Recap: Bruins blow 3-1 lead, fall 4-3 in OT to Avalanche

Up two goals, the Boston Bruins were less than 10 minutes away from picking up a huge road win without one of their top defensemen against the current Stanley Cup favorites.

But the Bruins let the game slip away in the back half of the third and instead, had to settle for a point against the Colorado Avalanche, falling 4-3 in overtime.

Gabriel Landeskog scored with 36 seconds left int eh third to tie the game before Cale Makar ended it in the extra period.

Jake DeBrusk, Charlie Coyle and Brad Marchand were the goal scorers for the Bruins. Charlie McAvoy added two assists as Linus Ullmark made37 saves in the losing effort.

1st period

Less than three minutes into the game, we already had some drama.

Taylor Hall delivered a hit on Nathan MacKinnon as the Avalanche star was cutting in the neutral zone. The hit left MacKinnon bloodied and Hall was initially given a five-minute major.

Butt after review, it was determined that it was MacKinnon’s own stick that smacked him in the face, leaving him gushing with blood.

It was a clean hit, with hall’s shoulder hitting MacKinnon’s hands which were right near his chest. But the NHL rules state that you can’t go from a five-minute major to no penalty at all so Hall was given a minor for interference.

Avs didn’t get anything on the power play, but later on, it was Kurtis MacDermid getting his first goal of the season.

Not the best guy to give up a goal to, especially when the Bruins were outplaying Colorado in the frame.

1-0 Avs after one.

2nd period

On 4 on 4 in the second, the Bruins found the back of the net with DeBrusk converting on a 2 on 1.

Excellent shot by DeBrusk. Four points in his last four games, six points in his last 10. Not too shabby.

The Avalanche’s focus clearly had shifted to getting revenge for MacKinnon. After Landeskog followed Hall for an entire shift trying to engage in a fight, Erik Johnson gave Hall five cross checks in the back on the penalty kill. It gave the Bruins a 5 on 3 and Boston made them pay.

That’s what you have to do when the other team is taking stupid penalties. Coyle almost had a goal earlier in the shift with a backdoor one-timer but he got the rebound to give the Bruins the lead.

Back on a 5 on 4, the Bruins capitalized again with a Marchand snipe.

Goes down as a 5 on 5 goal, but still, what a shot by Marchand. Perfect placement on the far side of Darcy Kuemper.

Bruins took a 3-1 lead into the final period.

3rd period

The Avalanche finally began to take over in the third, putting the Bruins on their heels. Some luck found its way onto the Colorado side with a Sam Girard shot.

Bad bounces, taking two deflections off Bruins before it goes off the post and in.

It looked the Bruins were going to survive the Avalanche onslaught, but alas, Colorado struck in the final minute to tie the game.

Great pass from Nazem Kadri to find Landeskog on the back side. Nothing Ullmark could do.

OT

Mike Reilly took tripped up Valeri Nichushkin in OT giving the Avalanche the man-advantage.

Makar sent the Avs home happy with a laser for the win.

A point for Boston, but they let the extra point slip away.

Notes

• On paper, grabbing a point on the road against the Cup favorites without one of your top defensemen should feel like a win. But how the game played it out, it’s a tough loss to swallow. The two points were there for the taking and Boston couldn’t quite hold it together
• That said, the reason they got a point and were int he running for two was Linus Ullmark. He was outstanding in this game. Made a number of big saves in the third period to keep the Bruins’ lead alive. He looked like an elite goaltender tonight
• For the most part, I was impressed with how the Bruins contained the Avs’ speed, especially through the neutral zone. The Avs are so freaking fast, both with their forwards and their defensemen, but it didn’t feel like they had a ton of odd man rushes
• It felt like the Bruins played too defensive in the third and it almost worked, but Colorado got the two goals. Felt like they were playing not to lose and not playing to win
• Look, it was a clean hit by Hall. He didn’t have to answer for anything. Colorado’s focus shouldn’t have been on that, I get it, MacKinnon’s your star and you don’t ever want to see him leave like that. But Hall didn’t do anything wrong, so stop looking for him to fight
• Great to see supper in Denver for Brandon Carlo. Three sections he had family/friends for, THREE! That’s impressive, tough they couldn’t get the win for them

A point on the road is still a point on the road. There’s no reason Boston doesn’t grab two in their next game going against the Arizona Coyotes.

Still, a tough loss to swallow in Denver.