Bruins take long road to down Stars in shootout

Charlie McAvoy scored in the ninth shootout round and Jeremy Swayman made a career-high 43 saves as the Boston Bruins broke a four-game skid with a 4-3 win over the visiting Dallas Stars on Monday afternoon.

McAvoy went to the backhand to beat Stars goalie Jake Oettinger for the deciding shootout goal. He also had two assists in regulation.

Jesper Boqvist had a goal and an assist, while Justin Brazeau and David Pastrnak also scored for the Bruins. Brazeau became the first Bruins player to score in his NHL debut since Marc McLaughlin on March 31, 2022.

Swayman made 21 stops in the second period alone and seven in the shootout.

Wyatt Johnston, Ryan Suter and Esa Lindell each scored, and Oettinger stopped 25 shots as Dallas ran its unbeaten streak to five games (3-0-2).

Dallas’ Jason Robertson and Boston’s Brad Marchand scored during the first three rounds of the shootout.

Dallas had a 46-30 advantage in shots on goal.

The Stars took a 3-2 lead with 9:16 remaining in the third. Lindell rushed all the way up ice after a Brad Marchand turnover and slipped a wrist shot from the right circle past Swayman.

Just after Swayman was pulled in favor of an extra attacker, Pastrnak’s one-timer off a McAvoy feed to the left circle with 1:45 left forced overtime.

The Bruins’ fourth line had gotten the scoring going only 4:01 into the first when Anthony Richard sent a pass to a streaking Boqvist, who charged down the right side and into the slot to deflect the puck home into an open side of Oettinger’s net.

After Boston found the net on only its second shot, Dallas tied the game as Johnston got net-front position for a deflection at 11:14. The tip-in goal came on Thomas Harley’s high shot from the top of the right circle.

Suter gave Dallas its first lead at 1:04 of the middle frame, beating Swayman clean with a shot from the top of the left circle directly off a Roope Hintz faceoff win.

It only took 28 seconds for the Bruins to find a game-tying response in the form of Brazeau’s milestone goal. Boqvist found space behind the goal line and fed the puck through the crease to Brazeau to finish with a quick touch from the front.

—Field Level Media