Bruins vs. Blackhawks: Morgan Geekie Ties It Late, Elias Lindholm Wins It in OT to Cap Boston's Comeback

With 12 seconds left in regulation and the Boston Bruins down a goal, Morgan Geekie worked a quick give-and-go with Charlie McAvoy from the left circle and hammered the return pass into the net. TD Garden, which had spent most of the Halloween matinee watching its team get outshot and outworked, suddenly sounded like the final scene of a sports movie.

Elias Lindholm wrote the ending 2:32 into overtime, and the Bruins beat the Chicago Blackhawks 5-4 on Saturday afternoon after trailing by two goals in the third period. How do you like them apples, Chicago?

How the Blackhawks Built a Lead

The Blackhawks walked into Boston with the worst power play in the NHL, 4-for-40 on the season and 0-for-11 on the road, according to the AP. Naturally, it took them 11 seconds of power-play time to score. With Will Borgen in the box for delay of game, Anton Frondell scored off assists from Patrick Kane and Connor Bedard at 6:04 of the first for a 1-0 lead.

Boston answered at 13:05 on a sequence that started in its own crease. Michael DiPietro made a stop, Pavel Zacha scooped up the rebound and backhanded an outlet up ice, and David Pastrnak deked Arvid Soderblom on a breakaway to tie it. That was career goal No. 428 for Pastrnak, moving him past Patrice Bergeron into sole possession of third on Boston's all-time list behind Phil Esposito and Johnny Bucyk.

That was about the only thing going right for the Bruins for a while. Chicago outshot them 28-13 over the first two periods, and DiPietro had to stop Bedard from the slot late in the first and Kane from point-blank range midway through the second. Frondell got his second of the day at 3:31 of the second by redirecting Tyler Bertuzzi's shot from the point, and Casey Mittelstadt pulled Boston even again at 12:34 when James Hagens carried it down the left wall and set him up in the high slot.

Then the third period went sideways for Boston. Ryan Greene put Chicago up 3-2 at 9:38, and Bedard made it 4-2 with a backhand at 12:20. At that point, the Blackhawks, who had not won a road game all season, looked ready to finally check that box.

The Turning Point: Less Than a Minute to Breathe Again

Mason Lohrei answered at 13:06, less than a minute after Bedard's goal, with his third of the season off assists from JJ Peterka and Tanner Jeannot. That quick response mattered more than anything else in the period. Instead of chasing two goals for the last seven minutes or so, Boston needed one, and it had the whole stretch to find it.

It found it late. Geekie's slap shot at 19:48 was his second goal of the season and his first after going nine games without one, per the AP. Peterka picked up his second assist of the day on the play, and McAvoy got the first of his two.

"We didn't really have our A game for two and a half periods, but we were able to find a way to get one," Geekie said, per the Bruins' website. "To close it out like that was really good for us."

In overtime, DiPietro kept a Frondell shot off the rush out of the net, and moments later McAvoy fired the puck up the boards to Lindholm, who carried it in, shielded it on the way to the net and tucked a forehand past Soderblom. Game over. Garden loses its mind.

Stars of the Afternoon

DiPietro made 37 saves on 41 shots, and the volume tells the story better than the save percentage. Coming off his first career NHL shutout, he faced a barrage early and held the Bruins in it until the offense woke up. "Next goal wins, so try not to let it go by you," he said of his overtime mindset.

Lindholm was everywhere. Beyond the winner, his fifth goal and 12th point of the season according to the team, he went 17-for-24 on faceoffs as Boston dominated the dot 42-20 overall. Geekie was effusive about his teammate. "I don't think he gets enough credit for how good he is," Geekie said.

McAvoy logged 27:16 and assisted on both the tying and winning goals. Pastrnak played 24:48, scored his eighth of the season and climbed the franchise record book. "That's a heck of a two points for us. Sometimes this is the kind of game that it takes to get back in the winning column. It wasn't easy," Pastrnak said.

For Chicago, Frondell had the second two-goal game of his career, and Bedard finished with a goal and an assist in 22:07. Kane added an assist. Soderblom made 27 saves on 32 shots, and Chicago was 12 seconds from its first road win.

Stats That Matter

• 41-32: Chicago's shot advantage, including a 28-13 edge through two periods.
• 42-20: Boston's faceoff domination, a 67.7 percent clip that kept feeding the comeback.
• 428: Pastrnak's career goals, now third in Bruins history.
• 12 seconds: Time left when Geekie tied it.
• 0-5-1: Chicago's road record after another near miss.

What It Means

Boston improves to 10-4-1 with 21 points and snaps a two-game slide that featured road losses at Carolina and St. Louis. The AP noted the win extended the Bruins' home winning streak to five games, and they are now 6-1-0 at TD Garden. Head coach Marco Sturm was not pretending it was a masterpiece. "Take the points, right?" Sturm said. "But a great comeback," he added. "I'll take that any day." The Bruins host Vegas on Monday.

Chicago falls to 4-9-1 with nine points and has dropped two straight. The silver lining is real: Frondell, Bedard and Kane created plenty, and the power play finally did something away from home. The problem is that the first road win of the season slipped away in the final seconds. The Blackhawks host Colorado on Monday.

Closing Take

For Chicago fans, this was a road trip movie where the car breaks down a block from the destination. For Boston, it was the opposite: a sloppy, half-asleep afternoon rescued by one chip-and-return at the left circle and a 200-foot center who finally got rewarded. Sturm summed up the vibe perfectly, and so did Geekie. Not the A game. Still two points.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Game details from the Associated Press; postgame quotes and team notes as reported by the Boston Bruins on nhl.com.