Bruins-Avalanche: Krejci's Third Period Goal Gets Boston Win in Opener

The Boston Bruins won their first game of the 2008-2009 campaign with a 5-4 victory over the Colorado Avalanche.

Despite admitting being nervous before the game, P.J. Axelsson said that Tim Thomas kept the Bruins in the game while the team was shaky.  Coach Julien felt they were tentative.

Despite that, the Bruins got better as the game went on.  They turned the puck over in the neutral zone too much in the beginning of the game, which is uncharacteristic of this team.

Tim Thomas went to work right from the drop of the puck.  Timmy stopped 18 of 20 shots in the first period alone.  Thomas said that in the early season, seeing that many pucks right away gets him into the game quicker.  But it isn't something he would like to see all the time.

Patrice Bergeron played pretty well (two assists, five shots, and 16:08 of ice time) for his first game back.  He wasn't pleased with his tripping call late in the third period to put the Avalanche on a five-on-three for the remainder of the game.

Phil Kessel played a good game, starting the season with the Bruins' first goal. Kessel intercepted a pass that Joe Sakic was sending out of the zone and one-timed it past Avalanche goalie Budaj.

Blake Wheeler scored his first NHL goal in his first NHL game.  He looked comfortable out on the ice and was a force when handling the puck.  He received a great pass from David Krejci for his first.

Krejci picked up right where he left off last season with a goal (game winner) and an assist in the contest. 

Other notables from last night: Michael Ryder scored his first goal as a Boston Bruin off a nice pass from P.J. Axelsson.  Marc Savard was his normal playmaking self in this tilt, creating all kinds of scoring chances for his teammates.

The defense looked a little confused out on the ice last night.  Zdeno Chara and partner Aaron Ward were a minus-two on the ice and had a couple of big giveaways.  The Bruins need to work on their defense if they want to be successful this season.

It was a great win for the first game of the season.  I hope by game 82, they forget how they won this one.

Next up: Saturday night in Minnesota to take on the Wild.