Rapid Recap: Avalanche 4, Bruins 2

Philipp Grubauer made 39 saves while Gabriel Landeskog and Nathan MacKinnon each had a goal and assist to help the Colorado Avalanche improve to 3-0-0 in 2019-20 with a 4-2 victory against the Boston Bruins on Thursday at Pepsi Center.
Boston scored the first two goals of the game, but MacKinnon cut the Bruins' lead in half before the end of the first period and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare tied the contest midway through the second stanza. Andre Burakovsky tallied the eventual game-winner for Colorado with an unassisted tally in the third frame.
David Pastrnak factored on both of Boston's markers, recording a goal and an assist. Defenseman Zdeno Chara also scored for the Bruins.

The teams meet again to conclude the season series on Dec. 7 in Boston.
Statistics
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Notes & Quotes
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Highlights
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Photo Gallery
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Video: Coach Bednar Postgame

THE GOALS

1st Period
7:58 BOS (0-1) - David Pastrnak scored from the low slot after Brad Marchand passed him the puck from the side of the net.
15:34 BOS (0-2) - Zdeno Chara fired a shot from the point that deflected off a defender's stick.
19:05 COL (1-2) - PPG, Nathan MacKinnon tapped a loose puck in the crease into the net. Gabriel Landeskog and Cale Makar assisted on the marker.
2nd Period
9:43 COL (2-2) - Matt Calvert forced a turnover and drove to the net before feeding the puck over to Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, who scored his second goal of the season.
3rd Period
12:54 COL (3-2) - Andre Burakovsky scored his first goal as a member of the Avalanche after carrying the puck into the zone and taking a shot from the left circle while Joonas Donskoi was screening the goalie.
18:59 COL (4-2) - ENG, Mikko Rantanen gained possession of the puck in the defensive zone and passed it to Gabriel Landeskog, who fired a slap shot into the empty net.
Final:Avalanche - 4 | Bruins - 2

3 STARS

Selected by Colorado Hockey Coach of the Game: Garrett Smith (Boulder Hockey Club)

POWER PLAYS

Colorado: 1 for 2
Boston: 0 for 1

GOALTENDING BATTLE

Colorado: Philipp Grubauer made 39 saves, including stopping all 26 shots he faced in the final two periods
Boston: Jaroslav Halak stopped 32 of the 35 shots that came his way.

STAT OF THE NIGHT:

Each Period Counts: The Avalanche has scored at least one goal in each period it has played this season. It is the first Avs squad to ever begin the campaign by scoring in each of its first nine stanzas. It is also the first time in franchise history that the clubs recorded at least one goal in each of its first nine periods since the Quebec Nordiques began the 1992-93 campaign by scoring in each of its first 18 periods.

NOTEBOOK

Cale Makar recorded an assist in the first period to become only the third defenseman in franchise history to tally points in each of his first three career regular-season games. Stefan Elliott opened his career with a three-game point streak from Nov. 26-30, 2011 and Quebec's Dave Pichette also had points in his first three contests from Dec. 7-11, 1980… Pierre-Edouard Bellemare tied a career high by scoring in back-to-back games for the fourth time. The last time he tallied in consecutive outings was Jan. 12-14, 2017… Gabriel Landeskog scored his 179th goal to take sole possession of seventh place on the franchise's all-time goals list… Colorado has scored an empty-net marker in each of its three games this season… The Avalanche improved to 3-0-0 to start the season. It is just the second time since relocating to Denver, and the sixth time in franchise history, that the team has won its first three games of a season.

COACH'S CHALLENGES

Head coach Jared Bednar made two coach's challenges and was successful with both of them. He first challenged for goaltender interference at 1:50 of the second period, and it was determined that Boston's David Krejci hindered Philipp Grubauer's ability to make a save. Bednar also challenged for offside at 1:09 of the third frame and the result of the challenge showed that Boston's David Pastrnak was offside.

QUOTABLE

Andre Burakovsky on the team's performance:"Just look at what we are doing: we're blocking shots, we're battling in front of our own net, we're making it hard for them. That's what we want to do. I mean obviously, Grubi's (Colorado G Philipp Grubauer) standing on his head a bunch of times and our video coach did a really good job with the offside and goalie interference, so we kind of dodged a bullet a little bit there and came back strong in the third and that's something we have to continue to do. A lot of teams get tired in the third and can't keep up the pace and that's something that we can take advantage of. We are a young team, a lot of good skaters here that can make it tough for the other teams."

BIG HIGHLIGHT

IMAGE OF THE GAME

Avalanche forwards Valeri Nichushkin and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare high five on their way to the ice for warmup.

ROSTER REPORT

Mark Barberio and Colin Wilson each skated in their first game of the season. Barberio was on a defensive pairing with Ryan Graves while Wilson began the contest on a line with Tyson Jost and Matt Nieto… J.T. Compher missed his first contest of the year with a lower-body injury… Philipp Grubauer started in net for the Avalanche.

INJURY UPDATE

Defenseman Ian Cole is medically cleared to play after having offseason surgery on both of his hips… J.T. Compher missed the outing with a lower-body injury.

UP NEXT

The Avalanche concludes its season-opening, four-game homestand against the Arizona Coyotes at Pepsi Center on Saturday. It will be the Avs' annual Colorado Girls Hockey night, recognizing females in the hockey community.

LINE COMBINATIONS

Based on start of the game
Forwards
92 Gabriel Landeskog - 29 Nathan MacKinnon - 96 Mikko Rantanen
95 Andre Burakovsky - 91 Nazem Kadri - 72 Joonas Donskoi
83 Matt Nieto - 17 Tyson Jost - 22 Colin Wilson
13 Valeri Nichushkin - 41 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - 11 Matt Calvert
Defensemen
49 Samuel Girard - 6 Erik Johnson
16 Nikita Zadorov - 8 Cale Makar
27 Ryan Graves - 44 Mark Barberio
Goaltenders
31 Philipp Grubauer
39 Pavel Francouz