Three games, three goals: David Pastrnak sinks the winning goal in overtime and puts the Bruins over the Kings

Jeremy Swayman earned his keep and Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak roused their teammates from their afternoon nap as the Bruins cruised to a 2-1 overtime win over the Los Angeles Kings at TD Garden on Saturday afternoon.

While the Bruins were virtually asleep, Swayman kept them in contention, making his second start since signing an eight-year, $66 million contract. The Bruins rallied after Trevor Moore scored first early in the second period. However, it took until 16:50 of the half for Elias Lindholm to equalize with the rebound of a Marchand shot.

With Swayman (33 saves) holding the fort, the Bruins extended the fight to the regulation limit. Then Pastrnak and Mason Lohrei combined give and go, with Pastrnak scoring his third goal of the season from the right circle at 3:07 of overtime.

The Bruins (2-1-0) are completing a three-game homestand against the Florida Panthers on Monday afternoon and have a chance to avenge their season-opening loss.

“It’s still early in the year,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said. “We haven’t played a full 60-minute game as a team yet, so there are a lot of areas for growth, both offensively and defensively. We had problems defensively in the first two games. I thought we had problems with our transition offense.

“And it's still early in the year, and I have to keep telling myself to be patient with our group because there's a lot of growth within this lineup, and that's what excites you about what we can do .”

The Bruins fired empty balls, and it took nearly 15 minutes for them to officially record their second shot, as Trent Frederic nearly scored first and Matt Poitras converted the rebound.

Luckily for the Bruins, Swayman was at his best as the team faltered on offense and regressed on defense. But Swayman was helpless when Moore came out the back door at 5:22 of the second. Swayman stopped Phillip Danault's wrist and, along with the rest of the Bruins, prepared for the rebound. But Alex Turcotte moved into the lead and gave Moore free rein.

The Bruins equalized in a four-on-four system and took advantage of a mistake by Jordan Spence. Marchand pounced to shoot and Lindholm finished off the rebound.

“His instincts allow him to anticipate, jump and go the other way,” Montgomery said of Marchand. “Really smart shot, he shoots it from the far side to create a rebound if his shot doesn’t go in.”

Lindholm said: “Marchy checked really well in the neutral zone and did a good job of giving me a good rebound. “Obviously one of those jumps that doesn't happen very often, but today it did.”

Montgomery credited the Poitras-centered third line and Mark Kastelic-centered fourth line with offsetting the Bruins' stunning start.

“It’s nice to have,” Montgomery said. “What people found is that our bottom six carried us and, alongside Swayman in the nets, gave us the opportunity to stay in the game and then make money.”

Pastrnak clinched the game by finding Lohrei and then finishing from the right circle to break the deadlock.

“I saw Mason flying at full speed, kind of all over the place,” Pastrnak said. “The LA guys looked a little tired, so I ran, made a nice move, and it was give and go.”

In the end, both teams were apparently willing to give 40 winks. But the Bruins hit the snooze button one last time and snapped.

“Incredible effort to achieve the goal,” Marchand said. “These guys were really tired, and the fact that they made that play shows how talented they are.”

Frank Dell'Apa can be reached at [email protected].