Brad Marchand (2 goals, 2 assists), Milan Lucic (2 goals), Patrice Bergeron (goal, 2 assists), and Mark Recchi (goal, assist) led the way for the Bruins as they skated past the Colorado Avalanche 6-2 on Saturday afternoon at the Pepsi Center.
The Avlanche got on the board just 2:00 into the game on a fluky goal. Former BU Terrier Kevin Shattenkirk kept the puck in the offensive zone and threw it in front of the net from the blueline. The puck deflected off Paul Stastny in front and trickled past Tim Thomas for the early 1-0 lead. The goal was Stastny's 100th NHL goal.
Looking to spark his team after going down 1-0 early in the game, Gregory Campbell challenged Cody McLeod and dropped the gloves. McLeod landed more punches, but Campbell hung with the big ginger. The fight ended with McLeod losing his balance after a jab with the collar-grabbing off-hand of Campbell.
Brad Marchand tied it up for the B's 9:20 into the game. Patrice Bergeron gained the attacking zone and left a drop pass to Mark Recchi just inside of the blue line. Recchi's shot from the right circle deflected off the leg of Avalanche defenseman John Michael Liles and into the slot, where Marchand was driving to the net. Marchand battled for position and was able to get in front of Ryan O'Byrne to get a stick on the bouncing puck to direct it past Craig Anderson for his 11th tally of the season.
Milan Lucic's power play goal with 8:00 left in the first period gave the Bruins a 2-1 lead. David Krejci's shot went wide left of the goal and the puck rebounded off the end boards and back out in front of the Colorado goal. Lucic pounced on the rebound and slid the puck into the net for his career-high 18th goal of the season.
Mark Recchi extended the lead to 3-1 at 14:44 of the second period. Brad Marchand broke in 2-on-1 on the left wing with Mark Recchi to his right. Marchand faked the shot and sent a perfect pass to Recchi, who buried a quick shot for his 10th goal of the season and 3rd point of the game.
Milan Lucic's second goal of the game on a give- and-go play with David Krejci gave the B's a 4-1 lead with 56 seconds left to play in the second period.
After giving up 4 goals on 28 shots, Craig Anderson was lifted from the game and replaced by Peter Budaj to start the third period.
Kevin Shattenkirk's backhander beat Tim Thomas 1:41 into the third period to pull the Avalanche to within 2 goals at 4-2.
The Bruins regained their 3-goal lead just over midway through the third period. Patrice Bergeron's shot from one knee deflected off the skate of Avalanche defenseman John Michael-Liles and found its way past Peter Budaj for a 5-2 lead.
The Bruins sealed the win with an empty-netter with 1:35 left to play by Brad Marchand, who sent the puck down the ice and across the goal line from his own zone.
The Avalanche a appeared to have scored with 15.5 seconds left in the game, but it was waived off because the whistle was blown before the puck trickled across the line.
Notes:
- Marc Savard left the game in second period when he hit his head on the boards after taking a hard hit from former Bruins defenseman Matt Hunwick in the corner. Savard needed help to get off the ice and did not return to the game. Claude Julien gave an update on Savard after the game, saying that Savard will not travel with the team to LA for Monday night's game. He will fly back to Boston tomorrow to be evaluated by his own doctors. Obviously, it is best to take extra precautions when dealing with a player that has a history of concussion. Hopefully, this is just a case where the Bruins are being cautious. As Matt Kalmam pointed out on Twitter, it is probably a good sign that they are allowing Savard to fly.
- Marchand had a career game tonight. It is his first 4-point game of his short NHL career. He finished the night +4. He was somehow only the 3rd Star of The Game today. Colorado Avalanche TV color commentator and former Boston Bruin Peter McNab had the task of slecting the game's 3 Stars and chose Mark Recchi (1st Star) and Milan Lucic (2nd Star) over Marchand.
- It was not a very good night for Avs defensemen John-Michael Liles (-4 and bad positioning on Recchi's goal) and Ryan O'Byrne (-2, lost a battle for a spot in front of the net on Mrachand's 1st goal, and his delay of game penalty led to Lucic's 1st period goal).
- 5 Bruins had multi-point games: Brad Marchand (4 points), Patrice Bergeron (3 points), David Krejci (2 points), Mark Recchi (2 points), and Milan Lucic (2 points). The only Bruin to find his way onto the score sheet that did not record a multi-point game was Johnny Boychuk (assist).
- The Bruins will now head to Los Angeles to take on the LA Kings on Monday night (10:30 PM ET, NESN, 98.5 The Sports Hub).
- For more on this afternoon's game, check out Mile High Hockey