Recap: Bruins wear down shorthanded Avs, win 4-0

Given how hard the injury bug has hit the defending-champion Colorado Avalanche, this was a game you expected the Bruins to win — especially after the sting of the Vegas defeat.

It took a little over a period for the goals to come, but the B’s ultimately wore down and overpowered the Avs, skating out of Denver with a 4-0 win.

The game was scoreless after the first period, and the Avs were doing a good job of hanging with the Bruins.

Then the second period began and the scoring started, with David Pastrnak getting on the board and making it 1-0 Bruins.

The B’s would add another just six minutes later, as a total-line effort led to a tap-in for Taylor Hall, making it 2-0 Bruins.

Speaking of “total-line effort,” there’s that same line again — but this time, it’s Trent Frederic who cashes in, making it 3-0 Bruins six minutes into the third period.

Hall capped the scoring three minutes later, hopping off the bench and onto a breakaway to make it 4-0 Bruins.

And that was it! The Avs, understandably, weren’t really staffed to mount a furious comeback, and the B’s ended up with the shutout victory.

Game notes

• Again, this is a game you expected the Bruins to win, given the circumstances. However, the professional way in which they took care of it is encouraging: not derailed by a (somewhat) frustrating first period, the B’s kept their foot on the gas and ultimately pulled away comfortably.
• Linus Ullmark made 23 saves for the shutout win. He has now won his last eight starts.
• Hall will earn the individual accolades due to the 2G-1A-3PTS night, but the entire Hall-Coyle-Frederic line deserves a lot of credit. They played the kind of possession-heavy, wearing-down game that a shorthanded team simply can’t manage for long.
• Along with that “wear them down” game, all three guys on that line had multi-point nights (1G-1A for Frederic, 0G-2A for Coyle).
• While they never really looked in danger of letting the game get away from them, the Bruins can thank their penalty kill for snuffing out any Avalanche hopes — the B’s were a perfect 4 for 4 on the PK.

Next up: the Coyotes in Arizona on Friday night.