Bruins at Avalanche
Getting away from home might be the best thing for the reeling Boston Bruins, who will trying to avoid their first 0-4-0 start since 1964-65 when they open a two-game road trip at the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday night. The Bruins are off to a wretched start, dropping their first three games - all at home - by a combined 16-7 margin.
Boston's defense was a major question mark going into the season following the trade of Dougie Hamilton and injuries to captain Zdeno Chara and Dennis Seidenberg, but few expected the issues to be this extreme. "If you look at the big picture, 16 goals in three games, that’s not how we play," said center David Krejci, who leads the Bruins with a pair of goals and five points. "I don’t even know what to say right now." Colorado will provide another stern test for Boston's defense after collecting 10 goals while splitting its first two games. "The fact that we've scored 10 goals in our first two games, we're confident," Avalanche coach Patrick Roy said.
TV: 10 p.m. ET, NESN (Boston), Altitude (Colorado)
ABOUT THE BRUINS (0-3-0): Chara finally made his season debut Monday against the Tampa Bay Lightning, but he couldn't prevent Boston from giving up another half-dozen goals in a 6-3 setback. “In my mind the score didn’t indicate it, but I saw a lot of progress in our team," coach Claude Julien said. “There were some bad goals that could have given us a different outcome, but a lot of things we did from offense, to the power play to having layers were there." Forward Brad Marchand, who suffered a concussion Saturday, was back at practice Tuesday but has not been cleared to play.
ABOUT THE AVALANCHE (1-1-0): Colorado recovered nicely from a third-period meltdown against Minnesota in its season opener, rebounding by scoring five unanswered goals for a 6-3 victory over the Dallas Stars on Saturday night. Captain Gabriel Landeskog is coming off a four-point night against the Stars and already has three goals while veteran defenseman Francois Beauchemin is among the early leaders for best free-agent signing with five assists. Netminder Semyon Varlamov has already allowed eight goals but he kept Dallas off the board for the final 1 1/2 periods in a 30-save performance.
OVERTIME
1. Bruins G Tuukka Rask, owner of a 4.72 goals-against average, is winless in four starts (0-3-1) versus Colorado.
2. The Avalanche own the league's top power play, converting on 4-of-6 chances.
3. Boston placed Joe Morrow (flu) on injured reserve and recalled fellow D Tommy Cross from Providence of the American Hockey League.