Inconsistency, loss of focus and an all-around lack of constant emotion and passion have plagued the Bruins in their first five games. A great example was Lucic basically being invisible all game physically and then after the game was over he roughed some Avalanche players up. Do that for 60 minutes, not after the game is over!
Well, thanks for checking in here on our Bruins live blog at NESN.com, and hopefully you'll do the same Friday when the Bruins are in Dallas for their first road game.
Happy Thanksgiving to our Canadian readers and to all my friends north of the border!
Third period, :29.9, Avalanche 4-3: Julien has called a timeout and the Bruins are drawing up one last plan here to try and tie the game.
Third period, 1:49, Avalanche 4-3: The Bruins are now 0-for-5 on the power play and haven't scored a power-play goal since the Carolina game October 3.
Third period, 5:04, Avalanche 4-3: Stastny is in the box here for interference as the Bruins try to tie it on the power play. They're 0-for-4 so far.
Third period, 5:28, Avalanche 4-3: The giant HD screen is playing movie clips to get the crowd going as the Bruins try to tie the game. Once again, the new trio of Lucic-Krejci-Ryder is creating havoc as Julien keeps switching things up a bit to spark the team.
Third period, 9:14, Avalanche 4-3: Julien always rewards his players for hard work, regardless of their star stature or contracts, and he just did it for Boychuk. In only his first game of the season and second with the Bruins, Boychuk was just out there with captain Zdeno Chara as his team tries to tie it in the third.
Third period, 13:36, Avalanche 4-3: Michael Ryder just pulled the Bruins to within one on a workman-like goal. Lucic tried to stuff it in out in front , but failed. Ryder back-handed the rebound in. Good second effort there!
Third period, 16:14, Avalanche 4-2: Talking to more scouts here and all agreed that Boychuk has been one of, if not the, Bruins' best defensemen and best competitors today.
Third period, 19:09, Avalanche 4-2: We're under way here in the final frame. We'll see if the Bruins can find the magic again and stage another third-period comeback.
Second intermission, Avalanche 4-2: The Bruins are struggling to find the twine and one of the reasons has been former Bruins goalie Craig Anderson. Anderson, who never started a game for the Bruins and just spent two games as a back-up, has finally caught on in the NHL after being a career AHL journeyman for nine seasons. The Illinois native has had a Tim Thomas-like career, and this past summer he finally got his due, signing a two-year, $3.6 million contract with Colorado. Heading into this game, he was one of the best goalies in the league thus far.
End of second period, Avalanche 4-2: The Bruins power play is now 0-for-4 and the Bruins are right back where they were at the end of the first period, trailing by two.
It may only be five games in folks, but we may see some changes soon if the Bruins can't fix whatever is wrong with them.
Second period, 3:09, Avalanche 4-2: David Jones just broke in alone, short-handed and beat Tuukka Rask. The Bruins were on the power play after Svatos took a tripping call.
Second period, 5:28, Avalanche 3-2: The Bruins seemed to have grabbed the momentum back before the Svatos goal. Just a bad time for a penalty there by Chara. The Avalanche are now 2-for2 on the power play and the Bruins are 0-3.
Second period, 6:28, Avalanche 3-2: The Avalanche just regained the lead on a Marek Svatos power-play goal. Chara was in the box after a questionable interference call.
Second period, 8:26, 2-2: The Bruins have tied it up on a Wheeler goal with 9:46 left in the period.
Great shot by Wheeler from the slot! The Bruins apparently found that elixir that got them going Saturday.
Good to see the second and third lines chipping in here.
Second period, 12:15, Avalanche 2-1: The Bruins are finally on the scoreboard here and Mark Recchi finally has his first goal of 2009-10. Bergeron and Kobasew had the helpers.
Second period, 13:02, Avalanche 2-0: Still 2-0 Avs, but while watching what has been a sleeper here, I was thinking of those Broncos uniforms yesterday. My, were they ugly or what? They made the old school Canucks jersey look like an Original 6 jersey. Anyhow, hopefully the Bruins can get the best of another Denver team here and gain back some salvation!
Second period, 16:30, Avalanche 2-0: Bruins failed to score on the power play again and are now 0-for-3. Maybe put the "Big Z" down in front again? Got to try something here folks!
Start of second period, Avalanche 2-0: The second period is set to start and the Bruins need to find whatever it was that woke them up last game quickly here. Talking to scouts right now and they think David Krejci is the only one skating up to par. That's ironic since he missed the whole preseason.
End of first period, Avalanche 2-0: The Bruins trail the Avs 2-0 after one period of play, but thanks to a bone-headed hooking penalty by Cody McLeod of the Avalanche, Boston will start the second period on the power play again. The Avs are trying to let the Bruins back in the game here it would seem, but the Bruins have yet to oblige. The Bruins will have 58 ticks on the power play when they start the second period.
First period, 2:20, Avalanche 2-0: The Bruins failed to connect on the man advantage once again and are now 0-2. They are 4-26 this season and obviously need to correct this soon.
First period, 5:51, Avalanche 2-0: The Bruins are on their second power play of the game here. They are 0-1 thus far. They need to get the power play going if they are to get back on track.
First period, 9:50, Avalanche 2-0: The Bruins are trailing 2-0 here and once again, mental lapses and special teams are killing them. For one reason or another, this team can't seem to focus for 60 minutes. In the first two losses, they played great in the first period but then struggled. Now it's the opening frame, both Saturday and today that find them struggling.
First period,13:08, Avalanche 2-0: The Avalanche have struck twice with two goals in 37 seconds. Milan Hejduk gave the Av's a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal and then Scott Hannan found the twine to make it 2-0.
Hejduk and Quincey have now registered a point in five straight games.
12:55 p.m.: Greetings from high above the TD Garden ice in my press box perch. We're set for the Bruins-Avalanche here today.
In a somewhat surprise move, Bruins head coach Claude Julien has decided to go with rookie Tuukka Rask again between the pipes. Rask fell behind 3-0 Saturday to the Islanders before calming down, helping his team stay in the game and come back to win 4-3 in a shootout.
Other than that, lineups are the same as we have them in our "Facing Off" preview here on NESN.com.
Interesting side note to this game is Johnny Boychuk playing his first game of the season against the team that traded him to Boston. Also, Boychuk was traded for former Bruins prospect Matt Hendricks, who is in the Colorado lineup.
Faceoff up next. ….
10:26 a.m.: The Bruins and Avalanche take to the TD Garden ice today with the Bruins having a chance to hit the road 3-2 and come away with some solace with what at best has been an average season-opening five-game homestand.
“There’s an urgency right now,’’ Mark Recchi said at practice Sunday. "Guys are understanding that we’ve got to get this thing going. We have an opportunity [Monday] to be a game over .500 on a homestand where we really didn’t play well. If we can come out of here with a win, we can go on the road and continue to build this thing the right way.’’
So while we're only five games into the 2009-10 season, the Bruins could very well look back to Columbus Day as a small turning point in this season. They were picked by many to be Cup contenders — now they need to start playing like it. Again it's early, but bad habits are easy to form and hard to break and it's time the Bruins put a halt to whatever bad habits are starting to form in their game.
