Bruins Live Blog: B’s Fall to Avalanche 1-0 As Tuukka Rask Ends With 35 Saves

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Oct 10, 2011

Bruins Live Blog: B's Fall to Avalanche 1-0 As Tuukka Rask Ends With 35 Saves Final, Avalanche 1, Bruins 0: And that's all, folks. Postgame pieces from Doug Flynn and John Beattie coming shortly. B's finish with 30 shots while Avs rattle off 36.

Third Period, 18:50, Avalanche 1, Bruins 0
: Rask is on the bench and the B's get a faceoff to the right of Varlamov. Timeout, Bruins.

Third Period, 18:00, Avalanche 1, Bruins 0
: Seguin was cruising down the left side but had the puck poked away at the dot before he could rip one off.

Third Period, 16:02, Avalanche 1, Bruins 0
: O'Brien and Marchand get escorted off and into the bin after some postwhistle punches were thrown in front of Varlamov. Roughing, the calls.

Doug Flynn's take on Avs goal:
The Avs scored the first goal of the game and their first goal of the season in a play that began with a little help from the officials. Johnny Boychuk got tangled up with an official down in the corner, helping free up Milan Hejduk to come out from the left slot for the shot that beat Tuukka Rask, who was trying to see past an inadvertent screen by Zdeno Chara. That's the first blemish on Rask's brilliant day.

Third Period, 14:15, Avalanche 1, Bruins 0: Lucic and Horton almost worked a 2-on-1 to perfection in the slot but Lucic — who was all alone in front — watched his attempt get stuffed by Varlamov's right pad.

Third Period, 9:57, Avalanche 1, Bruins 0
: The captain tries to take matters into his own hands as Chara took it down the left side, delayed, and got a nice shot on net but Varlamov kicked aside his 24th save of the day.

Third Period, 7:57, Avalanche 1, Bruins 0
: Milan Hejduk sneaks one through Rask to put the Avs on top, 1-0.

Hejda and Duchene each pick up assists. That's the first Avs goal of the season.

Third Period, 7:50, 0-0: Rask grabs his 31st save of the afternoon to draw yet another Tooooooooooooooooooookka chant from the faithful.

Third Period, 5:27, 0-0:
The B's can't capitalize on a 4-on-2 rush as Bergeron dropped it back to Ference whose shot was deflected wide by Varlamov.

Third Period, 4:17, 0-0:
The Paille-Thornton-Campbell line continues to roll as Paille whipped out a high-slot spin-o-rama that somehow found its way on net that made the crowd gasp.

Third Period, 1:00, 0-0: Horton had a decent chance in front but a sprawling Stastny slid through the slot and took the puck off his side for the nice defensive play.

Second Intermission Thoughts: Some quick thoughts on the first 40 minutes before handing the blog back to John Beattie for the third.

Not a lot of offense in this one so far, and the Bruins largely have Tuukka Rask to thank for still being deadlocked in a scoreless tie after 40 minutes. Rask hasn't played a game that counted since April, but has shown no signs of rust in this one with a number of spectacular saves.

The Bruins have failed to convert a pair of power-play chances so far, albeit one was for just seven seconds. Boston is now 1 for 13 on the man advantage this season. It's hard to believe their power-play percentage is actually lower than it was in the playoffs. They have had better movement, with Tyler Seguin setting up Brad Marchand on a good bid down low early in their chance in the second period.

Seguin continues to perform well in the young season. In addition to that setup for Marchand, he also sent Rich Peverley in for a chance down the right wing with a long stretch pass in the first. Seguin has committed a couple turnovers, but he's been much stronger on the puck, more active and just looks more confident with a year's experience under his belt. He even took a huge hit in the first from Ryan Wilson and bounced right back. That was probably the hardest hit he's taken in the NHL, in part because he rarely ventured into the dirty areas where he could be hit last year. Much better overall commitment this season.

Wilson also landed a big hit on Shawn Thornton, but declined Thornton's offer to dance afterward. Thornton also tried to get Ryan O'Byrne and Cody McLeod to go at different points, but can't find a taker. The Bruins could use an infusion of energy in this one, so give Thornton credit for trying. But if he can't find a dance partner in the third the rest of the club will have to find a way to spark themselves if they want to pull this one out.

It's been a rough afternoon so far for Zdeno Chara. The Bruins captain took a pair of bad penalties in the opening period, and had a giveaway in his own zone early in the second. Very uncharacteristic day so far for him.

Colorado is still looking for its first goal of the season, having been shut out through five periods so far by Detroit and Boston.

– Douglas Flynn

Second Intermission, 0-0: Marchand and Bergeron get another chance late in the second when Marshie's pass to Bergeron alone in the slot was just out of reach. We're going into the final frame scoreless.

Avs had 13 shots that frame compared to the B's nine.

Second Period, 15:00, 0-0
: Marchand gets stoned by Varlamov after a beauty of a pass by Bergeron. Marshie received the puck in the slot, dangled, and tried to backhand it home, but the Avs keeper stabbed his left pad out in time. Perhaps the B's best chance today.

Second Period, 13:20, 0-0
: Rask comes up big again, this time on a slapper from the point with about five bodies in front. Rask has 25 saves so far while Varlamov has 15.

Second Period, 10:46, 0-0
: Paille and Thornton screamed down on a 2-on-1 but Paille's pass attempt to the burly sniper was knocked away.

Second Period, 9:29, 0-0: B's fail to bury one on the power play, but shots now Avs 19, B's 14, so it's obvious the Black and Gold are coming out stronger now than in the first frame.

Second Period, 6:51, 0-0: Avs are No. 1 in NHL on penalty kill heading into today.

Second Period, 6:49, 0-0
: Corvo just got away with one as the B's defender nearly coughed the puck up in front of Rask. However, Jay McClement wrapped up Corvo as he nearly picked his pocket and will be heading to the box for a couple of minutes to think about what he did.

Second Period, 4:22, 0-0
: Marchand nearly put a "backboard" slapshot pass by Varlamov but the Avs netminder smothered it by the post.

Second Period, 3:20, 0-0
: Campbell-Paille-Thornton line still looking strong here in the second. Grinding it out in the corner was Thornton who offered a nice feed to the slot. I smell a nice garbage goal coming from this line shortly.

Second Period, 1:00, 0-0
: Lucic and Krejci get back to back chances in front. Lucic gave a nice backhanded feed to his center from the goal line.

Second Period, 0:00, 0-0:
Special treat for you folks following along, as I'll be stepping away from the keyboard for a bit and John Beattie will take the reins of the live blog for this period. Enjoy.

End First Period, 0-0: The opening 20 minutes are in the books and we're still waiting for our first score.

Tuukka Rask is a big reason for the scoreless draw to this point as he's looked very sharp in his first start, stopping all 13 shots he's faced so far. The Bruins haven't had any more luck getting anything past Semyon Varlamov (9 saves).

First Period, 15:17, 0-0: That power play lasts all of seven seconds as Kyle Quincey evens it up by tripping Chris Kelly at the point as the Bruins quickly cleared the puck. It's 4 on 4 for the next 1:53, followed by a seven-second Bruins power play.

First Period, 15:10, 0-0: Zdeno Chara is headed to the box for the second time this period. This time the captain gets called for hooking to put the Bruins shorthanded.

First Period, 12:35, 0-0: Tyler Seguin gets rocked by a huge hit along the boards by Colorado defenseman Ryan Wilson. Seguin appears OK though as he heads back to the bench.

First Period, 9:12, 0-0: The Bruins finally mount some offense with a pair of shots from the Bergeron line. That cuts the shot deficit to 9-4.

Helped by the back-to-back Boston penalties, the Avs have been all over the Bruins in the early going, but Rask has been very sharp in his first game of the season.

First Period, 5:30, 0-0: The Bruins survive both penalties and are back at full strength, though Paul Stastny hit the left post on a rebound from the top of the crease just after McQuaid came out of the box.

Rask has also been tested early and already has nine saves.

First Period, 3:30, 0-0: The Bruins will be down two men for the next 27 seconds as Adam McQuaid joins Chara in the box for delay of game.

The Avs have used their timeout to set up the two-man advantage.

First Period, 1:56, 0-0: The Bruins will be shorthanded early as Zdeno Chara gets called for cross-checking for retaliating on Ryan O'Byrne after O'Byrne leveled the Bruins captain with a big hit in the corner of the Colorado zone.

First Period, 0:00, 0-0: This one is under way here at the Garden, with the Bruins opening with the fourth line of Daniel Paille, Greg Campbell and Shawn Thornton to try to start off with a little extra energy with the matinee start. Joe Corvo and Dennis Seidenberg start on defense, with Tuukka Rask in net.

1 p.m.: The Bruins have scratched Jordan Caron and Matt Bartkowski as expected.

Kevin Porter, Joakim Lindstrom and Matt Hunwick are out for Colorado. Hunwick won't get a chance to face his old team this year.

12:45 p.m.: The Bruins had the same line combinations in warm-ups that they used in Saturday's win over the Lightning:

Lucic-Krejci-Horton

Marchand-Bergeron-Peverley

Pouliot-Kelly-Seguin

Paille-Campbell-Thornton

Defense pairs:

Chara-Boychuk

Seidenberg-Corvo

Ference-McQuaid

Jordan Caron and Matt Bartkowski skated in warm-ups, but did not participate in the line drills. They will be the scratches as expected.

12:30 p.m.: The clubs are on the ice for warm-ups here at the Garden.

Tuukka Rask and Semyon Varlamov lead the teams out, so that will be the goaltending matchup in this one.

Claude Julien confirmed just before the warm-ups that Rask would start. Julien also said there will be no lineup changes, so expect Benoit Pouliot to remain on the third line with Chris Kelly and Tyler Seguin and Jordan Caron to be the healthy scratch up front for the second straight game.

8 a.m. ET: After two emotional rematches with playoff foes from last spring, the Bruins step out of conference to continue their season-opening homestand against Colorado on Monday.

It will be an early start for this one, with a 1 p.m. faceoff for Columbus Day.

The Bruins split their first two games, falling 2-1 to Philadelphia after raising their Stanley Cup banner on Thursday, then rebounding with an impressive 4-1 win over Tampa Bay on Saturday in a matchup of last year's Eastern Conference finalists.

Colorado didn't make the playoffs in the West last year and got this season off to a rocky start when Detroit shut out the Avalanche 3-0 in Colorado on Saturday. The Avalanche had a ceremony of their own spoiled that night, as the game followed the retirement of Peter Forsberg's No. 21.

Colorado brings a couple familiar faces back to Boston, with former Bruins Matt Hunwick and Chuck Kobasew now playing for the Avalanche. For Hunwick, Monday's meeting could be his first game against his old team since his hit on Marc Savard ended the Bruins center's season, and possibly his career, back on Jan. 20. Hunwick was scratched on Saturday.

Semyon Varlamov, acquired this offseason from Washington for a first-round pick, was a bright spot for the Avalanche in his Colorado debut, stopping 36 of the 38 shots he faced on Saturday.

Reigning Vezina and Conn Smythe winner Tim Thomas has played both games for the Bruins and was particularly sharp against the Lightning, but the Bruins want to balance the goaltending duties more this year so Tuukka Rask could get his first start in this game.

The puck drops at 1 p.m. for this matinee, so check back here for updates on all the action from the Garden.

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