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Bruins drop puck on new season against Avalanche

Oct 9, 2008 - 10:07 AM Boston (0-0-0) at Colorado (0-0-0), 10:00 pm EDT

DENVER (Ticker) -- The Boston Bruins surprised many by making the playoffs last season thanks to a late surge. This campaign, they look to get off to a hot start with the help of healthy assets.

With Patrice Bergeron and goaltender Manny Fernandez now injury-free, the Bruins drop the puck on the 2008-09 campaign as they visit the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday with hopes of building on their first playoff appearance in three seasons.

Boston sneaked into the playoffs as the only qualifying team to be outscored in the regular season and took the top-seeded Montreal Canadiens to seven games in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals before bowing out.

Fernandez missed all but four games due to a knee injury, but backup Tim Thomas stepped in and went 28-19-6 with a 2.44 goals-against average en route to being named an All-Star. Bergeron, who scored three goals and notched four assists in just 10 contests, suffered a concussion and did not recover in time for the playoffs.

While the Bruins did bring in Michael Ryder, they did little to help their quiet offense, which netted just 212 goals - the fewest in the Northeast Division. Boston's only 20-goal scorers from last season were Marco Sturm, who finished with 27, and Chuck Kobasew, who had 22 before his season was cut short when he broke his tibia in March.

Captain Zdeno Chara recorded 17 goals and 34 assists while anchoring a defense corps that tied the Canadiens for fewest goals allowed in the division (222).

The Avalanche finished sixth in the Western Conference last season, bouncing back from a campaign in which they missed the playoffs for the first time since moving from Quebec to Denver in 1995-96. However, after jolting the third-seeded Minnesota Wild in the conference quarterfinals, Colorado was swept by the eventual Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings in the semis.

New - and former - coach Tony Granato, who replaces Joel Quenneville, welcomes Darcy Tucker and goaltender Andrew Raycroft to the team but will miss the services of left wing Andrew Brunette and netminder Jose Theodore.

While Brunette returned to Minnesota after a three-year tenure with Colorado, Theodore bolted for the Washington Capitals - leaving the unproven Peter Budaj and the inconsistent Raycroft to man the crease on a team that ranked 15th in goals per game last season.

Colorado is 16-5-7 in 28 season openers, while Boston is 34-33-16.