BOSTON BRUINS (24-8-6) AT COLORADO AVALANCHE (25-12-3)
7:00 PM MDT | BALL ARENA | WATCH: ALTITUDE TV | LISTEN: 92.5 FM
Colorado continues their three-game home stand by welcoming Boston to Ball Arena on Monday night. The Avs have won seven of their past eight home games coming into Monday night. Boston sits at the top of the Atlantic Division with 54 points, winning five of their past six contests.
Latest Results:
January 6, 2024 FLA: 8 COL: 4
January 6, 2024 BOS: 7 TBL: 3
CAUGHT BY THE CATS
The Avalanche were defeated by the Panthers 8-4 on Saturday night at Ball Arena. The loss snapped a season-long seven-game home winning streak for Colorado. This was the first of two matchups between the two teams this season, with the series finale set for February 10 at Amerant Bank Arena.
AVALANCHE vs PANTHERS 1.6.2024 RECAP
The Panthers jumped out to 3-0 lead just eight minutes into the game. Florida’s first period tallies were scored by Carter Verhaeghe and Sam Reinhart (twice). Cale Makar got the Avs on the board early into the middle frame when he snapped a shot over the blocker of Sergei Bobrovsky. Just 31 seconds later, Josh Manson blasted a slap shot off of a body in front and into the net. The two goals were scored in the opening 52 seconds of the second period, marking the first time in NHL history two defensemen from the same team scored within the first the first minute of a period. Colorado tied the game at three when Valeri Nichushkin tipped a point shot past Bobrovsky on the power play. Florida regained the lead when Oliver Ekman-Larsson found the back of the net. Jonathan Drouin leveled the game at four when he placed a shot just over Bobrovsky’s pad on a breakaway. Florida scored four straight in the final frame, including two empty-net goals to seal the game.
AVS ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Nathan MacKinnon extended his season-opening home point streak to 21 games (16g/28a) with an assist on Makar’s goal. It stands as the fifth-longest such streak in NHL history.
Makar’s goal was his 74th career tally, he is one behind Tyson Barrie for the all-time Avalanche/Nordiques record among defensemen.
Mikko Rantanen recorded two assists to reach 323 in his career. It is tied for the eight-most in franchise history. It is his sixth career 30-assist season and sixth career 50-point campaign. He’s the fourth player in Avalanche history to record six or more 50-point seasons by his age-27 season. (MacKinnon, Landeskog, Forsberg).
Nichushkin’s goal was his 20th of the season. It was the winger’s eleventh power play goal, a new career-high. He currently ranks second among all NHL skaters in that category.
HISTORY
The Avalanche/Nordiques own a 61-75-15-1 all-time record against the Bruins. Colorado is 3-1-0 in their past four games at home against Boston. The Bruins won both matchups last season. These are two of the last three Presidents’ Trophy winners, the Avalanche faced the Panthers last game who were the 2022 award winners.
SHOCKING THE BOLTS
The Boston Bruins were victorious against the Tampa Bay Lightning 7-3 at TD Garden on Saturday night. The Lightning struck first when Brayden Point found the back of the net for 18th time this season. Trent Frederic evened the game at one for the Bruins on the power play. Charlie McAvoy would give the Bruins the lead going into the first intermission. Frederic found the back of the net again, banking a shot off of Andrei Vasilevskiy. The Lightning responded when Nikita Kucherov found a loose puck in front of the goal and buried it. Boston retook their two-goal lead when David Pastrnak lit the lamp. The Lightning would cut the lead back to one before the end of the second period when Point tallied his second goal of the game. Boston scored three-straight in the final frame to secure the victory over their Atlantic Division foes.
STATS TO KNOW
MacKinnon leads all active Avalanche skaters with 12 (5g/7a) career points in 17 games against the Bruins.
Alexandar Georgiev has recorded a .901 SV% in seven career games against Boston.
Devon Toews recorded his career high TOI against Boston on January 26, 2022 with 31:21.
BIG BAD BRUINS
Between this season and the previous season, David Pastrnak has scored more goals than any other player in the NHL with 85.
Boston is the only team in the NHL to have two netminders in the top 15 for most wins this season. Linus Ullmark has 13 wins and Jeremy Swayman has recorded 11 wins.
Bostons’s power play ranks fifth in the NHL at 26.96%.
NUMBERS GAME
20
With Nichushkin picking up his 20th tally of the season Saturday night, the Avalanche now have three 20 goal scorers (MacKinnon and Rantanen). Colorado is the first team since the 1995-96 Pittsburgh Penguins (Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr, Tomas Sandstrom and Ron Francis) and the Philadelphia Flyers (Eric Lindros, John LeClair and Mikael Renberg) to have at least three 20-goal scorers through 40 games.
563
Rantanen’s two helpers against the Panthers tied him with Jussi Jokinen for the tenth-most career points by a Finnish born player at 563. His next point will give him sole possession of tenth place and he will be eight points away from taking ninth place from Kimmo Timonen at 571 points.
179
Mackinnon has recorded the second-most shots on goal this season among any NHL skaters with 179. Pastrnak ranks first with 180 shots recorded.
QUOTE(S) THAT LEFT A MARK
“We have some really good teams coming to town. Playing good teams is a great test for everybody. It’s a good learning opportunity, it’s only going to get tougher but for us it was a good test against the Panthers.”
- Colorado D Cale Makar on playing quality opponents
