Boston Bruins vs. Colorado Avalanche Pick & Prediction OCTOBER 16th 2024
Preview and Prediction
The Boston Bruins have had a strong beginning to this year as long as they are not facing off against the Florida Panthers.
After four games, Boston holds a record of 2-2-0, with their two losses coming from the reigning Stanley Cup champions. While Florida is not on their regular-season schedule until January, the Bruins will be facing a determined team when they take on the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday night.
Coming off a 4-3 defeat at home against the Panthers on Monday afternoon, Boston will begin a three-game road trip in Denver. Despite their loss to Florida, the Bruins had some positive takeaways, particularly the strong performance from their bottom-six forwards.
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The fourth line played a crucial role in all three goals, with two of them being scored by defensemen. Although David Pastrnak's three-game goal streak was ended, team captain Brad Marchand was pleased with the contribution from the fourth line.
"They have been exceptional," Marchand praised. "It is great to see their level of competitiveness and consistency every night. The rest of us need to take a page out of their book and step up our game. Right now, they are definitely carrying the weight for us."
The Bruins were relieved to come out of Monday's physical game without any major injuries. Pastrnak was hit hard from behind by former teammate A.J. Greer, and Pavel Zacha stood up for his teammate by dropping the gloves with Greer.
"Pasta (Pastrnak) took a big hit," Bruins coach Jim Montgomery told reporters. "And I love, I absolutely love what Pav (Zacha) did. He stepped in and defended him. That is great to see."
Boston may be in for another physical matchup against the struggling Avalanche. Colorado has yet to win a game this season, giving up a total of 20 goals, including three empty-netters, in their first three losses.
"Obviously, you do not want to start off the season like this, coming off training camp, but at the same time, when we won the Stanley Cup in 2022, we went through similar rough patches," defenseman Cale Makar reflected. "It may feel like the world is crashing down on us, but we will find a way to bounce back.
"We cannot let ourselves get down. We just have to focus on winning the next game."
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Although goaltender Alexandar Georgiev has struggled, he played his best game of the season on Monday night, despite allowing five goals on 36 shots in the 6-2 loss to the New York Islanders. The main issue was the lack of defensive support in front of him.
"I thought that was our worst defensive game by far," coach Jared Bednar stated. "It seemed like we were sacrificing defense for offense, and that is not a recipe for success."
Colorado is currently missing four of their top-six forwards and played Monday's game without Makar's defensive partner, Devon Toews, due to a lower-body injury. Gabe Landeskog (knee), Artturi Lehkonen (shoulder), and Valeri Nichushkin (suspension) have yet to play this season.
Bednar expects Toews to return to the lineup on Wednesday, but forward Jonathan Drouin has been out since the season opener with an upper-body injury, and there is no set timeline for his return.
Boston Bruins vs. Colorado Avalanche Recap DEC 7TH 2022
Taylor Hall had two goals and an assist, Linus Ullmark had 23 saves for his second shutout of the season and sixth of his career, and the Boston Bruins beat the Colorado Avalanche 4-0 in Denver on Wednesday night.
Trent Frederic had a goal and an assist, David Pastrnak also scored and Charlie Coyle added two assists for the Bruins.
Alexandar Georgiev turned away 33 shots for injury-riddled Colorado.
The Avalanche played their first game without star Nathan MacKinnon, who will miss four to five weeks, the team announced Tuesday night. MacKinnon suffered an upper-body injury in Monday's loss at Philadelphia.
Colorado was also without Artturi Lehkonen for the second straight game with an injury suffered Saturday in Boston. He is considered day to day.
The Avalanche have 10 regulars out, including Josh Manson. Manson suffered a lower-body injury in a 6-4 win in Buffalo on Dec. 1 and will miss a month.
After a scoreless first period the Bruins broke through early in the second period. David Krejci had the puck behind the Colorado net and backhanded a pass to Pastrnak in the right circle, and his shot went off the inside of the far post and in at 3:49.
It was his 18th goal of the season.
Boston added to the lead midway through the second when Frederic stole the puck at the Avalanche blueline, sent it to Coyle, who slid it through the crease to Hall, who tapped it by Georgiev to make it 2-0 at 9:50.
Frederic padded the lead early in the third when he took a pass from Hall, and his one-timer from the slot beat Georgiev at 6:24. It was his sixth of the season.
Colorado got its third power play minutes later but failed to score, and the Bruins added an insurance goal after killing off the penalty. Jake DeBrusk found Hall breaking through the neutral zone, he went in alone on Georgiev and beat him at 9:42 for his 11th goal of the season.