Avs keep rolling with win at Boston

The Colorado Avalanche keep rolling right along.

David Jones scored shorthanded and added an assist, and Craig Anderson made 29 saves as the Avs improved to 3-1-1 with an impressive 4-3 win against the Boston Bruins at the TD Garden on Monday afternoon.

Colorado, picked by many "experts" to finish well behind in the playoff race this season, doesn't think people should be shocked by its tremendous start. The players certainly are not.

"One game at a time," Anderson said. "That's been what we pride ourselves in. They're a great team. They weren't the best team in the East last year for no reason. They found a way to win the last game. The puck didn't have the same lightning tonight."

Anderson was referring to Boston's ability to erase a late 3-0 deficit to beat the New York Islanders in a shootout on Saturday night. But on Monday, the inability to put forth a 60-minute effort was too much for the Bruins to overcome. Boston cut it to 4-3 on a goal by Michael Ryder 13:36 remaining, but failed to notch the equalizer.

"I can't get in their heads," Boston coach Claude Julien said. "There's a time where you're working hard and getting chances, looking like the old team, and then you shoot yourselves in the foot."

The Avs jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period as Milan Hejduk and Scott Hannan scored just 37 seconds apart. Hejduk's goal at 6:15 came via the power play off a rebound chance before Hannan poked home another rebound past Tuukka Rask (18 saves) for the two-goal edge.

Boston roared back with goals in the second period from Mark Recchi and Blake Wheeler, but Marek Svatos scored a power-play goal just 3:18 after Wheeler tied it as Colorado regained the lead. Jones then scored shorthanded at 16:50 of the second to make it a 4-2 game.

"To come back from the 2-0 deficit, we were feeling very good about ourselves," Wheeler said. "We're doing that too many times."
    
Monday marked the third of a seven-game road trip for Colorado, which continues Tuesday night at Toronto.
    
"It's a great win on the road against one of the better teams in the Eastern Conference," Avalanche coach Joe Sacco said.

-- Brian Compton, NHL.com Staff Writer

Material from wire services was used in this report.