Bruins clip Stars, 4-3, after penalties Marathon skills competition ends with Boston win

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In Boston, Charlie McAvoy  scored in the ninth round of penalties on Monday afternoon to give the Bruins a 4-3 win over the visiting Dallas Stars. Jeremy Swayman made 43 saves in the Bruins win.

He made eight saves in the skills competition.

“My favorite moments, baby. That’s why I play,” Swayman said. “It’s pretty special. Facing [Stars goalie Jake] Oettinger too. We’ve got a great friendship, and seeing him just hold the fort down on the other end, you knew you had to rise to the occasion. So just one of those games that you’re going to remember for a long time, and I just enjoyed it.”

Boston improved to 33-12-11.

“Something has to happen to overcome, to get out of the malaise that we were in, results-wise,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said. “We got the great effort by our goaltender, and then our 6-on-5, our great players made great plays. It’s the time where you need to tie the game.”

The Bruins took a 1-0 lead in the game on a marker from Jesper Boqvist  at 4:01 of the opening stanza.

“It kind of just happened,” Boqvist said. “I don’t think it’s going in if I just one-touch it, so it kind of just happened. It was nice to see that one go in, and first goal here at home too.”

Wyatt Johnston knotted the game, 1-1, just past the midway point of the first.

“I think that’s one of the things that sticks out here is everyone kind of stays level,” Dallas’ Alexander Petrovic said. “No one’s freaking out or going nuts. It’s a hockey game. Things happen quick.”

Dallas dropped to 34-14-8.

“It’s a tough, tough building to play in, even with a full lineup,” Stars coach Peter DeBoer said. “I think we recognize that and we showed up, and we worked and played the right way. [We] did a good job.”

In the middle frame, Ryan Suter  hit with 64 seconds gone in the period for a 2-1 lead to the Stars.

That advantage lasted all of 28 seconds when Justin Brazeau  scored at 1:32 to knot the game, 2-2 headed to the third period.

“It’s a cool feeling,” Brazeau said. “It’s been a long time coming for me. I’ve worked hard to get here, so to see that kind of comes full circle. It feels really good.”

In the third period, Esa Lindell  pushed the Stars back in front, 3-2, midway through the period.

“Kind of disappointing,” Lindell said. “We had some chances to put the game away and walk away with two points, but it didn’t happen. Now just quick regroup and be ready for tomorrow [at the New York Rangers].”

David Pastrnak forced the extra session, which solved nothing, when he scored at 3-3 with 1:45 left on the regulation clock.

Jake Oettinger made 25 saves in the loss, including seven in the skills portion of the affair,