Giguere shuts out Boston
The official game recap Colorado Avalanche vs Boston Bruins.The Colorado Avalanche got out to their 3-0-0 start to the 2013-14 season behind the play of goaltender Semyon Varlamov, who allowed one goal in each game.
For the first time this season, the Avalanche turned over their crease to backup J.S. Giguere, and the veteran did an even better job keeping the puck out of the net than his teammate has.
Giguere made 38 saves in the first Colorado shutout of the season as the Avalanche improved to 4-0-0 with a 2-0 win over the Boston Bruins Thursday night at TD Garden.
The shutout was Giguere's 37th of his career and first since March 15, 2012, against the New Jersey Devils. The Avalanche, who have never been 4-0-0 since moving to Denver, are off to the franchise's best start since the Quebec Nordiques were 5-0-0 in 1994-95.
The Bruins were looking for their first 3-0-0 start since 2001. Instead, goaltender Tuukka Rask was a hard-luck loser on a night he made 28 saves. Rask has allowed one goal in each of the Bruins' first three games.
Ryan O'Reilly scored a power-play goal in the first and Matt Duchene's empty-net goal sealed the win for Colorado. Giguere made 14 saves in the third period.
The teams exchanged chances throughout the high-paced first period until the Avalanche scored first during their first power play. O'Reilly planted himself between the hash marks and redirected Andre Benoit's shot into the top part of the net behind Rask for a 1-0 lead at 19:20 of the period. The goal was the first power-play goal allowed by Boston this season after seven successful kills over the course of its first two games.
Colorado outshot Boston 14-10 through the first 20 minutes.
The Bruins got their penalty kill back on track in the second period, as they killed two Colorado man advantages. Late in the period, tempers flared. After minors for roughing were doled out to Milan Lucic, Jarome Iginla, Gabriel Landeskog and PA Parenteau, Lucic was also assessed a 10-minute misconduct at 19:08, which meant the Bruins would have to play more than half the third period without one of their best all-around players.
-- by Matt Kalman for NHL.com --
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11/10/2013 - 04:00
