Offense goes cold, quirky Bruins goals costly in Avalanche’s first regulation loss of season

BOSTON It s a long season in the NHL but circumstances can change pretty rapidly The Colorado Avalanche came to TD Garden as the last remaining association in the league without a loss in regulation The Avs left in their first mini-funk of the season This Saturday afternoon started well but ended with a - loss to the Boston Bruins Colorado - - has now lost three games in a row - - and heads down I- for a Sunday matinee with the top company in the Eastern Conference the New Jersey Devils Artturi Lehkonen had both of Colorado s goals but the second came with seconds left on a re-direction of Nathan MacKinnon s shot Scott Wedgewood made his ninth straight start to open the season He allowed two goals on four shots in the first period after being pulled for the first time two days prior against the Carolina Hurricanes While the power play did count once to salvage a point against the Hurricanes it continues to not produce at the level expected Since scoring a power-play goal in each of the first three games this season the Avs are now for in the past six contests It wasn t just struggles on the power play in this one Colorado generated plenty of shots on goal and controlled the time of possession for the vast majority of this contest All that time in the offensive zone didn t generate as countless Grade-A chances as Colorado typically would at even strength and Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman didn t have several really tough saves to make The Avalanche dominated the run of play for nearly minutes in the first period and took the lead By the time minutes were complete the Avs were trailing Mason Lohrei s shot from the left point was off target and then Viktor Arvidsson tried to jam it past Wedgewood at the left post That didn t work so Arvidsson collected the puck behind the net and threw it off the goalie s back for a bank shot goal at That tied the result Littleton native Mikey Eyssimont put Boston in front seconds later Avs defenseman Sam Malinski tried to rush forward and keep the puck in the offensive zone but he missed it and that gave the Bruins a -on- the other way Eyssimont buried a one-timer from Tanner Jeannot at Colorado had of the first shots on goal before Arvidsson scored At of the first MacKinnon took the puck off the wall behind the Boston net and snapped a backhanded pass to Lehkonen for a one-timer and a pretty goal Related Articles Avalanche Journal Colorado Carolina lost Mikko Rantanen but both clubs have rebounded well Ball Arena ups its food meeting for - Nuggets Avs seasons with Redeemer Pizza Nola Jane After rare Scott Wedgewood dud Trent Miner salvages point in Avalanche s shootout loss to Carolina Valeri Nichushkin Trent Miner help rally Avalanche for a point in shootout loss to Hurricanes For three Avalanche players facing Hurricanes a big moment I want to beat them Wedgewood had a strong second period He made several big saves particularly during the one part of the minutes where it felt like Boston indeed controlled the play But then after several minutes of Colorado-centric offensive action Boston scored again on a counter-attack This one came with only seconds left in the second Morgan Geekie beat Josh Manson in a race to the puck after Boston s David Pastrnak deflected it into the Avs zone from near center ice Geekie picked the puck up near the left post and acted like he was going behind the net That fooled Manson and Wedgewood Manson went to the right and lost an edge Wedgwood started to slide to his left just as Geekie decided to cut back and stuff the puck inside the near post for a goal Want more Avalanche news Sign up for the Avalanche Insider to get all our NHL analysis