BOSTON -- Sean Kuraly experienced the excitement of scoring a goal in a Stanley Cup playoff game, and it was the winner in double overtime of Game 5 of an opening-round series against the Ottawa Senators last spring.

On Thursday night, he scored his first career regular-season goal.

And it, too, was a game-winner.

Kuraly stuffed home a rebound midway through the third period, and Tuukka Rask stopped 28 shots to lead the Boston Bruins to a 2-1 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights.

"Obviously, it feels good," Kuraly said. "My job is to play solid and consistent and chip in when I can, and obviously tonight it felt good to do that."

Kuraly, who scored two goals in one playoff game last spring, was playing in his 19th regular-season game Thursday. He knocked a rebound past Maxime Lagace at 9:53 of the third period to snap a 1-1 tie.

"It was a very big goal," said Rask, who has already lost a game to the Knights this season. "He scored that one last year in the playoffs. He's had some chances and he finally got rewarded. I think everybody's just excited to see his celebrations after because he likes to jump pretty high."

Kuraly was knocked to the ice and knocked the net off as the puck was going in, saying later, "I'll take a high stick for my penalty, I'll take getting clobbered in the post for a goal. Yup, for sure."

Rask ended his five-game losing streak in helping the Bruins, sloppy at time in front of their own net, raise their record to 5-3-3 (3-0-3 in the past six).

The Bruins won despite playing some sloppy hockey around their own goal, but Rask said, "For the most part, they were just one and done. There weren't too many scrambles in front, and when there were, our guys did a great job to clear the rebounds out."

The loss was the third straight for the expansion Vegas team, which settled for a 1-1-0 split with Boston in its first season series. The Golden Knights (8-4-0) led both games in New York and were tied in the third period of this one, which their coach thought was a much better effort.

"One hundred percent (better)," Gerard Gallant said. "I think the guys really battled against a good, strong Boston team. You know, it was a bounce here a bounce there was a difference in the game. So I think it was a really well-played hockey game and well-officiated game. So I thought it was a real good hockey game that we didn't get any points out of but we probably could have."

Riley Nash also scored his first goal of the season for Boston, and Torey Krug assisted on both goals but was guilty of some of the sloppy defensive play.

Cody Eakin scored for the Golden Knights.

Lagace, the fourth Vegas goalie this season, made 26 saves but lost for the third time in four nights on the team's six-game road trip. The last two starts were his first two in the NHL.

"He was real strong, and that's good for him," Gallant said. "I thought he played a great game tonight. He was really strong, and he looked confident in there."

At 3:24 of the second period, Nash hit the post behind a scrambling Lagace, but the puck came right back to him. He got it back from Austin Czarnik and scored his first goal in 23 games dating to last season (including playoffs).

Six minutes later, Vegas' Nate Schmidt picked Jake DeBrusk's pocket as the Bruins rookie tried to carry the puck out of his zone. Schmidt got it to an unguarded Eakin, who beat Rask to tie it at 9:34.

"I thought we played hard," Schmidt said. "I thought we had a couple of chances to win the game. Their goalie played well. That's what happens on the road -- you gotta grind it out."

The Knights almost took the lead later in the period when Rask had a shot climb over his shoulder and drop down in the crease close to the goal line. However, defenseman Paul Postma swept it away before Tomas Nosek could stuff it home.

NOTES: With Boston C David Backes (colon) placed on injured reserve and C David Krejci (back) still out, C Austin Czarnik and RW Jordan Szwarz were summoned from AHL Providence, as was G Zane McIntyre because of G Anton Khudobin's lower-body injury. Czarnik had an assist. ... Surgery to remove part of Backes' colon "went smoothly," the team reported. ... The Bruins turned out the TD Garden lights for a moment of silence for the New York terror victims. ... Former Bruins D Colin Miller had a six-game points streak snapped. ... D Shea Theodore was among three healthy Knights scratches. ... The Bruins are 71-18-9-1 against expansion teams in their first seasons since the league added six teams in 1967. ... The Knights are at Ottawa for a Saturday matinee. The Bruins host the Washington Capitals on Saturday.