FINAL

The Colorado Avalanche suffered a 4-0 shutout loss to the Boston Bruins on Wednesday night at Ball Arena. The loss marked the third-straight loss for the Avalanche who have suffered a plethora of injuries to the lineup. Colorado is now 13-10-1 on the season.

For the Avalanche, Cal Burke made his NHL debut. In net, Alexandar Georgiev made 3 saves on 37 shots.
For the Bruins, David Pastrnak, Taylor Hall (2G, 1A) and Trent Frederic (1G, 1A) scored. Charlie Coyle handed out two assists. In between the pipes, Linus Ullmark made 23 saves in the shutout victory.


GAME SUMMARY:

The Avalanche and Bruins skated out to a 0-0 first period as Boston held a 15-11 shot advantage. Georgiev came up with some stellar stops in the frame to keep the Bruins off the board through 20 minutes.
The Avalanche also benefited from a goal-line save by Devon Toews on Boston's first power play of the game - after Charles Hudon was called for hooking at 13:20. The Bruins blasted a one timer that missed the net and bounced off the end boards and back to the net front. Georgiev was out of position, but Toews was on the doorstep and battled the puck clear out of Colorado's zone.
Despite a solid effort in the first period, the Avalanche relinquished two goals to Boston in the second period and were outshot 13-7.
The game got off to a chippy start as Dryden Hunt dropped the gloves with Tomas Nosek as he answered the bell after hitting Pastrnak along the boards.
After killing off the Avalanche's power play on Nosek's slashing penalty on Hunt at 1:31, the Bruins produced the game's icebreaker at 3:49 on a quick play. David Krejci carried the puck and wrapped around the Avalanche net before dishing a backhanded pass out to the right faceoff circle to his fellow Czech linemate Pastrnak. The winger sniped his shot past Georgiev's blocker to give the Bruins a 1-0 lead.
Boston doubled its lead 2-0 at 9:50. The Bruins jetted up ice on a quick transition play, but were halted by Colorado's defense. As Ben Meyers attempted to clear a puck out of the Avalanche's zone the Bruins forced a turnover and countered as Coyle deked past a sprawled out Samuel Girard and centered the puck into the slot. On the doorstep, Hall skated in and buried the puck past Georgiev.
The Avalanche's effort didn't waver despite trailing by two goals as they continued to press and sustained some offensive zone pressure which led to some promising looks on Ullmark, but they weren't able to capitalize after two periods of play.
Boston extended its lead 3-0 into the third period on a quick play from the Hall, Coyle and Trent Frederic line again. The trio executed a quick passing sequence as they weaved in and around the faceoff circle from Coyle to Hall, who threaded a pass into the slot for Frederic where the winger buried his shot past Georgiev at 6:24.
The Bruins then furthered their lead to 4-0 at 9:42 as Taylor Hall was sprung on a breakaway. Ullmark had denied a point shot from Jacob MacDonald and the puck kicked out to Jake DeBrusk. The winger chipped the puck up the ice as Hall skated onto it and beat Georgiev with his shot.


NOTEWORTHY:
  • Cal Burke made his NHL debut and skated alongside Dryden Hunt and Jean-Luc Foudy. He totaled 10:44 minutes, blocked two shots and was 40% in faceoff wins.
  • Ben Meyers was recalled from the Colorado Eagles and returned to Colorado's lineup. The centerman skated alongside Sampo Ranta and Martin Kaut.
  • Georgiev made his 17th start of the season, while his record fell to11-5-1.
  • Colorado finished the game 0-for-4 on the power play and 3-for-3 on the penalty kill.
  • Artturi Lehkonen (upper body), Nathan MacKinnon (upper body) and Evan Rodrigues (lower body) were all scratches for the Avalanche.

NEXT GAME:

The Avalanche continue at Ball Arena as they host the New York Rangers on Friday night. The puck drops between the Avs and Rangers at 7 p.m. MT.