Recap: Avalanche still winless after 5-3 loss to Boston

Colorado is still in search of a complete effort.

As the homestand continues the Colorado Avalanche still in search of their first point hosted a formidable foe from the Eastern Conference in the Boston Bruins. The Avalanche had chances at points to take the lead but never did and fell 5-3 to Boston.

The Game

This contest started with a better effort from the home team but Boston got on the board first with hard work from their fourth line at 13:46 from Cole Koepke.

However, Ross Colton got a score back almost immediately once the Avalanche power play got underway at 15:07. He made great use of a pass received from Mikko Rantanen in the high slot. Unfortunately the Bruins would get the lead back on their own power play less than two minutes later from Charlie Coyle.

A 2-1 lead for Boston after the first period wasn’t a terrible hole to be in but the Avalanche decided to start the second frame by digging deeper.

David Pastrnak scored on Boston’s power play at 9:09 and then 13 seconds later Hampus Lindholm converted Boston’s fourth goal through a screen on Georgiev and the rout was on. The Avalanche had nothing going at that point and were playing sloppy, disjointed hockey.

Colorado was close to getting demoralized but when the rookies were all on the ice they started creating a little life and Nikita Zadorov challenged Matt Stienburg to a fight after he threw a big hit. The Avalanche earned a power play out of the scrum and Cale Makar scored his first goal of the season on the power play at 11:15. The Avalanche didn’t allow another goal and went into the second intermission down 4-2 after only generating 11 shots on goal.

There was some renewed energy to start the third period and it paid off as Mikko Rantanen scored at 4:52 on the power play off of his patented one-timer to bring the score to within one, but could Colorado get the equalizer?

The injury woes continued with another wave as Miles Wood absorbed a late hit from Elias Lindholm and subsequently left the game. He seemed to be in a significant amount of pain and the team had no update on Wood’s condition. Shortly after Nikolai Kovalenko went down on a cross-check but he was able to finish the game.

Neither hit resulted in a power play so once again the Avalanche pulled Georgiev in favor of the extra attacker in a last-ditch effort to score and Boston secured the win with an empty net goal at 17:59 to claim their 5-3 victory.

Takeaways

A lot of questions with no answers will take driver’s seat after this game. Stienburg’s fight did wake the team up a bit but it was scoring that got the Avalanche to quit feeling sorry for themselves. It’s a fragile group that starts pouting when things go wrong as evidenced by the nosedive after the Bruins’ second goal. Even the intermission couldn’t help lift spirits and refocus energy before what was truly a troubling effort in the second period — that is until Colorado finally scored again.

The third period was a better effort and again fueled by climbing back within one in this game. For a team that hasn’t had a lot go right for them this season at least the power play has been working as Colorado converted on all three of their opportunities this evening (and 50% on the season), giving the Avalanche at least a chance to win.

Injuries have been the main storyline but the club started with a thin roster to begin with and will have to endure the carousel of missing personnel all season. The stars are already getting run into the ground with Makar playing nearly 28 minutes and MacKinnon 24 minutes as well. It doesn’t seem like a long-term recipe for success but this team is built to live and die on the backs of their elite players.

Those players along with Alexandar Georgiev haven’t been good enough even considering the lineup circumstances. They need to find some internal motivation but the squad also does seem ill prepared to compete as a group in its current formation. Changing lines every day in camp and preseason have continued in games with no consistency leading to crisis every time one thing goes wrong.

Starting the season 0-4 isn’t the best outcome but it doesn’t have to define the season either. A lot will happen before now and April but this is also an opportunity to take some lessons. A slower start might present some challenges but a team having to fight their way through the season might be in a better position to succeed than one that has got too comfortable.

Upcoming

One final game at home before embarking on a west coast road trip. Greg Cronin and the Anaheim Ducks come to town for a match at 7 p.m. MT on Friday, October 18th.