Avalanched! Bruins Roll in Season Opener 5-2
Kessel and Savard celebrate Kessel's first of two goals.
Denver (AP) - The Boston Bruins opened their season with a bang tonight in Colorado as they rolled over the defenseless Avalanche in a 5-2 rout. The game got off to an inconspicuous start for the Bs as Avs grinder Ian LaPerriere scored the first goal of the game on Thomas just 4:26 into the contest. In fact, the low scoring LaPerriere tallied both of the Avs goals as he scored a shorty with 35 seconds to go in the game. However, between this two goals the Bs scored 5 unanswered and absolutely dominated on both ends of the ice.
The Avalanche hurt themselves big time, particularly in the second period, with penalties. The Bruins would score twice on the power play, both in the second period. The Avs committed a total of 4 penalties in the 2nd period alone and 6 total on the game. Marc Savard started off the scoring in the 1st period beating Budaj stick side for his first of the campaign. Blake Wheeler added a shorty late in the 1st period. The floodgates would open in the 2nd period as Ryder scored just two minutes in beating Budaj glove side low. Kessel scored the next two goals for the Bs.
The Avs finally pulled goaltender Peter Budaj after Kessel's second of the night with 4:23 to go in the 2nd period. The Avs backup goaltender Andrew Raycroft was perfect the rest of the way stopping all 19 shots he faced.
The Bs outhustled the Avs all night as shown by the huge difference in time on attack. The Bruins got off 41 shots on the goaltender tandem of Budaj and Raycroft with a total time on attack of 10:36. Colorado managed just 24 shots with 6:41 on attack.
Game Stats
Code:
Bruins Avalanche
5 Goals 2
41 Shots 24
2/6 Power Plays 0/1
92 Passing % 90
10:36 Time on Attack 6:41
Period 1 2 3 OT
Boston 2 3 0 0
Colorado 1 0 1 0
Scoring Summary
Code:
1st Period
Ian Laperriere 4:26
Marek Svatos, Ruslan Salei
Marc Savard 13:41
Milan Lucic, Chuck Kobasew
Blake Wheeler (SH) 17:03
David Krejci, Dennis Wideman
2nd Period
Michael Ryder (PP) 2:14
Dennis Wideman, Matt Hunwick
Phil Kessel 7:10
Aaron Ward, Marc Savard
Phil Kessel (PP) 15:37
Matt Hunwick, Blake Wheeler
3rd Period
Ian LaPerriere (SH) 19:25
Scott Hannan, Adam Foote
Penalty Summary
Code:
1st Period
Ian LaPerriere 14:21
Slashing (Minor)
Marc Savard 16:01
Slashing (Minor)
2nd Period
Milan Hejduk 1:13
Holding (Minor)
Wojtek Wolski 8:58
Tripping (Minor)
Scott Hannan 14:29
Tripping (Minor)
Darcy Tucker 18:17
Holding (Minor)
3rd Period
Brett Clark 9:09
Slashing (Minor)
Paul Statstny 18:26
Tripping (Minor)
Goalie Stats
Code:
SA SV SV% GAA
Tim Thomas 24 22 .917 2.01
Peter Budaj 22 17 .773 8.43
Andrew Raycroft 19 19 1.00 0.00