Recap: Avs blanked by Bruins

Dec 8, 2022 - 4:52 AM

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Rollercoasters are supposed to be fun. Not this one though.

The roller coaster of the Colorado Avalanche continues on the downfall, losing their third straight game 4-0. The first and third losses including Wednesday night’s affair came at the hands of the Boston Bruins.

This is just the start of what is going to be a long, busy stretch for the Avs. Down 11 guys with injuries, filled with AHL-talent players, it was always going to be a task for Colorado to get anything out of the game. Their performance started promising but ultimately led to nothing in the end.

First Period

Things looked as if they already were not off to a great start. Mikko Rantanen took a skate to the midsection while falling to the ice. He had to leave the ice and get checked out but luckily returned quickly.

He would be needed in what was the best period of the night for the Avalanche. They played simple hockey and kept up with the Bruins. This included a couple of penalties from either side, which included Cale Makar and Brad Marchand getting into it. They had nothing to fight for though, as both teams entered the room scoreless.

Second Period

The anger continued from both sides, as Dryden Hunt hit David Pastrnak in a huge way in front of the benches. It caused a reaction out of Tomas Nosek, who dropped the gloves with Hunt and was quickly dropped by him too in what was the highlight of the night for the Avs.

However, Pastrnak quickly recovered from it to release his patented one-timer from the circle which beat Alexandar Georgiev to take the lead.

While Ben Meyers nearly went down to the other end and equalized, it wouldn’t matter. Just a few minutes later, Meyers allowed the Bruins to grab the puck in the offensive zone on a turnover and found Taylor Hall to double the lead.

The Bruins took control from here, and the Avs could not get any offense going. They only registered a handful of shots on goal in the period and had a lot of work to do heading into the third period.

Third Period

After a Sam Girard tripping penalty was killed off, the Avs looked to get anything going at all in the opposite end of the ice. However, it would not be the case as Trent Frederic would be found all alone at the top of the circles to make it a 3-0 Bruins lead. In fact, the Avs goal horn went off for the goal which simply made things more unpleasant.

While the Avs got a power play chance of their own after Andrew Cogliano drew a hooking penalty out of Matt Grzelcyk, it again led to nothing. In fact, just seconds after the power play expired, Hall would add his second of the night on the breakaway to put the final nail in the coffin.

At this point, the Avs accepted defeat and there was nothing going on in the final minutes of the game. The Bruins took their foot off the gas, and Colorado continued to fire blanks. The last few moments of the game dragged on as the stands emptied, leaving only a sea of fans in black and yellow to cheer their team on down to the final horn.

Takeaways

The Bruins were simply the better team tonight, and it was projected to be the case coming into the night. It’s the third straight loss for the Avalanche who are going on a skid and need to get out of it soon. It won’t get any easier with a busy schedule ahead despite all the home games.

Is it time to look at Alexandar Georgiev? Perhaps, but it is hard to work with what you’ve got in front of you. Jared Bednar and a lot of the fans have been hoping he’d step up and try to steal some games during this brutal stretch. However, it hasn’t happened yet. While it’s going to be difficult, it would be nice to see him get on top of it and steal a game here or there. While he wasn’t terrible tonight, he also wasn’t the best he could be.

If there are any positives to take out of this game, there were no major injuries or storylines of guys being hurt. While Rantanen looked to have suffered a blow very early on, he played the rest of the game and seemed okay. Fortunately, there was some positive news coming out about injuries. This included Valeri Nichushkin and Darren Helm being close to a return, both participating in the morning skate. On the flip side, however, Bowen Byram has not been skating and Josh Manson would be out for a month as well. It will be a long process going through this injury bug with everybody involved right now.

Upcoming

It doesn’t get any easier for the Avalanche, as they host another Eastern Conference powerhouse: the New York Rangers. Puck drop on Friday night is at 7:00 p.m. MT.