It followed a familiar script: The Bruins fell behind early before staging two spirited comebacks only to lose another one-goal game. Four of Boston’s five losses have been by a goal.

The Bruins (3-5-0) put up a fight in the third period, erasing deficits of 2-0 and 3-2 with goals from Pavel Zacha, Elias Lindholm (power play), and Morgan Geekie, but still, their three-game winning streak to open the season feels like a distant memory.

After Geekie evened it with 1:31 to go, Bruin killer Carter Verhaeghe’s shot deflected off Andrew Peeke’s skate and past Jeremy Swayman with 26 seconds left to seal the win for the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions.

“It [stinks] but you can’t sit on it. I mean does it happen a little bit too often? Yes,” said David Pastrnak, who picked up a pair of assists. “Showing fight is a positive every night, but at the same time you’re going to question yourself why we are in that position that we are in and most of the nights it’s our own doing, so that’s something we have to fix, and you can’t be playing from behind or making those mistakes every night.”

Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman cleared former teammate Brad Marchand out from in front of the net in the first period.Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff

The Bruins took a hit before the puck even dropped as defenseman Hampus Lindholm was held out despite participating in the morning skate with usual partner Peeke. Jordan Harris was inserted in place of Lindholm, who played in only the Colorado game on the recent road trip after suffering a hamstring injury in the Oct. 9 home opener.

Coach Marco Sturm said Lindholm told him he couldn’t go after the skate and the Bruins would know more Wednesday.

As he so often did in this barn, Marchand made his presence felt right away, breaking in off the opening faceoff and landing a backhander on Swayman.

Later in that initial shift, Marchand drew a tripping call on Tanner Jeannot, giving the Panthers a power play just 33 seconds in.

It didn’t take long for the infraction to smart the home crowd.

Marchand hung around for the power play and picked up a helper on Mackie Samoskevich’s goal 1:01 into the game. The Garden crowd’s collective groan turned to a raucous applause when Marchand’s assist was announced.

Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky and Anton Lundell teamed up to thwart a scoring bid by Tanner Jeannot.Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff

The Bruins were handed their own man advantage when Florida goalie Sergei Bobrovsky took down Pastrnak, who had visions of a wraparound goal.

Boston’s power play was toothless, however, with only Mikey Eyssimont’s bid landing on Bobrovsky, who saw it clean with no traffic in front.

The Garden crowd came to life again during the game’s first extended timeout when a minute-plus Marchand tribute video played, bringing tears to the former Boston captain’s eyes as he repeatedly saluted the fans.

Jeffrey Viel tried to inject some life into the attack, taking down Florida’s Jonah Gadjovich in a spirited fight. The Bruins did show some after the fisticuffs, but weren’t able to dent Bobrovsky after 20 minutes.

Jeffrey Viel dropped the gloves with the Panthers’ Jonah Gadjovich for a spirited bout at 13:12 of the first period.Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff

The Panthers doubled their lead courtesy of another former Bruin, A.J. Greer.

Fraser Minten won a faceoff to Swayman’s left but Mason Lohrei was late collecting it and the puck deflected off Jeannot’s blade right to Greer, who went top shelf to the glove side.

Marchand, the Little Ball of Emotion, again brought the crowd to its feet, but this time it was because he knocked Casey Mittelstadt off his. It was the first of back-to-back Panthers penalties (Niko Mikkola dumped Sean Kuraly), but the Bruins could muster nothing with either opportunity.

They snuck a puck past Bobrovsky in the second, but Eyssimont’s apparent goal was immediately waved off when officials deemed the whistle blew before the aggressive winger had knocked it in.

It was an ugly end to the period, with Zacha (tripping) and Elias Lindholm (hooking) taking consecutive penalties.

Boston survived those kills and were energized to start the third, with Zacha and Lindholm connecting.

Eetu Luostarinen broke the tie when Marchand sprung him on a partial breakaway — Lohrei took a bad angle — and he beat Swayman.

Sturm said the Lohrei hiccups are “absolutely” teachable moments.

“Those two goals, yeah, can’t deny those are on him and again, we have to try to correct it and try to help him and try to make sure he is not going to do it again, that’s for sure,” said Sturm.

With Swayman pulled, Geekie pulled the Bruins even again. Overtime seemed imminent until Verhaeghe caught his fortuitous bounce.

“I feel bad for the boys because they really battled hard,” said Sturm. “I felt bad for Peekes. Obviously, he doesn’t want to do that, but when it rains, it rains hard.”

Jim McBride can be reached at james.mcbride@globe.com. Follow him @globejimmcbride.