FINAL: Bruins 5 , Avalanche 2 - Bruins pick up big win with Pastrnak hat trick

The Bruins come away with a big 5-2 win over the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday night at TD Garden. Boston came out of the gate in the first period sharp scoring :44 in on a David Pastrnak goal to make it 1-0. 

The B's did a nice job throughout the first period living in the Avalanche zone and getting good looks leading to shots on goal. The pressure continued to pay off as Boston scored two more goals in the first on a Jakub Lauko goal as well as a Jake DeBrusk goal that was tipped in from a big shot from Parker Wotherspoon.

 DeBrusk had a good performance tonight finishing with a goal and an assist as well as a great back check later in the game. If DeBrusk plays like this consistently throughout the rest of the way, it will only help. The only goal Colorado had in the first was from Miles Wood which made it 2-1. 

The second period was when the Avalanche got some momentum with a goal from Nathan MacKinnon to cut the Boston lead to 3-2. Colorado outshot the Bruins 16-8 in the second period. 

Boston took control of the third period besides some turnovers by Matt Grzelcyk. The Bruins scored first with Pastrnak on the man advantage at the 17:24 mark which made it 4-2. Pastrnak scored again when Colorado emptied their net at the 19:38 mark to lock down his hat trick for the night.

 Jeremy Swayman finished the night with 30 saves in net for Boston. 

The Bruins return to TD Garden on Saturday night to face the Montreal Canadiens in an Original Six matchup at 7 p.m. 

THREE STARS OF THE GAME:

3. Hampus Lindholm (one assist)

2. Jake DeBrusk (one and one assist)

1. David Pastrnak (three goals)

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• Bruins have won three in a row. 
• DeBrusk showed up to play tonight being aggressive. 
• Pastrnak finished with a hat trick.

____________________________________

WHO: Avalanche (29-13-3) at Bruins (26-8-9)
WHEN: 7 p.m.
WHERE: TD Garden, Boston.
TV: NESN
RADIO: 98.5-FM The Sports Hub
LIVE BOX SCORE
ROSTERS

Marchand-Coyle-Pastrnak
Van Riemsdyk-Zacha-DeBrusk
Frederic-Geekie-Lauko
Heinen-Boqvist-Steen

Grzelcyk-McAvoy
Lindholm-Wotherspoon
Lohrei-Shattenkirk

Swayman
Ullmark

AVALANCHE

Drouin-MacKinnon-Rantanen
Kiviranta-Colton-O'Connor
Wood-Johansen-Cogliano
MacDermid-Olofsson-Polin

Toews-Makar
Girard-Manson
Johnson-Malinski

Georgiev
Annunen

PREGAME NOTES

The Bruins continue their five-game home stand Thursday night to face the Colorado Avalanche at TD Garden at 7p.m. Jim Montgomery told reporters this morning that Brandon Carlo and Matt Poitras could be options if they participate in pregame warmups. Linus Ullmark will back up Jeremy Swayman in net tonight, while Brandon Bussi was sent down to Providence. 

The last time these two teams met Colorado defeated Boston 4-3 in a shootout in Denver on January 8th. The Avalanche enter tonight coming off a 7-4 win over Ottawa on Tuesday night after trailing 4-2. Samuel Girard finished that game with three points, all coming on assists. Justus Annunen finished the game with 36 saves on 40 shots. Colorado will end their five-game road trip on Saturday in Philadelphia to face the Flyers at 1p.m. The Avalanche have a league leading 15 comeback wins on the season. Nathan Mackinnon and Mikko Rantanen each extended their point streaks to nine games, MacKinnon's nine-game streak is the longest by a Colorado player this season. The Avalanche have scored a power play goal in nine consecutive games. Colorado ranks in the top ten in the NHL in both the power play (25.2%) and penalty killing (81.6%). MacKinnon shares the league lead in points at 72 with Nikita Kucherov of the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Avalanche have the NHL's second-highest scoring team, averaging 3.73 goals per-game. 

The Bruins enter tonight fifth in the league on the power play (27.1%) and fourth in the NHL on the penalty kill (84.4%). Swayman is ranked fifth in the league with a .922 save percentage. David Pastrnak is third in the NHL with 61 points, tied for fifth in the league with 26 goals and is fourth with 26 power play goals. 

INJURIES (83 Man-games lost):

• Matt Poitras: Day-to-day
• Brandon Carlo-IR
• Derek Forbort- LTIR