Viktor Arvidsson and Mikey Eyssimont each scored in a 39-second span in the first period and Jeremy Swayman made 31 saves, as the Boston Bruins beat the visiting Colorado Avalanche 3-2 on Saturday afternoon.
A game-high 12 of Swayman’s stops came in the second period, setting the table for Morgan Geekie’s insurance marker with 4.5 seconds left. Geekie has scored in three consecutive games.
Mason Lohrei assisted on all three goals for the Bruins, who erased an early 1-0 lead to snap a six-game losing skid and hand Colorado its first regulation loss of the season.
Artturi Lehkonen scored both Avalanche goals, including a tip-in from the net front with 20 seconds left in regulation.
Nathan MacKinnon dished out two assists and Scott Wedgewood stopped 16 shots for Colorado, which finished with a 33-19 advantage in shots.
Colorado took a 1-0 lead amidst a dominant start in the first. Just 4:26 in, MacKinnon slid a backhand feed from behind the goal line to a wide-open Lehkonen, who slammed home a shot from the bottom of the left circle.
After going 7:22 without being credited with a shot and being out-shot 10-1 out of the gate, the Bruins flipped the score with two quick-fire goals. Arvidsson made it 1-1 at 14:16, banking a shot from the left crease off after Lohrei’s fanned shot landed right on his stick.
Eyssimont netted Boston’s second at 14:55. He finished off a 2-on-1 rush with Tanner Jeannot, who cut to his backhand and dished a pass from the right circle to the left to set up the finish.
Just before the Bruins killed off their first penalty following unsuccessful power plays on both sides of the first intermission, Wedgewood made one of his best stops moving cross-crease to deny Geekie at the end of an odd-man rush with David Pastrnak.
Swayman’s middle frame included saving Valeri Nichushkin’s one-timer during the first of two key Bruins kills halfway through.
Late in the second, Geekie beat out an icing call and snuck a third Boston goal inside an open side of the net between the post and Wedgewood’s skate.
Colorado made an early push in the third, posting an 8-3 edge in shots before the Bruins earned another man advantage.
–Field Level Media
