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Boston Bruins downed by Avalanche at home in Monday matinee

By Joe Szymanski |
BOSTON, MA - OCTOBER 9: The Colorado Avalanche celebrate a goal against the Boston Bruins at the TD Garden on October 9, 2017 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Brian Babineau/NHLI via Getty Images) *** Local Caption ***
BOSTON, MA - OCTOBER 9: The Colorado Avalanche celebrate a goal against the Boston Bruins at the TD Garden on October 9, 2017 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Brian Babineau/NHLI via Getty Images) *** Local Caption ***

Boston Bruins fans had to wait 3 long days for game two of the Bruins season.  A Monday afternoon game against the Colorado Avalanche seemed like the perfect way to keep momentum going.  Turns out, not so much.

Wow, that was UGLY.  Coming off a huge opening night win against one of the best teams in the NHL, the Nashville Predators, the Boston Bruins had a great opportunity to start the year off 2-0-0 with a win against the lowly Colorado Avalanche.  Two and a half hours later, the verdict is in:  they straight up STUNK.

The Bruins came out flat and played uninspired hockey, which over the course of past seasons, has been a staple of this team in afternoon games.  They now head out on their first road trip of the season 1-1-0.

What the heck happened?

BOSTON, MA – OCTOBER 9: Zdeno Chara
BOSTON, MA – OCTOBER 9: Zdeno Chara /

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Early in the first period, the Avs got the scoring started courtesy of Sven Andrighetto, who fired a shot from just outside the circles, and it glanced off the glove of Tuukka Rask, and softly fluttered in the back of the goal for an early lead.  Later in the period, after another unsuccessful power play, the Bruins got caught on shorthanded counter attack, where former Bruins forward Carl Soderberg slid the puck over to J.T. Compher who picked one short side on Rask and gave the Avs a 2-0 lead.

In the second, the one great scoring chance for the Bruins took place just a minute in.  David Pastrnak had the puck and drove hard right around the crease, but was stoned by a very strong pad of Semyon Varlamov.  After that, however, it was a pretty uneventful period for both teams, highlighted by some more poor power play time for the Bruins.

In the 3rd period, the Avs widened their lead, after a nice high lob from their defensive zone.  This left 2012 #1 pick Nail Yakupov alone against Rask.  For some unknown reason, Rask vacates the net and tries to beat Yakupov to the puck.  As expected he does not win the race and Yakupov puts the puck in the empty net and puts the Avs up 3-0.

As a final dagger into the hearts of the Bruins, the Avs scored an empty netter.  Pastrnak on the backcheck shoved Yakupov into the net causing it to dislodge before the puck went in, and the refs awarded the Avs their fourth goal.  Not liked it mattered much anyway.  The final horned sounded and finally the game ended with a 4-0 defeat for the Bruins.

Quick Shifts

  • The Bruins PP ended today 0-4 and didn’t even look threatening and was one of the reasons why the Bruins were noncompetitive today.
  • Torey Krug returned today, and was OK.  No one really played well, and I believe it was him adjusting to game speed and he will be better in the coming games.
  • Patrice Bergeron did not play today, but he is reportedly traveling on the upcoming road trip.  It goes without saying that the Bruins are missing Patrice, and I believe most issues will be solved by his return, especially the PP.

Next: Twitter Negotations for a Duchene Trade

What’s Next?

The Bruins can return the favor to the Avs on Wednesday, as the Bruins head to Colorado for their first road game of the year. Here’s hoping the team can exact from revenge for the beat down they took today.

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