After 60 bad minutes against the Avalanche on Monday, the Bruins responded with 40 bad minutes against the Avs on Wednesday, which was more than enough to doom them in a 6-3 loss.

In a night that began with Alex Kerfoot’s first NHL goal, and the Bruins answering with Brad Marchand’s second of the season, the Bruins were considered lucky to be tied 1-1 through 20 minutes. They put just four shots on goal against the Avs’ Semyon Varlamov, with just two of those shots coming during five-on-five play, and with just two attempts through the first 10 minutes of the game.

That lethargic offensive approach continued in the second period, and with disastrous results, as the Avalanche scored three goals in a 14:43 span, with tallies from Nail Yakupov, Sven Andrighetto, and Matt Duchene, and with the Black and Gold countering with just five shots in the entire period.

The Bruins somehow woke up in the third period, with goals from Tim Schaller and Torey Krug, but the damage was already done, as the Avalanche added two-empty net daggers late in the third.

Bruins netminder Tuukka Rask finished his night with 22 saves on 26 shots in 40 minutes of play, and backup goalie Anton Khudobin stopped all nine shots thrown his way in a relief outing.

This loss snapped the Bruins’ six-game road point streak against the Avalanche.

This and that

- Here’s a stat to melt your mind: Nail Yakupov has three goals in two games against the Bruins this season. Yakupov had three goals all of last season. That sorta paints the picture as to how bad these two games have been for the Bruins, doesn’t it? Good news: the Bruins do not have to play the Avalanche again this season. There’s something I didn’t think I’d be saying this season.

- I thought it was previously impossible to undervalue Patrice Bergeron, but here we are. With Bergeron still down with a vague lower-body injury, Riley Nash has become your first line center between Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak, and has also taken his spot on Boston’s power play. Nash does lots of things extremely well for the Bruins, but he’s a bit over his head here.

- The Boston power play is 1-for-8 in two games with Torey Krug back in his usual spot on their top power-play unit. Of course, it’s tough to harp on Krug when he’s the only reason that one goal happened, sure, but something’s been off with this unit. Oh, that’s right, it’s Bergeron’s absence.

- Tuukka Rask needs to be a lot better if this team is going to be able to live with the mistakes that will surely be made by their young players. We can talk about breakdowns, bad pinches, and turnovers all we want, but part of the reason why they pay Rask the big bucks is to minimize those mistakes with big stops. Right now, the 30-year-old Rask is letting them down.

Up next

The Bruins continue this three-game road trip with a Saturday night head-to-head with the Coyotes.

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