The Colorado Avalanche want to build on their last game. The Boston Bruins want to flush their latest effort.
Colorado finished a quick two-game road trip with a 4-1 win at Columbus on Thursday night and makes a brief stop at home to host the Bruins on Saturday night before hitting the road again. This is the first of two games between the teams in the span of seven days.
The Avalanche, who have started the season earning points in all five games and only losing once in a shootout, travel to Boston on Oct. 25 to finish the season series.
Colorado has been without top goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood, though he could return Saturday after his AHL conditioning stint was ended Friday. Scott Wedgewood has started all five games in his absence and posted a 1.58 goals-against average.
The top line carried Colorado through the first four games, with Martin Necas (three goals, six assists) and Nathan MacKinnon (four goals, four assists) leading the way. But the second line broke through in the win over the Blue Jackets, which bodes well for the team.
Center Brock Nelson and wingers Valeri Nichushkin and Gabriel Landeskog combined for two assists through the first four games, but Nelson had a goal and Nichushkin scored twice in Columbus.
“We probably haven’t had our best stretch of games to start the season, but we had a couple of games where I thought we deserved a little better,” Nelson told reporters after the game. “We know what we’re capable of, which made it frustrating for us, but we stuck with it.”
It was a much-needed boost of confidence for the trio.
“It was good to see those guys get on the board,” head coach Jared Bednar said. “They played hard, did some good things and stuck with it. You knew it was a matter of time before it came.”
The Avalanche haven’t beaten the Bruins since a 4-3 shootout win on Jan. 8, 2024. They can end a three-game skid against Boston but face a team eager to brush away a 6-5 loss in Vegas on Thursday night.
It was the Bruins’ second straight loss after starting the season 3-0, and it was disappointing to head coach Marco Sturm.
“That’s not us,” Sturm said postgame. “I don’t want to play that (high-scoring) game. I’m a defensive mindset coach, I would say, and it starts from there. Offense will come anyway, but you don’t have to cheat the game.”
Saturday marks the second of three games for Boston on this road trip, which concludes Sunday night in Utah. The Bruins will require more production from their top six forwards. The top lines only managed a goal and two assists against the Golden Knights, which was unusual for a group that usually leads the offense.
“Unfortunately, we have to own it — the top six, we weren’t there today. We didn’t create enough, didn’t get on the scoresheet,” David Pastrnak said after the loss to Vegas. “That’s a heck of a job by the guys from the bottom of the lineup.”
