A trio of second-period goals lifted the Boston Bruins to a dominating 5-1 win over the visiting Colorado Avalanche Monday.
The Bruins scored first and had a 2-0 lead sliced in half before rattling off the game’s last three goals to cruise past one of the NHL’s top teams.
David Pastrnak tallied two goals and an assist, Taylor Hall assisted on three of Boston’s last four goals and Charlie McAvoy (two assists) and Patrice Bergeron (one goal, one assist) also had multiple points.
Jeremy Swayman made 28 saves to move to 3-0-1 in his last four starts in the Bruins’ net.
Nathan MacKinnon scored the lone goal for Colorado, which had its streak of seven straight road wins snapped. Cale Makar and Mikko Rantanen assisted MacKinnon’s goal. Despite making 40 saves, Darcy Kuemper dropped his first regulation decision after a franchise-record 16-0-2 run.
The Bruins were rewarded at the end of a strong first period, putting 17 of their 21 shots on Kuemper before scoring with 2:30 left. Pastrnak one-timed in a loose puck after driving through the left circle. Boston’s top-scoring winger finished off a strong offensive-zone shift during which Makar turned over the puck.
Patrice Bergeron doubled the home team’s lead 8:01 into the second, following up his own rebound at the net after Hall slid a pass through sliding Colorado defender Samuel Girard.
MacKinnon’s strike just 13 seconds into a power play cut Colorado’s deficit just 13 seconds into a power play at 12:58, but the Bruins scored twice in 67 seconds to take a three-goal lead before the end of the middle frame.
Pastrnak had the first of two quick goals on a one-timer following Hall’s feed at 14:35. Jake DeBrusk followed by taking Curtis Lazar’s pass to the front to score his second goal in as many games.
Charlie Coyle banked the puck off Kuemper at the 4:04 mark of the third, breaking Boston’s 0-for-11 power-play drought that spanned five-plus games. Pastrnak drove on a one-time shot following another cross-ice feed by Hall.
–Field Level Media
