[ad_1]
BOSTON – If Avalanche players looked to their right, they saw on the adjacent bench what they would like to be by the end of the regular season.
The NHL’s best team demolished a hollow shell of what might be the NHL’s best team – it’s becoming too difficult to tell whether Colorado possesses that title, with injuries clouding the issue. The Bruins overwhelmed the Avalanche 5-1 here Saturday evening with depth and physicality, one trait that the Avs miss most and another they’re coming to resent.
Artturi Lehkonen is the latest reason why. The top-line wing missed a power play shift late in the first period and ultimately did not return due to an upper-body injury. Colorado (13-8-1) already has eight injured players.
The veteran core in Boston, meanwhile, has been a model of fortitude for the last decade. Experience and chemistry are paying dividends. The Bruins (20-3-0) are tied for the fastest team to 20 wins in NHL history after dismantling the defending champs at TD Garden, where opponents are now 0-14-0. Only two other teams have reached 20 wins in the first 23 games of a season.
“It’s the same environment. Same sheet of ice. But they’re obviously a really good team, home or road,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said before the game. “Obviously at home, they’re getting extra energy from their fans, and they’re playing with a lot of confidence.”
The Avalanche’s depth is so impacted that with Lehkonen out in the second period, rookie Jean-Luc Foudy joined the top line with Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen. It was Foudy’s third career game.
The Avs were outshot 39-26 with No. 2 goalie Pavel Francouz in net. He had an up-and-down night: At one point, a puck he should have easily covered trickled by him and across the goal line. He was only bailed out by the goal dislodging a millisecond earlier. A few minutes later, he denied a penalty shot to keep the deficit at 3-0.
In the 200th career game for Avalanche superstar defenseman Cale Makar, Bruins blueliner David Pastrnak stole the spotlight with a two-goal performance. He scored Boston’s first by showing off his laser shot after a well-threaded pass across the slot by Brad Marchand. His second was an easy breakaway finish after Avalanche defenseman Jacob MacDonald mishit a shot from the blue line. He was a stride behind Pastrnak in the race to the other end.
And the Avalanche always felt a stride behind Boston without key pieces. Even before Lehkonen exited, it was the team’s first game without Josh Manson after a lower-body injury in Buffalo. Andreas Englund was called up to join the third defensive pairing, and the frequent AHL fighter sparred with Boston’s Nick Foligno in the first period.
That was emblematic of the energy Colorado arrived with, trying to match the Bruins’ big checks in the first period. The Avs led in shots on goal at intermission, but its opponents like these when the lack of depth scoring shows. In the last 15 games, 69% of goals have been scored or assisted by MacKinnon, Rantanen or Makar.
If there was a positive sign, it was Andrew Cogliano taking advantage of a mistake in front of the crease to beat Boston goalie Linus Ullmark in the third period. Colorado was spared the sting of another shutout.
[ad_2]
Source link