B's vs. Avalanche Recap

This is about all the Bruins had to
celebrate yesterday afternoon.

The Bruins fell yesterday afternoon 4-3 to the Colorado Avalanche. After Saturday night's thrilling comeback, the black and gold couldn't find any magic last night. In a rare matinee Claude Julien's team never led at any point in the game. The Bruins outshot the Avalanche 32-22 and had chances but did not capitlize on any of them. The B's finished their first home stand of the season 2-3.

The B's have been inconsistant. At times the B's played well, at others they looked poor demonstrating minimal effort. Offensively, the Bruins generated a lot of scoring chances, but tried to play too fancy. You can't score goals without shooting on net and despite 32 shots on net the Bruins could not execute on any rebounds or tips.

The defense was without Dennis Wideman who was out with a left shoulder injury he suffered in Saturday night's game, Johnny Boychuk started in place of Wideman. It was Boychuk's season debut and the Eddie Shore award winner (the Norris Trophy of the AHL) looked very good. He played smart and showed off his good defensive mind. Overall the Bruins defense played well but the mistakes they made hurt them in the end.

In net, Tuukka Rask made his second consecutive start and suffered his first loss of the season. Despite facing 18 shots he allowed 4 goals. He gave up to many rebounds in prime scoring areas and the Avalanche capitalized on a few of those opprtunities. Rask is still young and has great upside, but he'll have to become better at controlling rebounds. If Tim Thomas' injury is still an issue look for Claude Julien to start Rask again against the Stars Friday night.

The Bruins continued to struggle on special teams going a dismal 0 for 5 on the powerplay. They also gave up two powerplay goals to the Avalanche. The B's are now 0 for their last 17 on the powerplay and have only scored on the powerplay against the Carolina Hurricanes. The B's have had trouble setting up their offense in the zone and it's limiting their amount of shots. Expect Claude Julien to re-evaluate his line selections for both the powerplay and penalty kill teams.

The Bruins travel to Texas Friday night to play the Dallas Stars @ 8:30 pm. Last year the B's won 5-1 in a game that saw 146 penalty minutes between the two teams including 7 misconduct penalties and numerous fights. Will this year be a blood bath too?

Make sure to check back with Inside Boston Sports for the B's recap this weekend.