For the second game in a row, the Bruins made what looked like a pending blowout against a more talented team a game down to the wire. But for the second game in a row, the Bruins failed to get anything tangible out of it, as the Bruins dropped a 6-5 final to the Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena on Thursday night.

At one point down 6-3, the Bruins worked their way back into this game in the third behind two goals in a 67-second span from Mark Kastelic and Mikey Eyssimont. And like they had on Monday, the Bruins were gifted a third period power-play opportunity to knot things up when Tomas Hertl barreled over the Bruins’ Jeremy Swayman on a partial breakaway.

But, just as they did en route to a loss on Monday afternoon, the Bruins failed to make good on that power-play opportunity. And it hurt them, as the Knights clamped down on the Bruins in the final three minutes of regulation, and snuffed out every would-be chance the Bruins had until Morgan Geekie’s interference penalty with just over a minute left in regulation by all means put this one to bed.

There’s something to be said for the Bruins fighting their way back into a competitive finish for the second straight game, of course. But it also didn’t have to be this way for the Black and Gold given the way they started.

Boston started hot with Tanner Jeannot’s net-front finish, and even when the Knights responded with a goal of their own a minute and a half later, the Bruins punched back with a Nikita Zadorov at the 16:44 mark of the opening frame. But the Golden Knights responded once again, this time just 1:49 later.

And the Knights made sure they carried that momentum into the second period.

In what was a four-goal second period between the teams, the Golden Knights scored three of them, and each one appeared easier than the one that came before. The Bruins by all means forgot about Pavel Dorofeyev on a power play, and it was Mark Stone who baited the Bruins into an ill-timed, power-play pass that sparked William Karlsson for a shorthanded goal at the other end.

It was by all means a shooting gallery on Swayman.

And that’s not the kind of game this B’s team is built to play.

On the backend, Hampus Lindholm (lower-body injury) missed his third straight game for the Bruins after beginning Thursday as a potential game-time decision.

The Bruins did make one change to their lineup for this contest, though, with bottom-six tough guy Jeffrey Viel thrown into action for his first appearance of the 2025-26 season. Skating on Boston’s fourth line, Viel recorded four hits and a plus-2 rating in 11:50 of time on ice. With Viel in, the speedy Marat Khusnutdinov joined Johnny Beecher as the club’s healthy scratches for this contest.

The Bruins will now head to Colorado for a Saturday night showdown with Nathan MacKInnon and the Avalanche.