BOSTON — The Boston 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 and 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.

Swayman stopped 24 of 26 shots in regulation and overtime and improved to 8-2 in November.

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. On the ensuing 4-on-4, the B’s had a couple of decent chances but they could not find the mark.

Mittelstadt did in the shootout, however, and the B’s took the first half of the home-and-home with Detroit.

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 butSwayman came up with the big stop.

Detroit netminder Cam Talbot returned the favor a few moments later when Elias Lindholm sprung Morgan 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 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, 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, 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 tipped just wide.

The Wings pushed in the third period. Swayman was forced to make good saves 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 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 DeBrincat and they B’s made the kill again.

But with Talbot pulled, Steeves missed a backhander on the open net and the Wings tied it again with 1:54 left in regulation. Hampus 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.

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