Bruins vs. Avalanche 10/9/17 RECAP: Listless Bruins fall in a 4-0 shutout.

No Ranker, heck with it. Like you’d be upvoting anyone anyways.

First Period:

The Bruins got off to a slightly interesting start, controlling play for awhile and making it look like it was going to be a generally smooth ride...

and then...well...this happened.

Funny bounces on the boards aren’t the only thing that happens in TD Garden, I suppose. 1-0 Avs.

The Bruins tried to capitalize on a later power play, but as this night would continue to prove, offense was now a far-flung concept. An immaterial thing. And as the penalty expired, the B’s were caught in the transition, a 2-on-1 developed, and JT Compher made it 2-0.

Just a crappy way to end a period. The Bruins tried to come back in the late minutes, but nothing doing. And on we went to the second.

Second Period:

Unfortunately I only have nothing but a fat goose-egg of things to talk about. Boston’s offense spent plenty of time in Colorado’s end, but ended up with nothing to show for it. The B’s got a good chance early with David Pastrnak trying to stuff the puck in the net...but Varlamov just saved it.

That kind of night for Boston. Onto the third.

Third Period:

The Bruins got way more desperate. Trying everything they could and just getting sloppier and sloppier as a result. Finally, it caught up to them six minutes into the third, when Nail Yakupov noticed the Bruins were kind of...not paying attention to where he and the puck were and dashed off. Rask went on a journey, and it led to a goal against. 3-0 Avs.

And there was some other goal with the goalie pulled, i dunno, my brain shut off any caring potential in this one after this. All you need to know is that Boston got shut out 4-0 in an absolutely dreary game.

Game Notes:

• Rask’s game was...interesting. Extenuating circumstances on at least two of those goals but he still could’ve gotten at least ONE of the goals he let up.
• Of course, it’s hard to come down on him when it feels like goddamn near every shot Rask had to stop tonight looked or at least felt high-danger. Boston was very un-characteristically poor in defending the net front and slot, letting plenty of chances on their starter.
• When you’re asking your defense to jump into plays, be prepared for more situations like the goal that led to the 3-0 score to happen every once in awhile. Rask can’t be goalie and blue-liner, after all.
• Speaking of, the defensive pinching in tonight’s game was the stuff of legends. Legends that start with a very hard to describe golden statue and end with a lot of blood and a whole town going up in flames. Left a lot to be desired, is what I’m saying.
• Torey Krug’s new fishbowl cage is apparently taking some getting used to. He looked very rusty tonight on a night where his defense partner was...well...Adam McQuaid.
• While the offense absolutely not showing up and the neutral zone play was a disaster, it’s important to note that Coach Cassidy probably earned some blame today from a strategy standpoint. The bottom 4 were often badly mismatched, defensively minded players like Nash kept getting valuable power play time that a rookie or some other player might’ve benefitted from, Jake DeBrusk, who had a solid game, was limited to only ten minutes of playing time, The Austin Czarnik line did about as much as anyone else and kept getting rewarded for it, and the line changes were brutal. He’s going to have to be much better in the near future and way more patient with his rookies.
• Get well soon, Bergy! We desperately need you.

Bruins get a chance at vengeance on Wednesday at 9:30pm EST. See you there!