Boston Bruins: Third Line Thrives In Win Over Avalanche

The Boston Bruins are a wagon. For the second time in less than a week, the Bruins topped the defending Stanley Cup champions. Boston came away with a 4-0 victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday night in Denver to improve to 21-3-1.

After a snoozer of an opening period, the action started to pick up in the middle frame. About a minute and a half into the period, David Pastrnak was leveled with a clean hit in the neutral zone by Av’s forward, Dryden Hunt. Tomas Nosek quickly responded with a slash to get Hunt’s attention.

The two decided to drop the gloves in a one-sided bout ending with Nosek going down. The Bruins were able to generate plenty of energy off Nosek standing up for Pastrnak despite the result not being in his favor. Two minutes later, Pasta scored his 18th goal of the season.

Boston went up 2-0 after Taylor Hall tucked home a cross-ice pass from Charlie Coyle. At this point, the B’s were buzzing and began to take advantage of Colorado’s depleted roster. The Avalanche were without eight key players.

The Bruins’ third line was rewarded for great play when Trent Frederic found the back of the net for his sixth goal of the year. Hall scored his second of the game to seal Boston’s 4-0 win. The B’s have won a record 21 of their first 25 games.

Linus Ullmark started the game between the pipes and stopped all 23 shots he faced for his second shutout. This is also the third shutout for Ullmark as a Bruin and the sixth of his career. Ullmark is now 15-1-0 to begin the year.

Boston is again tied atop the NHL standings with the New Jersey Devils. Both teams have 43 points. The Bruins continue their three-game road trip on Friday night when they visit the Arizona Coyotes at Mullett Arena on the campus of Arizona State.