The Bruins got the start they desired in Dallas on Tuesday, but this time their finish was lacking.

Looking for the sweep of their four-game road trip, the B’s lost two one-goal leads and went 0-for-4 on the power play before bowing to the Stars 3-2 in overtime on Mikko Rantanen’s third goal of the game, coming on the power play.

The B’s got initial control of the puck in OT but things went haywire when David Pastrnak turned over the puck at the Dallas blue line. Jeremy Swayman (22 saves) stopped Wyatt Johnston on a clean breakaway and then on a second clean break-in. But after Pavel Zacha was called for slashing, Rantanen finally lifted a backhander over Swayman for the winner.

It was a frustrating loss for the B’s, but seven out of a possible eight points isn’t bad.

“I thought the guys played great. They deserved definitely a point,” said coach Marco Sturm. “A little unfortunate to give up the second point but, looking back, what a great road trip. But I really liked our effort.”

The B’s got goals from Matt Poitras and James Hagens but, other than Swayman, the veterans did not have a great night. Pastrnak had zero shots on net (four blocked) and Morgan Geekie had one shot on net. Zacha was around it more with four shots (eight total) but he could not solve Jake Oettinger (18 shots). The man advantage was where they felt the power outage the most.

“That was probably a little bit the difference,” said Sturm. “We couldn’t find our rhythm and they were very aggressive. But we had opportunities to shoot and we just didn’t. But other than that, it was a good performance.”

Sturm spoke before the game about having better starts than they had been putting forth recently. The needed to shake off bad first periods to notch wins in Anaheim and Los Angeles.

Sturm got what he wanted.

The B’s got on the board just 2:09 into the game on Matt Poitras’ fourth goal of the young season. Mason Lohrei used his long reach to keep in a Miro Heiskanen clear attempt at the blue line. His golf chip went to Tanner Jeannot, who in turn passed it to Frederic Brunet on the right side. Surveying the ice quickly from his off side, Brunet found Poitras in the slot and the young centerman ripped a one-timer past Jake Oettinger.

The B’s had a couple of good chances to extend the lead in the first. Morgan Geekie just missed the net on a backhander and, later, it appeared that James Hagens had Oettinger flat-footed at the top of the crease but the Dallas netminder made a pad stop on the rookie’s backhander.

The Stars didn’t have much going until Jeannot was called for roughing Radek Faksa with 1:33 left in the period. The Stars peppered  Swayman with a handful of shots on the advantage – the toughest one a Wyatt Johnston slot shot that his Swayman in the mask – but the B’s got to the locker room still up, 1-0.

The B’s showed their commitment to details in the first, blocking 11 shots in the first.

But they could not hold the lead for long in the second as the Stars tied it up at 2:50 in the second off a turnover. Fraser Minten could not handle Lohrei’s breakout pass and Rantanen pounced. Swayman made the initial save on Rantanen’s and appeared ready to smother the rebound. But Jason Robertson sneaked in to poke the loose puck away and Rantanen tapped it home.

But the B’s got it back at 7:30. Nikita Zadorov, back in the lineup after being a healthy scratch on Saturday, moved the puck quickly up ice from his own blue line to Casey Mittelstadt. The wing gained the zone and circled behind the net while Hagens went to the net. Mittelstadt centered it and, after getting stick position on Heiskanen at the top of the crease, the rookie deflected it home for his third of the year.

“(Assistant coach Chris Kelly) does a good job and he’s been working with the kid,” said Sturm. “It’s not college anymore. You’ve got to go to the hard areas and he went there. Good for him for going there and he got rewarded.”

The B’s first two power plays were anemic, producing zero shots. Their third one at the end of the second period looked much better but Oettinger came up big, making four quality saves as the Stars got to the second intermission down by just a goal.

The B’s went into the third period having outscored their opponents, 16-5, in the final period, but this third would not be one of their better ones.

Almost immediately at the start of the third period, the B’s got their fourth PP and yet again they failed to extend the lead.

The B’s had to come up with a big kill when Charlie McAvoy was called for tripping Roope Hintz. They gave the Stars very little on the advantage and maintained the slim lead.

But with 6:22 left in regulation, Rantanen tied it up. Rantanen had been controlling the shift below the goal line and it came out to Hintz in the slot. Hintz’ shot hit McAvoy in the shin pad and the rebound bounced directly to Rantanen, who had an empty net at which to shoot. He didn’t miss.

Sturm played it conservatively down the stretch, keeping both Poitras and Hagens on the bench. They got the point, but they fell short of the perfect road trip.