Eurolanche

Avs rally from two goals down

Forward Matt Duchene scored the go-ahead goal 6:49 into the third period and the Colorado Avalanche rallied from a two-goal deficit to defeat the Boston Bruins 3-2 at TD Garden on Thursday.

The Avalanche (6-9-1) have started their season-long seven-game road trip with back-to-back wins. A lot of the credit belongs to Duchene, who also scored twice in a 4-0 win against the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday. He has six of his seven goals in Colorado's past five games.

"I think the puck is just bouncing a little bit. I'm just trying to put as many on net as I can," Duchene, said. "Early in the season it wasn't bouncing for me at all and I knew that if I just stuck with it, stayed positive and didn't grip the stick too much, eventually they would start going in. I didn't think it would be like this, but I'll take it."

Colorado was down 2-0 before the game was six minutes old but rallied to tie the score before the end of the first period. Duchene scored the game-winner on a one-timer from between the circles after Mikhail Grigorenko stole Kevan Miller's pass up the wall and set him up.

"We just stuck with it," Duchene said. "We thought after their first goal we were able to kind of stick with it. We came back hard and it was just a great team effort. Everyone buckled down and we were able to settle down and get the win."

Former Bruins center Carl Soderberg and defenseman Francois Beauchemin also scored for the Avalanche, who have nine wins and a tie since their last loss in Boston on March 30, 1998. Goaltender Reto Berra made 25 saves.

The Bruins (7-7-1) are 1-5-1 at home after losing the opener of their season-long five-game homestand. Goaltender Tuukka Rask made 27 saves, and Zdeno Chara and Ryan Spooner scored for Boston. The loss spoiled the season debut of defenseman Dennis Seidenberg, who missed the first 14 games because of preseason back surgery.

"We had a good start like we have had in the past a lot of games actually," Seidenberg said. "And we just didn't follow up. We kind of lost our kind of game, getting pucks deep and moving our feet. They took it to us and scored two goals in that first [period], coming back. Then we were just kind of flat it seemed and couldn't get it back on track and putting pressure on their net."

The Bruins dominated early and took a 1-0 lead on a goal from the left point by Chara 1:12 after the opening faceoff. The Avalanche challenged the call because of contact Bruins forward Matt Beleskey made with Berra, but the goal was upheld.

Boston doubled its lead at 5:51 on a power play when Patrice Bergeron blocked a clearing pass by Soderberg in front of the Avalanche net. The puck deflected to Spooner at the right side of the slot for a flip-in and a 2-0 lead.

Soderberg, playing his first game in Boston after being traded to the Avalanche during the summer, started Colorado's comeback with a goal from the right hash mark at 12:08. Beauchemin evened the score at 2-2 with 28.2 seconds remaining when his shot was deflected by sliding Bruins forward Joonas Kemppainen and eluded Rask high to the glove side.

There was no scoring during the second period, though the Bruins wound up with a three-minute power play after Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog was called for a match penalty for an illegal hit to the head of Bruins forward Brad Marchand, who was assessed a minor for roughing. During the ensuing 4-on-4, Rask kept the game tied by making three superb saves on shots from in tight by Colorado.

The Bruins weren't able to capitalize on the extended power play, and Boston killed off two Colorado power plays later in the period.

Boston has won once in its past four games.

"I think as a group we have to figure it out," coach Claude Julien said. "You're so proud of your team one night because they come in and they play hard and you win hockey games and tell yourself this is the identity of our team, this is how we've got to play. And then the next night it's not there. Not every night's going to be perfect; some nights you've got to grind it out a little bit more and this is what we should have done tonight when we didn't seem to be in synch."

The Bruins' homestand continues against the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday, when the Avalanche visit the Montreal Canadiens.

-- by Matt Kalman for NHL.com --

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Actual Lineup

Colorado Avalanche lineup from this game