The Avalanche Stake Their Claim As the Best Team in the NHL (or At Least the Western Conference)

There are very few teams in the NHL these days that can outplay the Bruins (20-4-6) from start to finish and walk away with a win. The Avalanche (19-8-2) came to TD Garden tonight on a mission to prove that their 4-2 win vs. Boston way back on October 10 in Denver was anything but a fluke. Point made as the Avs played even better in this their only other regular season meeting with the B's, beating them 4-1. In case you can't do the incredibly easy math, that means that Colorado owns half of Boston's regulation losses (2 of 4) so far in 2019-20.

You can also simultaneously kiss goodbye to a pair of impressive streaks by the Black and Gold: their 13-game point streak (9-0-4) is over and their 17-game home point streak (12-0-5)-the second longest in franchise history-also came to a halt against what has to be on the shortlist of top clubs in the league. What made this road victory even more remarkable was that Colorado's starting goaltender Phillip Grubauer (3 saves, 1 goal allowed) left in the first period with an injury (groin?) but no problem as your guy Pavel Francouz (16 saves, 7-2-0) was flawless in his place. They also lost stud rookie defenseman Cale Makar (the greatest thing to come from UMass in years) to what looked like a possible concussion suffered on a hit by Brad Marchand in the third period. Bottom line, with all the injuries that they had already suffered in this campaign, they apparently don't get rattled by losing key players during games.

Boston actually scored first which is surprising when you see the final score. Chris Wagner tipped in John Moore's shot from the point for his third goal of the season at 13:14 of the first period. Anders Bjork had the second assist as Wagner scored in back-to-back contests for the fifth time in his NHL career. The Bruins' lead was rather short-lived though as Valeri Nichushkin tied it up at one following a poor clearing attempt by Boston's defensemen. He put in a backhander-that just went over the goal line-at 17:25 of the first, assisted by BU's Matt Nieto.

It was 1-1 after one frame but Colorado outshot Boston 9-4. Go figure, four more shots on goal for the B's in the second period didn't get the job done as the Avalanche stormed ahead (sorry, bad weather pun) for a 3-1 advantage. First, defenseman Ian Cole (playing in his 500th NHL game) wired a shot top-shelf over Jaroslav Halak's (16 saves, 7-2-3) glove. His first goal of the season was assisted by his defensive partner Mark Barberio and Joonas Donskoi (3 goals, 7 assists in his last 7 games). The goal that made it 3-1 late in the second period was the one that truly affected the B's since defensemen Matt Grzelcyk and Charlie McAvoy got in each other's way, leading to a breakaway for Andre Burakovsky. He put the puck by Halak for his 12th goal of the season, assisted by Nathan MacKinnon (7 goals and 12 assists in his last 10 games) and Donskoi.

Trailing 3-1 going into the third, the Bruins had their work cut out for them and despite getting two full power plays and part of another, they never found a way to beat Francouz. The four combined penalties in the third period was unexpected after there wasn't a single call in the first 45:54 of action. Boston doubled Colorado in shots on goal (12-6) in the final 20 minutes but they kept missing the net (15 times) or having their shot blocked (21 times) by Colorado skaters. B's head coach Bruce Cassidy took Halak out for an extra skater during Boston's last power play but even going 6-on-4 couldn't boost the Bruins' sputtering offense in this case. Gabriel Landeskog's empty-netter (his fifth goal of the season) with 2.2 seconds left was just window-dressing at that point, Colorado had already looked every bit the part of a true Stanley Cup contender this spring.

The Bruins won't be back on the Garden ice for awhile (Dec. 17 vs. LA to be exact) since they are leaving for a four-game road trip tomorrow, starting Monday (7:30, NESN) in Ottawa (12-17-1). The wretched Senators are a good foil for getting their groove back before things get much more real later in the week. Boston is at Washington (22-4-5)-the NHL's best team-on Wednesday (7, NBCSN) and then at Tampa Bay (14-10-3) the following evening (7, NESN). The Lightning seem to still be in a haze from their first-round exit vs. Columbus last April but you can't overlook that roster for a second because they are due to turn it around any day now. Finally, the Bruins end the trip on Saturday night (7, NESN) in Florida (14-9-5) who believe it or not are currently in second-place in the Atlantic Division. Like the B's (who won't practice tomorrow), I recommend watching Patriots-Chiefs (4:25, CBS) and chilling out on Sunday since next week is going to be a busy one as Boston looks to improve on its 8-3-1 road record.

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The Bruins Still Can't Put Together Consistently Good Efforts at Home This Season

At a certain point after watching a team win a game then lose the next one almost every time in the same season, you start to think that maybe said team isn't particularly good. Rather than focusing on what they could or should be, maybe you have to conclude that as currently constructed, that's who they are. Enter your 2015-16 Boston Bruins. Coming off a nice win over the Red Wings on Saturday, the B's (8-8-1) were their own worst enemy in a 5-4 loss to the Sharks (10-8-0) tonight at TD Garden.

It was 2-2 after the first period and Boston even led 3-2 early in the second before they allowed three straight goals by San Jose (including 2 on the power play) to take control. Patrice Bergeron gave the Bruins and their fans some hope in the third with Boston's second power-play goal of the game (his 7th goal of the season) cut it to 5-4 at 6:28 but they couldn't complete the comeback against Martin Jones (25 saves) who was a Bruin for five days over the summer before being traded to the Sharks.

Boston's top-ranked power-play can't mask the fact that their penalty kill is atrocious (No. 30 in the NHL). San Jose's power play was No. 28 entering this contest but you wouldn't know it by the way that they took advantage of the Bruins' stupid mistakes and sloppy all-around play. Tuukka Rask (23 saves) still can't figure things out at the Garden this season and the Sharks jumped ahead 42 seconds into the game. Joe Pavelski put in a rebound from Melker Karlsson and Thornton for his team-leading 10th goal of the season.

The Bruins tied it less than nine minutes later as Tyler Randell tipped in Dennis Seidenberg's shot from the point at 9:20 for his third goal of the season. Boston's first power-play was successful as Brad Marchand banked a backhander off one of Jones' leg pads at 11:50. Marchand's sixth goal of the season was assisted by Zdeno Chara and Brett Connolly. My man Joonas Donskoi had Paul Martin's harmless shot from the sideboards bounce off him and in at 15:18 to tie it at two apiece.

The B's had one last lead, 3-2 at 1:53 of the second period thanks to Loui Eriksson's one-timer (his sixth goal of the season) from David Krejci and Seidenberg. Karlsson's one-timer at 5:56 (his 2nd goal of the season) from Thornton and Pavelski tied it at three then San Jose's power-play took advantage of a too many men on the ice penalty on Boston and tripping on Ryan Spooner. Patrick Marleau notched his 999th career NHL point with a power-play tally at 8:56 when he knocked in a rebound for his sixth goal of the season, assisted by Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Brent Burns. The wheels started to fall off for Boston when Thornton (who's not exactly known for his shooting ability) hammered in a one-timer at 9:21 from Pavelski and Burns for his third goal of the season.

There are two more chances for the Black and Gold to get things straightened out on home ice this week where they are 2-6-1 this season. They host the Wild (10-4-3) on Thursday (7, NESN) and Maple Leafs (6-9-4) on Saturday (7, NESN). Minnesota is a good team but with star center Zach Parise out with a knee injury, they predictably aren't the same. Toronto is still a dumpster fire so there is no excuse to ever lose to that clownshow franchise.

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