Eurolanche

Avalanche at Bruins preview

The Game

Boston Bruins center Patrice Bergeron (lower body), defenseman Torey Krug (fractured jaw) and forward Austin Czarnik (illness), who each missed the season opener Thursday, will each be a game-time decision. Coach Bruce Cassidy said each is day to day, but Krug and Czarnik seem closer to returning; Bergeron practiced in a non-contact jersey and left practice early Sunday.

The Bruins are looking to start the season 2-0-0 for the first time since 2013-14 after they defeated the Nashville Predators 4-3 on Thursday.

The Avalanche are completing a season-opening three-game road trip before they play their home opener against the Bruins at Pepsi Center on Wednesday. The Avalanche are unbeaten in their past 11 visits to Boston (10-0-0, one tie). The Bruins' last home win against Colorado was March 30, 1998 (4-1).
 
Players to watch

Avalanche defenseman Tyson Barrie will look to keep up his hot start. He has two points (one goal, one assist) in two games and is second on Colorado in ice time per game (24:34).

Bruins rookie Jake DeBrusk is trying to prove he can be a top-six forward in the NHL. He scored a goal and had an assist in his NHL debut on Thursday.
 
They said it

"I think it's gone well. It would've been nice to get the win [Saturday] in New Jersey but we have a lot of work to do still. We've been turning the puck over a little bit too much and we watched video today. It's still early in the season, there's lots of room to improve. But I'm just trying to get adjusted to the pace of the game and get acclimated to everything. It's a big step up from college and I felt better on the ice yesterday in New Jersey that I did in New York." -- Colorado rookie forward Alexander Kerfoot on his first two NHL games

"It's frustrating any time, it doesn't matter if it's the beginning or whenever it is during the year. You never want to miss games and it's definitely tough to watch. I'd rather be on the ice. I'm more nervous watching it than actually playing." -- Bergeron on his injury
 
Avalanche projected lineup

Sven Andrighetto -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen

Nail Yakupov -- Matt Duchene -- Alexander Kerfoot

Gabriel Landeskog -- J.T. Compher -- Colin Wilson

Carl Soderberg -- Tyson Jost -- Blake Comeau

Patrik Nemeth -- Tyson Barrie

Nikita Zadorov -- Erik Johnson

Chris Bigras -- Anton Lindholm

Semyon Varlamov

Jonathan Bernier

Scratched: Mark Barberio, Matt Nieto, Andrej Mironov

Injured: Sergei Boikov (shoulder), A.J. Greer (concussion)
 
Bruins projected lineup

Brad Marchand -- Ryan Spooner -- David Pastrnak

Jake DeBrusk -- David Krejci -- Anders Bjork

Sean Kuraly -- Riley Nash -- Tim Schaller

Matt Beleskey -- Austin Czarnik -- Frank Vatrano

Zdeno Chara -- Brandon Carlo

Kevan Miller -- Charlie McAvoy

Torey Krug -- Adam McQuaid

Tuukka Rask

Anton Khudobin

Scratched: Paul Postma, Matt Grzelcyk

Injured: Patrice Bergeron (lower body)
 
Status report

If Czarnik and Bergeron are out, the Bruins likely would call up a forward from Providence of the American Hockey League. Cassidy said there would be a slim chance of dressing seven defensemen.
 
Stat pack

The Avalanche are 1-for-11 on the power play and 5-for-9 on the penalty kill through two games.

-- by Matt Kalman for NHL.com --