Bruins vs. Avalanche: Boston Flattens Colorado as Marchand Gets 4-Point Night

The Boston Bruins were at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado playing against the Colorado Avalanche in an afternoon tilt.

The Bruins just came off a 4-2 loss against the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday in hopes of righting the ship.  The Avs, in turn, lost in a 5-1 final score against the Nashville Predators and were hoping in kind to bounce back.

First Period

The Avs broke open the scoreless board with Paul Statsney right at the doorstep to tip the puck that JUST got enough to trickle over the line.  A B's player interfered with Tim Thomas to prevent him from going back but it didn't look like he knew it was back there.  1-0 Avs.

One good bounce deserves another.  The puck is shot on net to go off Avs goalie Craig Anderson, then off defender John-Michael Liles, then off Brad Marchand to get the game tied up at one apiece.

Milan Lucic gave the Bruins their first lead of the game.  David Krejci shot the puck on net to see Anderson quickly slap the puck at the end boards.  The puck quickly bounced back at Anderson and right in front of the net to a charging Lucic, who gave the Bruins the 2-1 lead.

Second Period

At the 16:44 mark, former Bruin Matt Hunwick gave Marc Savard the shoulder in the head, which in turn bounced off the dasher of the boards.  Savard went down and was in visible pain with a cut above is left eyebrow.  He was helped off the ice and will return to Boston instead of joining the team when they play the Los Angles Kings.

Late in the period, Marchand picked Ryan O'Byrne off the puck to go off to the races.  He was joined by Mark Recchi who was skating up the middle.  Marchand faked a commitment to the net making Anderson skate out to cut down the angle.  Marchand quickly passed to Recchi leaving the net wide open to Anderson's right.  3-1 Bruins.

With just under a minute left, David Krejci cut off a centering pass and went up the middle of the ice.  With Lucic skating to Krejci's left side, they passed the puck back and forth on a 2-on-1 rush.  Lucic got the last past and he popped it in to earn his second goal of the night and extend the lead.  4-1 Bruins

Third Period

The Avs change the goalie with Peter Budaj in for the final frame but it didn't get any better.

The Avs did add to their goal total.  With just 1:41 into the final frame, Kevin Shattenkirk came out of the boards to backhand it up on Thomas who went down and could track it.  4-2 Bruins.

At the halfway mark, Johnny Boychuk ripped a shot from the point to have it rebound to Patrice Bergeron.  Bergeron was down on one knee, but he managed to stay upright to get decent control of the puck.  He backhanded it to make it count.  5-2 Bruins.

With just 2:52 left, Dennis Seidenberg got a double minor with a high stick that drew blood and the Avs were set to play the rest on the power play.

Budaj was out the extra attacker to give the Avs a 6-on-4 advantage, but Marchand put the final nail on the game with a 180-foot shot down into the empty net.  That was Marchand's second goal and fourth point of the night.  

The final score was 6-2, Bruins.

The Good

Boston played well and kept it simple.  Thomas was solid.  'nuff said.

The Bad

Savard's hit in the head will be reported soon, but after going through the concussion that we went through, everybody hopes he is okay.

The Ugly

6-2 final score. Two of the goals from the Bruins were on the odd-man rush, one goal was off goalie/Avs defender/Bruin and in—Anderson whacked the puck too hard off the end boards only to bounce back to a bruin in front of the net, and Bergeron manages to get a goal off one knee.

On the other side, the Avs got on where it just had enough steam to get past Thomas and he was interfered by one of his own teammates.

Next up are the LA Kings in LA on Monday, Jan. 24.

This is Cory Ducey saying "Hit Hard But Keep It Clean."