The Bruins scratched back from a two-goal deficit but one point was all they could manage against the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday at the Garden. Resilience from the undermanned squad aside, that’s just not good enough right now.

Leo Carlsson scored the game-winner with 1:21 left in overtime to lift the suddenly hot Ducks to a 3-2 win over the B’s in their return after the two-week break.

Morgan Geekie, who’d been stoned on several Grade A chances earlier in the game, tied the game with 1:11 left in regulation on a 6-on-5, blasting a slapper from the left wing. It was initially waved off for goalie contact from Elias Lindholm. But upon review, it was rightly ruled that Lukas Dostal, a third-period replacement for injured starter John Gibson, was able to play his position and equalizer went on the board. That sent it to OT, where the B’s eventually fell.

It was the third straight loss for the B’s (0-2-1), while the Ducks have won 7-of-8. Grabbing a point after being down a deuce would normally feel like a job well done. But with 24 games left in the season, there are no more silver linings.

“It’s tough to take positives out of it, for sure, especially where we are in the standings,” said Geekie, who set a career high in goals with his 18th. “You take it and learn from it and go but, yeah, we let that point slip away. I think it shows resiliency to battle back. But this time of year, I don’t think one point is going to do it.”

Playing without Charlie McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm, and not very well in the first period, there were major doubts it would get as far as OT for the B’s. The B’s gave up two too-easy goals in 1:55 late in the first and were on the chase for the rest of the game.

On Thursday morning before Canada-US game of the 4 Nations Faceoff, third-string US goalie Jeremy Swayman was asked if he’d be ready to play against Anaheim on Saturday. He answered with his usual aplomb.

“Born ready, baby!” he replied with a wide grin.

Maybe he didn’t know how ready he would have to be. The Ducks came into the Garden and nearly ran the B’s off the ice in the first period, outshooting the B’s 17-7 in the opening 20 minutes and taking a 2-0 lead with a pair in the final 2:33 of the period.

Anaheim began the game outshooting the B’s 9-1, the best chance being a wide-open slot chance from Cutter Gauthier that Swayman got with his blocker.

Midway through the period, the B’s looked like they’d gotten their skates under them. Geekie had two great chances on the same shift. Gibson got a pad on the first one and then Geekie shot it over the net on the second one.

But when Lindholm and Ryan Strome went off for matching roughing penalties, the Ducks struck for their first one in the resulting 4-on-4. First, David Pastrnak turned over the puck on the attack in the offensive zone and then Mason Lohrei could not shut down the play in the neutral zone, leading to a 3-on-1. Trevor Zegras and Jackson Lacombe played catch before Zegras took the return pass and beat Swayman on the short side.

Then with 38 seconds left, old friend Frank Vatrano was left all alone at the left side of the net to take Radko Gudas’ diagonal pass from the right point and beat a helpless Swayman.

Predictably, the B’s left the ice for the first intermission to boos.

“At that point, we deserved it,” said Lindholm. “I think we knew we played bad. When it happens, you come into the locker room and everyone’s pissed off and you want to be better. At that point, we deserved to get booed. They know hockey here and we weren’t playing nearly good enough. We picked it up after. So it was a wakeup call for everyone.”

Anaheim’s penalty trouble got the B’s back in the game in the second. The Ducks took four minors in the period.

The B’s first power-play produced nothing but grumbles from the crowd. But then the Ducks took a pair of infractions 28 seconds apart, giving the B’s a lengthy 5-on-3. On the two-man advantage, Lindholm’s shot from the left circle broke through Gibson’s pads and just crossed the line at 9:08 for his 11th of the year.

Both teams squandered power plays at the end of the second and it remained a one-goal game going into the third.

Gibson, who suffered an upper body injury somewhere in the first 40 minutes, did not come out for the third, giving way for Dostal.

The Bruins would soon lose Brad Marchand much of the period. The captain lost an edge and slid toward the boards at a high rate of speed. He tried to brace himself with his arm but he crashed hard, his head bouncing off the boards. The concussion spotter sent him to the room to got through the protocol, but he returned with 5:24 remaining in regulation.

The B’s didn’t test Dostal a lot until Pavel Zacha sent Geekie off on a clean breakaway late in the game but the Ducks netminder stoned him.

But with Marchand picking up the secondary assist, Geekie finally found the back of the net to tie it and force OT, where the B’s came up short.

The B’s don’t make it easy on themselves in their hunt for a playoff spot. The Blue Jackets nudged ahead of them by a point in the standings, putting the B’s in 10th place.

“We know we’re in a dogfight here till the end so it’s just about coming to the rink every day excited about the opportunity and trying to be excited about working our to the final end and doing the job,” said Marchand. “It’s not going to be perfect all the way through, but we have to continue to come in and try to be better each day and give us the best opportunity.”

Marchand has no choice to maintain his positivity. But it must be getting harder and harder with each loss like this latest one.