Bruins: Host the Avalanche on Sunday afternoon.
Ken Powtak, The Associated Press