Final: Avalanche 4, Bruins 0

The Colorado Avalanche defeated the Boston Bruins 4-0 Monday afternoon at TD Garden. Bruins defenseman Torey Krug returned to the lineup three weeks after breaking his jaw during a preseason game. With the loss, the Bruins are 0-10-1-1 all-time against Colorado in this building.



Observations from the third period

Zdeno Chara and Brando Carlo are back as a pair to start the third period.

Ryan Spooner is centering Anders Bjork and Sean Kuraly.

It's not often a goalie losses a foot race to the puck against an opponent. A goalie will only commit if he knows he can win the 50/50 puck battle. Tuukka Rask lost his race against the Avlanche's Nail Yakupov at 6:07 to give Colorado a 3-0 lead. Prior to this season, coach Bruce Cassidy talked to his goalies and wanted them to play the puck more, especially coming out the way Rask just did to help the offensive transition. I'm willing to bet that's the last time Rask will do that this season. He's not comfortable coming out too often and that's the reason why.

Defenseman Charlie McAvoy will deal with the normal ebbs and flows of a rookie season and today was one of those games. It forced coach Bruce Cassidy to tweak his pairings but don't expect McAvoy to be a healthy scratch any time soon. Cassidy, who was a defenseman during his playing career, believes young defensemen should be given the opportunity to play through their struggles. Plus, it's only the second game of the season.

I've said it before: Rookie Anders Bjork is going to get hit a lot because he has the puck on his stick often. So far he can handle the physical play, but as the season progresses, he'll need to learn to avoid those hits when possible.

Observations from the second period

After beginning the game between Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak, Ryan Spooner is centering Jake DeBrusk and Anders Bjork. David Krejci is playing with Marchand and Pastrnak.

Coach Bruce Cassidy continued to tweak the lines during the second period. He had a few different combinations and defensive pairings, too, including Zdeno Chara and Charlie McAvoy.

Pastrnak appeared to have scored Boston's first goal, but after review, the puck never crossed the goal line at 1:08 of the period.

DeBrusk's pedigree to get into the dirty areas is fun to watch. Imagine the type of player he'll become in those areas when he fills out physically.

Observations from the first period

In the early going, Krug is showing a bit of rust, which is understandable. He was whistled for an illegal-check-to-the-head penalty at 14:10.

Defenseman Kevan Miller is dialed in so far today. Twice, in his own end, Miller made quick, reactionary plays to get the puck out and turned into O-zone possession.

Colorado's first goal, a tally by Sven Andrighetto, Rask should have stopped it. The puck took a bad bounce off his shoulder and dropped behind the goal line. Rask finished the period with three saves on five shots.

Bruins forward Ryan Spooner has replaced Patrice Bergeron (lower body) as center on the line with Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak. Spooner was engaged physically during the preseason, but in the first two games of the regular season he seems lost. Late in the second period today, Colorado had the puck in the offensive zone and Spooner had a perfect opportunity to play the body in the corner in an attempt to force a turnover. Instead, he skated by before the Avalanche created a quality scoring chance.

Center Riley Nash went 5-for-5 in faceoffs.

Here are the lines and defensive pairings to start the game

Forwards

Marchand-Spooner-Pastrnak

DeBrusk-Krejci-Bjork

Beleskey-Czarnik-Vatrano

Schaller-Nash-Kuraly

Defense

Chara-Carlo

Miller-McAvoy

Krug-McQuaid

Goalies

Rask

Khudobin