The Colorado Avalanche may have reached the Murphy’s Law portion of the 2024-25 season, and it’s only four games old.
Another injury. A failed comeback attempt was thwarted when the reigning MVP lost the puck at center ice. Stretches of improved play, but also times where they were outclassed.
The end result was a 5-3 loss Wednesday night to the Boston Bruins at Ball Arena, and the club’s first 0-4 start to a season since 1998-99. The shorthanded Avalanche looked overmatched in the first half of the game, but then looked a lot more like itself in the final 30 minutes. Ultimately, it was too little, too late.
“I think there was some desperation there, which was good,” Avs defenseman Josh Manson said. “I think we all wanted to see some desperation.”
Colorado began this game without five key players and lost Miles Wood in the third period after a hard blindside hit. The Avs also got stuck in their own zone for far too long in the first 30 minutes, and it helped the Bruins gain a three-goal advantage.
There were some positives. Alexandar Georgiev had an excellent stretch in the second period to keep this from being a rout and might be inching back closer to the goalie who won a lot of games with the Avs the previous two seasons. And the power play scored three times to give the Avalanche a chance on a night where even-strength offense was hard to come by.
“Better for sure,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said of his goalie. “Made a bunch of big saves. Moving in the right direction. Last game, then this game — just keep going.”
The Bruins struck first at 13:46 of the first period. Andrew Peeke snapped the puck at the net from the right wall and Cole Koepke tipped it under the crossbar.
One strength for the Avs this season has been the power play. Ross Colton tied the game 81 seconds later on a give-and-go with Mikko Rantanen.
On the flip side, the penalty kill has struggled. The Bruins took advantage with a pair of tap-in one-timers.
Charlie Coyle made it a 2-1 game at 17:09 of the first after getting behind the Avs on a rare power-play rush goal. David Pastrnak added another at 9:09 of the second to make it 3-1. Hampus Lindholm had the puck near the left wall and hit Pastrnak cutting to the front of the net.
“Didn’t like (the penalty kill) tonight,” Bednar said. “We got beat a couple times on plays where I felt like we could have been better with our sticks, better awareness coming to the (net).
“I think some of that is personnel and guys just figuring it out. We’ve got to keep working at it.”
Boston had been dominant to that point in the period, but Georgiev had made several great saves. The Bruins broke it open on the next shift.
Lindholm shot the puck from a similar spot on the ice, and this one deflected off an Avs player in front. It came 13 seconds after Pastrnak’s tally.
Matthew Steinberg made his NHL debut for the Avs and made an impact with his team reeling. Steinberg levied a big hit, then fought former Colorado defenseman Nikita Zadorov. The Avs got a power play because of a Zadorov slash, and Cale Makar made it a 4-2 game at 11:15 of the second.
Colorado Avalanche center Matt Stienburg (36) and Boston Bruins defenseman Nikita Zadorov (91) fight in the second period at Ball Arena in Denver Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024. (Photo by Andy Cross/The Denver Post)
Another former Avalanche player, Riley Tufte, took another ill-advised penalty early in the third period, cross-checking Rantanen. He made the Bruins pay for it at 4:52 of the third with his fourth goal of the season to pull Colorado within a goal.
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The Avalanche now have six power-play goals in four games, plus two more that were scored within three seconds of a man-advantage ending.
Then, just when the Avs were pushing for a potential tying goal, the puck bounced off Nathan MacKinnon’s stick and the Bruins immediately turned into a empty-net goal.
Makar and Rantanen had three points each, and MacKinnon had a pair of assists.
“I’m encouraged by our big guys,” Bednar said. “I said it the other night, I didn’t think they were very good.
“They led the way tonight. They were really good. … We’re asking them to play a lot right now, but if they keep playing like that, then I like where we are headed.”
FOOTNOTES: Bednar said there was no update on Wood, who was being evaluated after the game. The Avs are now first in the NHL in power-play percentage (50.0%) and 32nd in the league on the penalty kill (54.6%).
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