Bruins' losing streak stretches to six with 7-5 loss to Ducks

BOSTON — With the game in their reach at the start of the third period yet again, the Bruins failed to make the right plays at winning time on Thursday night at TD Garden.

Yet again.

The B’s coughed up three goals in the third period, plus an empty-netter, and fell to the Anaheim Ducks, 7-5, absorbing their sixth straight defeat in excruciating fashion once again.

It won’t get any easier. The Colorado Avalanche, who outclassed the B’s in Denver last week, are in town on Saturday. If this continues much longer, it may soon become time to insert some kids down in Providence, no matter what it means in the win-loss column.

With score tied 3-3 in the third period, Viktor Arvidsson took an offensive zone tripping penalty at 1:37 and the Ducks made them pay. Troy Terry made a beautiful backhand pass through a crowd to Mikael Granlund and the veteran potted an easy goal into the half-empty net.

With Charlie McAvoy in the box, Fraser Minten had a short-handed bid to tie it up when he stole the puck at the blue line but on his breakaway chance, he could not lift his backhand attempt over Anaheim goalie Petr Mrazek.

The squandered chance cost them again when Sam Colangelo took Ryan Poehling’s feed and beat Joonas Korpisalo for the first two-goal lead of the night.

But, for all their warts, the Bruins have resilience. They scored two goals in 25 seconds to tie the game. First, David Pastrnak scored on a long-range wrister on the power play and then, with 5:03 left in regulation, Morgan Geekie scored his second of the game when he took a feed from a rushing Nikita Zadorov.

But in a flashback from Tuesday’s debacle against Florida, they handed the lead right back 55 seconds later. Both McAvoy went over to Mason Lohrei’s side of the ice to defend Nikita Nesterenko, leaving Terry wide open in front — and he buried it.

Granlund finished it off with an empty-netter.

The opening 20 minutes was a period of swings. The Bruins burst out of the gate and took the first lead at 2:10. Mrazek, getting just his second start of the season, left a fat rebound of a Pavel Zacha shot for Casey Mittelstadt, who got under defenseman Pavel Mintyukov’s stick check to put home his third of the season.

The B’s were firing away early and Mrazek was giving up rebounds, but the B’s couldn’t get to another one before the period was out.

The young and talented Ducks found their footing eventually and started creating some good chances. In one sequence, Korpisalo came up with an excellent save on Alex Killorn down the slot and then lucked out when Cutter Gauthier heeled another glittering chance from the same area.

But there was nothing Korpisalo could have done on Anaheim’s tying goal at 8:06. Defenseman Drew Helleson came down from his right point position and nobody picked him up when Mason Lohrei followed another Duck out high. From a bad angle, Helleson fired a shot that went off McAvoy’s skate and in.

The B’s kept firing pucks at Mrazek in the first — they held a 19-12 advantage on the shot clock — but the teams went into the first intermission even at 1-1.

On the first shift of the second period, Korpisalo was forced to make a great save on Nesterenko, who appeared to have the netminder down and out but he hit Korpisalo in the mask.

The B’s regained the lead at 8:49 on a good shift from the first line. After some pressure, McAvoy picked off a desperation clear in the neutral zone and gave it back to Pastrnak at the blue line. Pastrnak paused briefly for some help and dished to Geekie, who beat Mrazek with a wrister from the high slot for his fourth.

They were so close to taking a two-oal lead shortly after that when Jeffrey Viel set up Minten in front, but Mrazek came up with his stop of the game.

And wouldn’t you know it, the Ducks then tied it up shortly after that when the former Boston College star Gauthier beat Korpisalo with a long-range wrister at 11:29.

Tanner Jeannot — signed to a five-year, $17 million deal in the offseason — had not gotten into a fight yet this season, but he did not ease his way into his first bout, taking on Ducks’ 6-5 Ross Johnston, one of the toughest guys in the league. The two chatted at the red line during warmup and they eventually found each other at 12:14 of the second. In a true heavyweight clash, the two combatants landed their share of blows but eventually Jeannot started landing more consistently until they both ran out of gas.

But the B’s didn’t get a bump from it and, at 15:24, the Ducks took their first lead of the game. After an extended defensive shift for the Minten line, aided by an icing, Jacob Trouba came down from his right point spot and sneaked a shot through Korpisalo’s glove arm and body for the 3-2 advantage.

One soft goal deserved another, and the B’s got one on their own on their first power play after Mintyukov high-sticked Elias Lindholm. Mason Lohrei fired a quick shot on net that somehow eluded Mrazek for Lohrei’s first at 17:10 to tie it up going into the third.

The B’s held a 32-18 shot advantage through two but the Ducks were getting some high-grade chances.