Bruins overcome fatigue for 3-2 overtime win over Preds

The trek back from New York was not kind to the Bruins.

Now, it wasn't quite Warriors-going-back-to-Coney-Island bad, but it was damn close, as weather forced the Bruins to abandon their plans for a flight home and instead for a bus back to Boston. That, with the Predators already in town and patiently awaiting the already-tired Bruins, could've been disastrous for Marco Sturm's club.

But thanks to an assist from pretty much the entire organization back with the team and away from the team, the Bruins were able to do just enough to put themselves in position to gut out a 3-2 overtime win over the Predators on Tuesday night at TD Garden.

In what was a sleepy start for both sides, Hampus Lindholm got things going with his fourth goal of the season, scored at the 13:16 mark of the first period. The goal was a rather simple one for Lindholm, who was named to Sweden's Olympic roster earlier in the day, as he simply fluttered a shot on goal after a pass from Mason Lohrei. Fraser Minten, who won the draw cleanly, picked up the secondary helper.

Boston doubled their edge in the second period, and did so with the latest confirmation that Morgan Geekie's stick is hot once again.

In what was Geekie's fifth goal in the last five games, No. 39 received a terrific feed from David Pastrnak and absolutely ripped the shot by Juuse Saros. The shot, which even clanged some iron on its way to lighting the lamp, was Geekie's 30th goal of the campaign.

And after scoring 33 goals last year, Geekie is officially the first Bruin not named Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand, or Pastrnak to have back-to-back 30-goal seasons for the Bruins since Glen Murray (2002-2004).

Playing with fire from a penalty standpoint throughout the night, it took the Bruins' fourth trip to the box for the club to finally get burned by the Nashville power play. And it was the Preds' big guns that did the torching on Jeremy Swayman, as Steven Stamkos sent the puck to Ryan O'Reilly, who then fed Roman Josi for a one-time bomb that was downright unstoppable at the 19:25 mark of the middle frame.

The Predators then knotted things up with under seven minutes to go in regulation, and sent the Bruins to their second straight overtime game.

But the Black and Gold decided to end this one about as quickly as they could, and on the back of their best player, with a David Pastrnak putaway goal just 15 seconds into the extra frame.

Beyond their travel woes, the Bruins were unable to escape this one unscathed on the ice, as the club lost Elias Lindholm to an upper-body injury in the second period of play. Lindholm did not return for the third period, and will have to undergo further testing on Wednesday before the team has any sort of timeline when it comes to a return to play.

On a positive note, though, the Bruins did welcome Nikita Zadorov back to the lineup after the 6-foot-7 defender missed Monday's game due to a lower-body injury. Monday's absence was Zadorov's first absence of the season, leaving Mark Kastelic, Sean Kuraly, and Fraser Minten as the last three standing in terms of perfect attendance this season.

The Bruins will get back to work Thursday when they host the Flyers at TD Garden. It will be the first of three head-to-head showdowns between the B's and Flyers over the final 28 games of the year.