Geekie nets hat trick, Bruins end slide with win over Golden Knights

BOSTON (AP) — Mason Lohrei scored the winning goal on the power play with less than five minutes to go, Morgan Geekie had his first NHL hat trick, and the Boston Bruins snapped a three-game losing streak with a 5-4 win over the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday night.

Lohrei took a feed from Kevin Shattenkirk and fired a one-timer from inside the right circle and the Bruins held on after surrendering leads of 3-0 and 4-2.

“My mindset was to try and get a puck toward the net off the draw,” Lohrei said. “(Shattenkirk) walked the line and took a peek and saw no one was there in front to block it and let it loose. It’s been a struggle lately.”

Jesper Boqvist also scored for Boston, which won for just the second time in regulation in February, while David Pastrnak had two assists to help complete a season sweep of the defending Stanley Cup champion. Jeremy Swayman had 32 saves.

Paul Cotter, Alex Pietrangelo, Michael Amadio and Chandler Stephenson scored for the Golden Knights and Adin Hill finished with 27 saves.

Geekie scored twice during Boston’s three-goal outburst that covered 2:30 of the first period. The forward was the recipient of a spot-on pass from Trent Frederic before going top shelf for the game’s first goal at 14:34. The scoring barrage continued with Boqvist beating Hill on the blocker side and Geekie finishing a 3-on-2 break.

The script flipped in the second as Vegas scored three times to make it a one-goal game heading into the third. Cotter swatted the puck past Swayman to get the Golden Knights on the board before Pietrangelo cut Boston’s lead to 3-2.

Geekie’s third goal restored Boston’s two-goal cushion, when he redirected Pastrnak's shot.

“It’s never something you think about coming into a game, but it’s always fun, especially when you get two points,” Geekie said about his hat trick. “It was good to close it out, especially after the last couple of games.”

After the fans tossed hats on the ice, Vegas moved back to within one when Amadio popped in a loose puck to cap off a productive middle period that gave the visitors the momentum.

With Vegas looking to kill off Boston’s first power-play chance of the game, Stephenson took advantage of some confusion on the Bruins’ part near the blue line. His short-handed breakaway goal tied the game at 4-all with 15 minutes remaining.

“Loose puck, saw a guy was coming over my shoulder. Tried to keep it away. Done that move a few times and it worked that time,” Stephenson said.

Boston was in a 4-for-36 slump on the power play before Lohrei’s tally that gave Jim Montgomery his 100th win as Boston’s head coach.

“It means I coach a great roster in both years and I work for a great organization,” Montgomery said. “Part of our motivation was to beat the Stanley Cup champs.”

The game was a homecoming for Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy, who led the Bruins for five seasons and took the franchise to the 2019 Stanley Cup Finals. Last year, he directed the Golden Knights to the Cup in his first season as the team’s head coach.

“I expected it to be a close game. I didn’t expect it to be 5-4, but you never know in this league from night to night,” Cassidy said.

UP NEXT

Golden Knights: At Buffalo on Saturday, the final game of a five-game road trip.

Bruins: At N.Y. Islanders on Saturday.

___

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl