The Bruins tried to give the game away on Saturday, but Jeremy Swayman refused to lose.

After the B’s coughed up two leads in the third period, Swayman stopped Lucas Raymond, Patrick Kane and Alex DeBrincat, while Casey Mittelstadt scored the only goal in the shootout to lift the B’s to a 3-2 shootout win over the Detroit Red Wings. Morgan Geekie continued his season-long hot streak as he potted both regulation goals (Nos. 19 and 20).

Swayman stopped 24 of 26 shots in regulation and overtime and improved to 8-2 in November. He wasn’t quite as busy as he was on Long Island on Wednesday when he had to make a career-high 43 saves, but he did see his share of high-danger chances that he turned away.

And when your goaltender is on a heater, that buoys the rest of the team.

“It’s huge. You guys feel it, the fans, everyone feels it…and most important, our players,” said coach Marco Sturm. “It’s such a good feeling when you have that, right? All year long, since Day One when I met him, he’s been rock solid off the ice and on the ice, the calmness he brings to every game now and giving us a chance to win every game, it’s a good feeling.”

This one had the makings of another one that got away. The Bruins, outshot 13-4 in the third, could not preserve two one-goal leads in the third, with the second tying goal coming from Michael Rasmussen with 1:54 left in regulation with the extra skater on for Detroit.

In OT, the B’s had to kill off an Elias Lindholm penalty, their fifth PK of the game, and they did so. Swayman made four stops in OT to get it to the shootout.

With the way the third period went, a loser point would have felt exactly like it sounds. But Swayman stared down three of the more deadly shooters in the league and took home the W. The B’s are now 6-0 in extra time (4-0 in OT, 2-0 in shootouts).

“That’s everything,” said Swayman of getting the extra point on Saturday. “It could have gone one or two ways, we knew that. We don’t like losing at home. The fans deserved the win tonight and that was something that we all had to dig in. No matter what came our way, we just kept pushing to make sure we came out with two points.”

The B’s, still down David Pastrnak, Charlie McAvoy and Viktor Arvidsson and now down to just one right-shot defenseman (Andrew Peeke) with the Henri Jokiharju going to the IR with an unspecified injury, played very well defensively through the first 40 minutes, allowing just nine shots on net.

Despite giving the Wings two power plays in the scoreless first period, the B’s held a 5-4 shot advantage in a period that didn’t have a lot of scoring chances.

But both teams did have one breakaway chance apiece. Nate Danielson, the ninth overall pick in the 2023 draft, broke in alone on a Wings’ PP but Swayman came up with the big stop.

Detroit netminder Cam Talbot returned the favor a few moments later when Lindholm sprung Geekie for clean breakaway but Geekie could not beat Talbot to the glove side.

There had been some pushing and shoving here and there in the first, but it blossomed into full-blown fisticuffs with 25 seconds left in the period when Mark Kastelic squared up with Detroit’s fine young defenseman, Moritz Seider. Seider hung in there for a bit but Kastelic soon took over and scored a clean knockdown with a right cross. Seider didn’t come out for the second period but he did return to the bench at 6:22 of the middle period.

The B’s fourth line buzzed the zone on the final shift of the first and Jeffrey Viel, playing in his first game since hitting his head on the ice in a fight with Radko Gudas in Anaheim, drew a hooking penalty on Ben Chiarot.

That gave the B’s a power play to start the second. They did not score on it, thanks to a great Talbot save on Alex Steeves after he was set up beautifully by Geekie. But the B’s held the momentum and took the first lead of the game at 4:25. After a strong shift inside the Detroit zone, Elias Lindholm one-timed a shot from the right point and Geekie tipped it home for his 19th of the season.

The B’s had to kill off a Hampus Lindholm interference penalty, which they did with little difficulty. But just after the penalty was up, Michael Rasmussen found himself all alone in front of Swayman. The netminder turned away the first bid that came right back to Rasmussen and then Swayman managed to get his glove on the second, more dangerous chance.

The B’s nearly doubled the lead in the final seconds of the second when, off a faceoff with just six seconds left, Andrew Peeke managed to get off a shot that Elias Lindholm tipped just wide.

The Wings surged demonstrably  in the third period. Swayman was forced to make good saves on Emmitt Finnie and then J.T. Compher on odd-man rushes to preserve the slim lead.

But Swayman could not keep them off the board all night. After Marat Khusnutdinov made a defensive zone steal, his backhand clear attempt was picked off at the blue line and Lucas Raymond tipped home Dylan Larkin’s shot/pass at 6:38.

Tempers rose again when Tanner Jeannot tattooed Detroit defenseman Axel Sandin-Pellikka by the Wings’ bench. Kastelic and Ben Chiarot got into it, both earning roughing penalties but nothing came of the 4-on-4.

The B’s got a power play with 6:48 left in regulation when Chiarot high-sticked Steeves, barely, and it didn’t take long before the B’s regained the lead. Once the B’s gained the zone,  Mittelstadt fed Geekie for a one-timer and his 20th of the year with 6:21 remaining in the third.

But Peeke took a tripping penalty just 25 seconds later. Swayman came up with a big glove save on Alex DeBrincat and they B’s made the kill again.

They weren’t out of the woods. With Talbot pulled, Steeves missed a backhander on the open net and the Wings tied it again with 1:54 left in regulation. Hampus Lindholm over-committed to the right side, leaving  Kane open to take Raymond’s  pass on the right side and the future Hall of Famer fed Rasmussen for the equalizing redirect.

But as they always have in extra time this season, the B’s found a way to prevail in the end.