Avalanche continue road trip in Boston
The official game preview Colorado Avalanche vs Boston Bruins.Season series: This is the first of two games this season. The last time these teams played, the Colorado Avalanche beat the Boston Bruins, 1-0, at TD Garden in the only meeting of the 2011-12 season on Oct. 10, 2011.
Big story: The Avalanche made team history Tuesday by earning their third straight win to open the season, marking the first time they have accomplished such a feat since the relocation from Quebec to Colorado for the 1995-96 season. First-year NHL coach Patrick Roy and his players will visit the equally-hot Bruins on Thursday, a team Roy is familiar with as a long-time rival from back in his playing days as a three-time Vezina Trophy, and two-time Conn Smythe and twice Stanley Cup-winning goaltender with the Montreal Canadiens (Roy won an additional Vezina and the Cup two more times as a player with Colorado).
Team Scope:
Avalanche: Colorado continues its three-game road trip after putting up 11 total goals in its three straight victories. In addition to the superb offensive showing, the Avalanche have been perfect on the penalty kill with no power-play goals surrendered in eight tries by the opposition. There has been little to complain about during the early part of the season, but the team isn't getting ahead of itself.
"You don’t get too high, you don’t get too low," forward PA Parenteau told NHL.com following a 2-1 victory at the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday in which he scored the game-winning goal. "It's kind of cliché a little bit, but that’s what it’s all about. It’s a long season, 82 games. We’re off to a great start. That’s what we wanted, but now we go one game at a time. Hopefully we keep going and we stay on a roll here.”
Bruins: At this point, Boston is nearly a statistical twin to Colorado, as the team is also averaging over three goals per game and has killed all seven penalties faced over its first two wins. The Bruins will look to continue their strong play coming off a solid 4-1 win Saturday against the visiting Detroit Red Wings. Torey Krug paced the offense Saturday with a goal and an assist, but the young defenseman gave full credit to his fellow blueliner, captain Zdeno Chara, who provided a screen on Krug's power-play goal in the first period and later added his own power-play score in the third.
"No one can move him," Krug told NHL.com regarding his team's captain. "So they kind of just leave him to himself. And the goalie has to deal with him and it takes his eyes away. So it's nice to for us to have that."
Who's Hot: With so much offense generated by both clubs, it's easy to overlook the goaltenders. But the Bruins' Tuukka Rask and Avalanche's Semyon Varlamov have been just as impressive with each sporting a 1.00 goals-against average.
Injury Report: For the Bruins, forward Carl Soderberg skated with the team's strength and conditioning coach Wednesday and remains day-to-day. ... Defenseman Ryan Wilson injured his knee during the preseason and is listed as questionable for the Avalanche.
-- by Eric Goodman for NHL.com --
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10/10/2013 - 17:00
