Stanley Cups aren't won in October but maniac head coach Patrick Roy seems to have a good young team coming together in Colorado. The Avalanche (4-0-0) continued their unbeaten start to the season with an impressive 2-0 win this evening at TD Garden vs. the Bruins (2-1-0). For a while, Boston played like a team that hadn't faced an opponent since Saturday. When they turned up the heat, Jean-Sebastian Giguere (39 saves) was there for his 37th career shutout. He's been around so long that he's the last Hartford Whaler standing the NHL. He was their first round draft pick way back in 1995.
Boston's best scoring chances came in the first period when Johnny Boychuk and Chris Kelly both hit the post. Colorado scored a backbreaking goal with 40 seconds left in the frame as Ryan O'Reilly (Terry's grandson?) tipped in Andre Benoit's shot from the point. Tuukka Rask (28 saves) couldn't stop it since O'Reilly was right in front of him.
Shawn Thornton did his best to boost some energy in his team with a second period scrap with massive Patrick Bordeleau. Milan Lucic also wanted to punch somebody but smartly enough, no one on the Avalanche wanted to be his punching bag. Lucic was tagged with a 10-minute misconduct that ultimately didn't cost the Bruins much.
Matt Duchene hit the post twice in one sequence (forehand then backhand) late in the third period when it was 1-0 so he was justly rewarded by the mighty hockey gods when he outraced Patrice Bergeron for a loose puck and scored an empty-netter with 26 seconds left in regulation. That made it 2-0 and send Bruins fans streaming for the exits. Boston had pulled Rask but they could never find the equalizer or much pressure after dominating most of the third. It was a frustrating night for the home team as Loui Eriksson was earlier hit with an embellishment penalty that was weak at best.
Getting out of town for a mini-road trip (1 game) should help the Bruins bond with their new teammates. They play the Blue Jackets (2-1) on Saturday afternoon (2, NESN). Less time off and more consistent games should help Boston find a rhythm in the early going. After two good performances last week against Tampa Bay and Detroit, perhaps this was a trap game we should have seen coming. The Avalanche were a tough matchup with their speed, the B's tried to beat them up physically but obviously that didn't work.
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