BOSTON — The Bruins lost their perfect record in games beyond 60 minutes with a shootout loss to the Canucks on Saturday night, 5-4.
Boston squandered a 3-2 third period lead, falling behind 4-3 before Andrew Peeke sent the game to overtime on a seeing-eye goal with 3:44 remaining in regulation.
After a helter-skelter overtime period, Canucks winger Liam Ohgren scored the only shootout goal in the seventh round to give Vancouver the marathon victory.
With the loss, the Bruins fell to 2-1 in the shootout this season. They’re 4-0 in overtime, so they’d been 6-0 in games beyond 60 minutes prior to Saturday night.
Boston carried the play for much of the evening, outshooting Vancouver 42-22, but a leaky performance from Jeremy Swayman (18 saves) kept the Canucks in the game.
Boston had been 16-0-0 in games they led entering the third period before letting Saturday’s slip away.
Linus Karlsson knotted things up at 3-3 just 3:53 into the third with his second goal of the night. From the left faceoff dot, the Canucks center beat Swayman clean with a snapshot over his left shoulder.
Ohgren put Vancouver ahead with 12:26 remaining in the contest. After a faceoff win, Marcus Pettersson teed up a slapshot from the top of the slot and Ohgren tipped it past Swayman.
The Bruins tied the game with 3:44 left in regulation, as Peeke was the beneficiary of a fortuitous bounce. From a bad angle, the stay-at-home defenseman threw a puck at the net. It bounced off the post, then goalie Kevin Lankinen’s back, and found its way into the net.
The two sides traded chances in overtime, and then the goalies dominated the shootout, not allowing a goal until Ohgren’s as the 13th shooter.
Marco Sturm had one surprise in his shootout lineup, selecting Peeke fourth ahead of higher-skill players like Elias Lindholm and Morgan Geekie. The gamble didn’t pay off though, as Peeke’s wrist shot was snared by Lankinen.
“We practice all the time,” Strum said. “He does one move and he did it really well. Not just once, a few times. I thought he was going to do it again, and he didn’t. So that’s why I picked him. So that’s on me.”
Geekie opened the evening’s scoring on the power-play 8:23 into the first period. Charlie McAvoy feathered a pass to the winger on the left wall and Geekie hammered a one-timer home for his 25th goal of the season.
However, a dominant first period for the Bruins ended in a 1-1 tie after Canucks center Max Sasson put one past Swayman with 13.9 seconds remaining. Hampus Lindholm couldn’t get a puck out of his defensive zone and Sasson made him pay. The Bruins thoroughly outplayed Vancouver early — shots were 13-4 after one, accordingly — but the last-minute goal evened things out as the teams headed to the dressing rooms.
It was a sign of things to come, as they yo-yo’d back and forth for most of the night.
With Michael Eyssimont off for high sticking, the Canucks took a 2-1 lead 4:22 into the second period, as Karlsson scored on the power play. Swayman misplayed a puck behind his net, allowing it to go right to Evander Kane. The Canucks wing found Karlsson for a tap-in goal as Swayman scrambled back into the crease.
Pavel Zacha tied the game back up later in the period with the two teams playing 4-on-4. Defenseman Nikita Zadorov took advantage of the extra ice, driving to the net and leaving Zacha wide open on the back door.
Boston took a 3-2 lead thanks to a slick feed from Mark Kastelic. Down by the goal-line, the rugged winger spun around and hit Tanner Jeannot with a behind-the-back pass. With the Canucks surprised, Jeannot buried the puck into a half-open net.
Then the third period collapse followed.
With the loss, Boston fell to 20-15-1 on the season. The Bruins return to action Sunday night against Ottawa at TD Garden for a 7 p.m. puck drop.
