Carlsson scores in OT to lift Ducks past Bruins for 4th straight win

BOSTON – Leo Carlsson scored at 3:39 of overtime to give the Anaheim Ducks a 3-2 win against the Boston Bruins at TD Garden on Saturday.

From the right circle, Carlsson swept in a rebound of Brian Dumoulin's shot from the opposite side.

“It wasn’t a good shot,” he said. “I kind of whiffed on it, but it went in, so it was good.”

Trevor Zegras and Frank Vatrano each scored, and Jackson LaCombe added two assists for Anaheim (25-24-6), which has won four straight games and seven of its past eight. Goaltender John Gibson made 19 saves through two periods, but did not return for the third period. Lukas Dostal finished with 10 saves.

“They’ve been our backbone all year,” Vatrano said of the goaltending tandem. “They’ve given us a chance to win and steal games for us every single night. It’s been fun . . . We just have to believe in one another in this room. We’re a really close group and all get along. At the end of the day, everybody wants to play in the playoffs, right? So, for us, we’re not trying to get too far ahead of ourselves. We’re trying to take it game by game and try to grow every single day in practice and in games.”

Elias Lindholm and Morgan Geekie scored for the Bruins (27-24-7), and Mason Lohrei had two assists. Jeremy Swayman finished with 26 saves.

David Pastrnak had an assist to extend his point streak to 14 games (27 points; 11 goals, 16 assists), tying the Carolina Hurricanes' Mikko Rantanen and the Edmonton Oilers' Leon Draisaitl for the longest in the NHL this season.

“It was bit of a sloppy game,” Bruins captain Brad Marchand said. “You kind of expect that after the break and we knew we would make some mistakes. We stuck with it, got a point and we have to continue to build and be better. There are some things we can take away from the game and get ready for the next one.”

Marchand left the game early in the third period after falling awkwardly and slamming his head against the boards in front of the Anaheim bench after a whistle. He crawled to the Bruins bench and was quickly tended to by a trainer. After going to the locker room, Marchand returned late in the period, finished the game and assisted on the game-tying goal.

“I feel fine,” he said. “It was a mandatory check-in, or whatever you have to do, but I’m good.”

The Ducks gained a 1-0 lead at 17:27 of the first period, with Zegras beating Swayman to the short side on a 3-on-1 rush with the teams playing 4-on-4.

Anaheim took a 2-0 lead at 19:22 when Radko Gudas found Vatrano with a cross-ice pass from the right point for a tap-in goal on the far side.

“(Troy Terry) started the whole play," Vatrano said. "He likes to enter the zone with possession, and I was calling for it behind him and he leaves me a drop pass. I was thinking about shooting it, but I saw a guy cheating towards Jackson, and he made a play over to Gudas. I beat my guy to the net and I did the easy part putting it in the empty net.”

With the Bruins playing 5-on-3 early in the second period after Pastrnak drew two penalties in a span of 28 seconds, Lindholm's one-timer from the left face-off dot trickled through Gibson's pads and into the net for a power-play goal at 9:08, making it a 2-1 game.

With Swayman pulled for the extra attacker, Geekie scored on a one-timer from the left circle to the far side, tying the game 2-2 at 18:49 of the third period. A review confirmed the goal after an initial ruling of goaltender interference.

“I liked our push back,” Marchand said. “Their goalie made a few really big saves to keep them in it that long. We know we’re a good team and we play the right way. It just took us a little bit too long to get into it tonight.”

Carlsson scored his second career overtime goal and fifth career game-winning goal.

“He’s an elite player and he’s only going to get better and better,” Vatrano said. “He’s only 20 years old and his ceiling is so high. I’m excited to help him grow and see his career go forward.”

NOTES: Anaheim coach Greg Cronin said after the game that Gibson has "had a recurring issue and I don’t really know the medical history behind it, but he’s going to be fine." ... Pastrnak’s 14-game point streak is the third-longest by a Bruins player in the past 30 years, trailing Adam Oates (20 games in 1996-97) and Phil Kessel (18 games in 2008-09) . . . Carlsson’s game-winning goal tied Mason McTavish for the most by a Ducks player before the age of 21. The only Sweden-born players with more game-winning goals prior to their 21st birthdays are Elias Pettersson (8), Gabriel Landeskog (8), Lindholm (7) and Filip Forsberg (6).