Recap: Bruins drop to Kings, 3-2, in shootout

The Boston Bruins fell to the LA Kings, 3-2, in a shootout tonight at TD Garden as a pair of goals from Adrian Kempe gave the Kings a late push.

The Bruins had a 2-0 lead on second-period goals from Taylor Hall and Brad Marchand, the Kings rallied back in the third period.

It was the third consecutive home game at the TD Garden that was decided in a shootout.

Here are the highlights:

First period:

Scoreless

Second period:

The Bruins opened the scoring at 7:53 of the second period.

Matt Grzelcyk found Hall up high where at the top of the left-wing circle, he put a wrist shot over Pheonix Copley’s blocker shoulder. 1-0 Bruins.

The Bruins extended their lead at 10:02 of the second period on the power play.

David Pastrnak hit Marchand with a pass where he carried it into the right-wing circle to let a wrist shot fly top-shelf over Copley’s glove. 2-0 Bruins.

Third period:

The Kings cut into their deficit at 8:29 of the third period.

Adrian Kempe picked up the loose puck from Kevin Fiala’s rebound to put a shot past Linus Ullmark. 2-1 game.

The Kings tied the game at 17:50 of the third period on the power play as Kempe added his second goal of the night.

Fiala found Kempe inside the right-wing circle where he blasted a one-timer past Ullmark. 2-2 tie game.

Overtime:

The Bruins couldn’t do anything on their power play in OT.

Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron had a chance on the rush, but Copley stopped every attempt thrown his way in extra minutes.

Shootout:

Trevor Moore won it for the Kings in the seventh round of the shootout. Final score: 3-2 shootout loss.

Game notes:

• While the Bruins dropped the game in a shootout, they still earned a point to extend their home point streak to 17 games.
• It was the third consecutive home game to end in a shootout, and longest so far going seven rounds. In shootouts, the Bruins now have two wins and two losses in shootouts this season.
• The Bruins had another sluggish first period and the Kings took advantage of that right away. LA posted a quick five shots on net in the opening 90 seconds of the game.
• Head Coach Jim Montgomery said he felt some of the guys had a hard time establishing their games with adjusting playing minutes because of special teams in the first period. He thought that affected the flow and getting different guys going.
• The Bruins first had to kill off a four-minute, high-sticking call against Charlie McAvoy and then went into two power plays. That trend seemed to carry into the third period, despite a strong middle frame from the Bruins that put them up 2-0, where there was a lot of special teams in a penalty-riddled game on both sides.
• With so many man-advantage for both teams — six for each — the Bruins were only able to capitalize on one. That one was big in the second to extend the lead, but they also fell short in the third period for security. When the Kings made it 2-1, the Bruins had two opportunities to get that two-goal lead back almost immediately after.
• That late third-period power play should have also probably ended the game with the time it bled into overtime. There just weren’t a lot of clean entries or set-ups. The Bruins had a hard time connecting out front and missing sticks in dangerous spots like Pastrnak’s camp in the face-off circles.
• Montgomery also felt penalties got away from them and there were more “retaliatory” ones than the Bruins are used to seeing.
• It additionally seemed from Marchand’s and Taylor Hall’s comments postgame that the Bruins are still not up to speed with getting their legs back after the road trip. Marchand thought they were still recovering from the trip and said some times it’s not the easiest coming home and getting thrown back into family life on top of things. Hall mentioned it was a hard travel coming back from the trip, playing the other night and then having a day off. He said frustration can set in when players want to make big play and they don’t feel like they are playing their “A” game.
• Postgame sound bite: “In the third period, I don’t know if they wanted it more or what. But whatever it was, when you’re up 2-0 on home ice, it’s got to be a win.” — Taylor Hall on the Kings’ finish.
• The Bruins return to the ice on Saturday, Dec. 17 to face the Columbus Blue Jackets at 1 p.m. during the homestand.