The script was flipped for the Boston Bruins coming off their last win.
Boston rallied from two goals down Tuesday night in Vegas and earned a hard-fought comeback win over the Golden Knights. Fast forward to Thursday night in Colorado, and it was the Bruins who found themselves watching a two-goal advantage slip through their fingers.
After finding the back of the net twice in the opening 16 minutes, the B’s saw the Avalanche log four unanswered goals and ultimately were handed their first loss of the 2019-20 season by virtue of a 4-2 defeat at Pepsi Center. The final game of Boston’s season-opening road trip didn’t come without controversy, as the referees left their mark on the tilt.
With the loss, the Bruins drop to 3-1-0, while the Avalanche improve to 3-0-0.
Here’s how it all went down:
HOT START
It didn’t take the Bruins terribly long to draw first blood in Denver. After David Krejci nearly snuck one through Philipp Grubauer just under eight minutes into the first period, Brad Marchand maintained the visitors’ pressure by regaining possession behind the Avalanche’s net. Following a quick fake, Marchand found David Pastrnak posted up in front of the net, and the latter one-timed it home to give Boston a 1-0 lead.
The Bruins doubled their lead less than eight minutes later courtesy of their captain. Zdeno Chara’s first goal of the season unsurprisingly was potted via slap shot, but the veteran blueliner did benefit from a deflection as the seeing-eye puck found its way into the back of the net.
Colorado managed to subdue the deficit shortly before the first-period buzzer sounded. Gabriel Landeskog rung the post with the Avalanche on the power play, but linemate Nathan MacKinnon was there to clean things up with his first goal of the season.
ALL TIED UP
Just when it seemed like the Bruins regained their two-goal advantage, the referees intervened.
Early in the second period, Jake DeBrusk took a serpentine route around the back of the net and ultimately found Karlson Kuhlman, who took one touch before sniping it past Grubauer. The tally ultimately was nullified, however, as the officials tabbed David Krejci with goaltender interference.
The next lighting of the lamp counted, but unfortunately for the B’s, it was a game-tying goal for the Avalanche.
Boston’s inability to clear its zone near the halfway point of the second frame proved costly. Following a B’s turnover, Matt Calvert slowly skated the puck toward the net and eventually dished it to Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, who managed to jam it through Chara’s skates and past Jaroslav Halak.
The Bruins endured an unfortunate case of déjà vu just over a minute into the third period.
DeBrusk appeared to give Boston a lead on the power play when he roofed a one-timer over Grubauer. But it resulted in nothing more than the Bruins’ second nullified goal of the game after referees deemed an offsides preceded the Black and Gold’s rush.
BURA BURIES
While Colorado’s first two goals were rather gritty, its third of the night was a thing of beauty.
Andre Burakovsky netted the game-winner with just over seven minutes to play, firing a perfectly placed wrist shot that zipped over Halak’s glove.
The Bruins proceeded to pull their goalie in a last-ditch effort as time winded down, but Landeskog nixed any chance of a Boston comeback by capitalizing on an empty net.
UP NEXT
The Bruins will play their home opener Saturday night when they host the New Jersey Devils. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. ET.
