Carlo’s fan club out in full force
DENVER — When he was asked Saturday how many tickets and passes he had to line up for last night’s BruinsAvalanche game, Brandon Carlo just laughed and walked away, shaking his head.
It’s safe to assume the answer to the question was, “A whole lot.”
Carlo, a native of Colorado Springs, played his first game as a pro at the Pepsi Center — where he grew up as fan of Rob Blake and the Avalanche. His family filled a luxury box last night with 22 people, and many more friends landed tickets in the stands. He lined up 50 guest passes providing access to the locker room area after the game.
That got to see Carlo play 20:37 in the B’s 2-0 victory — and nearly score an enormously important goal, as he was stopped on a clean breakaway by standout Avs goalie Semyon Varlamov with 6:38 left.
“I wouldn’t call myself a breakaway specialist,” Carlo said with a laugh. “But it was really fun for me to get on that breakaway and give it a shot, anyway. This was a pretty cool experience. I watched games in this building growing up. Being across the ice from those guys was pretty cool.”
Carlo, of course, has had a terrific start, playing more like a seasoned veteran than a raw 19-year-old. He has two goals, two assists and a plus-11 rating, just one behind Zdeno Chara for the team lead. Two in, two out The B’s shook up the bottom half of their lineup a bit, as defenseman Joe Morrow played for the first time since Oct. 22, 10 games ago. And winger Sean Kuraly made his second NHL appearance, taking the spot of Tim Schaller.
“We need some new bodies in there, fresh bodies,” coach Claude Julien said. “That helps. They deserve the opportunity, and some guys can afford to take a little bit of a back seat for a game.”
Morrow saw 15:20 of ice time, while Kuraly only had 8:58 on the ice, but they each had three shots on goal. New guy in charge
If you can name the head coach of the Colorado Avalanche, count yourself as a supremely well-informed hockey fan. That would be Jared Bednar, 44, formerly the coach of the team’s AHL affiliate in Cleveland.
Bednar was promoted Aug. 25 after longtime Avs coach Patrick Roy shockingly resigned as coach and vice president of hockey operations on Aug. 11. The explanation for Roy’s abrupt exit: He felt he wasn’t being given enough input on personnel decisions. . . .
The Avalanche, ranked last in the NHL in goal scoring (27 in 14 games), faced the Bruins without their top scorer, center Matt Duchene (six goals, five assists). He took a stick from Winnipeg defenseman Jacob Trouba in the face Friday and is sidelined by concussion-like symptoms.
Nathan MacKinnon moved from left wing on Duchene’s line to take his spot in the middle, but it showed as the Avs were outshot 46-20 in the B’s shutout win. Julien wasn’t sympathetic. “We started our first three games without our best forward,” said Julien, referring to Patrice Bergeron. “It’s hard to feel sorry for teams. We all go through it. We have to take advantage of (Duchene’s absence). There’s still a whole team you’ve got to beat.”
The B’s alumni on the Avalanche haven’t exactly been lighting up the scoreboard. Joe Colborne took the ice with four points (three goals) and a minus-5; Carl Soderberg had three points and minus-2; and 39-year-old Jarome Iginla had just two goals and a minus-4 rating. Iginla is in the final year of a three-year, $16 million deal. Small wonder
B’s general manager Don Sweeney, who was no doubt told he was too small to play in the NHL and went on to play more than 1,000 games, knows well how the league has changed for little guys like 5-foot-9, 160-pound rookie Austin Czarnik.
“You don’t want to put him in the category with (small NHL stars) Johnny Gaudreau or ( Patrick) Kane,” said Sweeney of Czarnik, who had two goals and two assists in his first 11 NHL games. “But you realize that for smart, small players, there’s room for these players now. In the old days you’d be able to hook and hold a player like that and he’d be dead in the water.
“It’s encouraging for all the smaller players who have great hockey sense. (B’s defensive prospect Matt) Grzelcyk is the same way, and ( Torey) Krug with the career he’s had in this new game. There’s room for those guys. If they have the kind of courage that Czarnik displays, they’ll be fine.”