BOSTON — Trying to search for a little sunshine after Thursday’s deflating loss to the Ducks, Nikita Zadorov speculated out loud that beating the best team in hockey would be a good way to put the Bruins‘ losing streak to bed.
That sounded far-fetched in the moment, but two days later the Bruins did exactly that, stunning the Avalanche, 3-2, on Saturday at TD Garden.
Boston (4-6-0) will head to Ottawa to face the Senators on Monday before returning to Boston to host the Islanders on Tuesday.
The Bruins came in having lost six straight. The Avalanche arrived in Boston with no regulation losses at all and the script reflected that early.
Colorado was on the board long before the Bruins had a shot on goal.
Both Nikita Zadorov and Charlie McAvoy went to play MacKinnon in the corner, leaving Artturi Lehkonen with way too much room to operate in front of the net.
Zadorov couldn’t recover in time when MacKinnon got him the puck as Lehkonen beat Jeremy Swayman to make it 1-0, 4:26 into the game.
The Bruins didn’t get a shot until almost three minutes later, but they tied the game on a play that wouldn’t have even been a shot on goal if it hadn’t gone in.
Scott Wedgewood made the save on Victor Arvidsson’s initial shot on the rush. The rebound caromed to the corner and the Bruins forward followed. It’s unclear whether Arvidsson called bank or was trying to send the puck to someone in front. But he flipped it off the goalie’s back into the net to make it 1-1 with 5:44 left.
Energized, the Bruins attacked again on the rush. Tanner Jeannot stepped around Ilya Solovyov and sent a nifty pass to Mikey Eyssimont, who beat Wedgewood to put the Bruins up 2-1, 39 seconds later.
It marked the third time this week the Bruins have scored multiple goals in two minutes or less.
Morgan Geekie added to the lead right before the second intermission. On a clear-in, he followed the puck around counterclockwise toward the back of the net. Both Wedgewood and defenseman Josh Manson expected him to emerge on the other side.
But Geekie legitimized over two decades of skating drills and dug his blades in for a hard stop and cut back. He stuffed the puck inside the near post to make it 3-1 with 4.5 seconds left in the second period.
The last minute continued to be a dangerous time for the Bruins as Artturi Lehkonen tipped a shot past Swayman with 18.2 seconds left. But Boston held on.
Swayman made it stand up with 29 saves.
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