The Colorado Avalanche traveled to Boston for the first game of a back-to-back, where they suffered their first regulation loss of the season. Despite outshooting the Bruins 33–19, who had gone 0–5–0 in their last five games, the Bruins capitalized on Avalanche errors and came away with the win.

Observations from the Mountaintop

Sometimes a team can dominate play for large stretches yet still come up short. That seemed to be the case for the Avs all day. Late in the first period, the Avs were outshooting the Bruins 10–1. Then they gave up back-to-back goals less than a minute apart. The second frame felt like a slog until the penalty against Sean Kuraly with 6:33 left in the period. The Avs turned up the heat on the power play and in the minutes following, putting sustained pressure on Jeremy Swayman. They outshot the Bruins 5–2 in the final minutes of the frame. And yet with only 4.5 seconds left on the clock, Morgan Geekie tucked one home from behind the net to go up 3–1. The Avs had half as many giveaways as Boston (Avalanche 8, Boston 17) and twice as many takeaways (Avalanche 8, Boston 3), and yet they couldn’t put pucks in the net when it mattered most.

Two players stood out today for the Avalanche: Artturi Lehkonen and Valeri Nichushkin. Of the Avalanche’s combined 31 shots on goal, Lehkonen and Nichushkin were responsible for 11 of them. That’s 35 percent of the team’s shots coming from just two players. Lehkonen scored both Avalanche goals, including this one in the first period.

Lehkonen’s second goal would come in the final minute of the game, but it was too little, too late.

Goalie Questions

After being pulled in the game against Carolina, many expected Scott Wedgewood to have the night off. After all, Trent Miner played well after coming in as relief midway through the first period. He stopped every shot he faced in both regulation and overtime. In addition, Wedgewood would be needed tomorrow against New Jersey, which is currently 7–1–0. But for better or worse, that wasn’t what Bednar did. Wedgewood made some amazing saves in this game.

He looked frantic and tired, and some goals he let in were soft. He looked like a man who needed to rest. Presumably, we will see Miner in net tomorrow against the New Jersey Devils, but it feels like Blackwood’s return can’t come soon enough.

Up Next

The Avalanche have a quick turnaround as they face the New Jersey Devils tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. MST. Altitude and NHL Network will broadcast the game.