Avalanche bury Bruins in SO
MacKinnon’s pocket and landed a quality shot on Georgiev, followed by a Jake DeBrusk breakaway attempt that Georgiev blocked.
The Bruins drew first blood on the power play after Andrew Cogliano tripped Parker Wotherspoon in Swayman’s crease.
The power play looked ugly in the first minute, with Colorado getting three straight clears before Boston connected.
Pastrnak hit Pavel Zacha, who dropped a pass to Marchand. The Bruins captain twirled and attacked, unleashing a dart from atop the right circle that Georgiev never saw.
The Avalanche tied with Coyle in the box for a trip on MacKinnon.
Cale Makar controlled at the blue line and zipped a pass to MacKinnon. Colorado’s leading scorer calmly fired it toward the net where Rantanen tipped it past Swayman to the top shelf.
The second started with fouron-four with Colorado’s Jack Johnson (hooking) and the Bruins’ Charlie McAvoy (tripping) serving holdover penalties from the first.
Logan O’Connor, who, like Heinen, played for Jim Montgomery at Denver, put the Avalanche ahead with an unassisted goal, the result of some Bruins calamity.
Kevin Shattenkirk lost the puck in a friendly-fire collision with Zacha and O’Connor collected it, walked in alone, and beat Swayman.
Colorado native Brando Carlo helped the Bruins tie it. The big defenseman dumped in the corner, where Heinen swooped in and tried a wraparound. The puck trickled through the blue paint and a hard-charging Johnny Beecher shoved it home.
The Avalanche nearly tied it moments later when Colton’s backhander got past Swayman, but McAvoy chopped the puck out just before it reached the goal line.
Colorado regained the lead when Sam Malinski, who was just called up from the club’s AHL affiliate earlier in the day, unleashed a rising wrister from the blue line that eluded Swayman.
The Avalanche owned the territorial edge in the second, a period that featured rare matching too-many-men-on-the-ice penalties.
With 5:46 to play in the third period, Marchand tied it up from the left circle.