Bruins shutout by the Avalanche
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| photo via ESPN.com |
The Bruins were dealt their first regular season loss in the 2013-14 year after being shutout by the Avalanche at the Garden, 2-0. Its the first shutout for the B's in 72 regular season games.
The B's carried much of the play for the majority of the night, but veteran goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere continuously shut the door and kept the B's off the scoreboard. JSG played out of his mind, stonewalling the B's on 39 shots.
Avalanche center Ryan O'Reilly potted the only goal Colorado needed at 19:20 of the first on the power play, the first the Bruins have given up this year. Matt Duchene netted the empty-netter in the dying seconds of the 3rd.
The third line of Jordan Caron, Chris Kelly and Reilly Smith provided the best stretch of play early in the 2nd period working the forecheck and getting plenty of shots on net on an extended shift. Their pressure allowed the first line to hop on the ice and continue the pressure, but Giguere turned aside all of their attempts.
Maybe the best scoring chance for the B's all game came from the Bergeron line in the 2nd off of a Brad Marchand feed to Patrice Bergeron, who split the dots and tried to slip the one-time shot past JGS, but Giguere got across quick enough and smothered the puck under his armpit.
Milan Lucic tried to turn the tide of the game at the end of the 2nd by challenging Avs captain Gabriel Landeskog, getting in his face and trying to goad him into taking the fight. Landeskog refused (probably the smarter move for his face) and stood his ice, but it didn't look good in the intangibles department. Being a captain in the NHL carries its responsibilities, and one of those is to stand up for yourself and your teammates. Lucic was handed a 10-minute misconduct for his excessive shoving, but we'll see if him backing down sends a message to other NHL teams that the Avs captain can be pushed around.
The 3rd period proved to be more of the same, as the B's couldn't capitalize on their scoring chances.
A 4-on-3 power play late in the period did not produce a goal, but there was some good puck movement with Torey Krug running the point yet again.
There's just something about these Avs that the B's cant figure out when they come to the Garden. Boston has dropped four straight meetings in Boston versus the Avs, with two of them being shutouts.
The Avs continue their perfect start to the season (4-0-0) under new head coach Patrick Roy. Its a shame we didn't get a shouting match between him and Julien.
The Bruins played a great game, they had plenty of shots and way more puck possession than the Avs, they just couldn't put one past Giguere, as he was in his old Vezina-winning self tonight.
The B's next game is Saturday at the Bluejackets.
