BOSTON — One good period on the road against one of the best teams in the NHL isn’t going to be enough most nights, and that was all the Colorado Avalanche could muster Thursday night at TD Garden.
The Boston Bruins raced to an early lead and pulled away late thanks to a David Pastrnak hat trick in a 5-2 victory, though the eventual game-winning goal did not come without some controversy. Colorado, in its third game in four nights without two of its top-four forwards, looked great in the middle period but started slow, and the comeback effort fizzled in the final 20 minutes.
“It’s tough. The game is kind of like a marathon,” Avs defenseman Cale Makar said. “You don’t always want to be chasing the leader. For us to be chasing from behind, it’s not what we want to do.”
Jake DeBrusk put the Bruins ahead 3-1 late in the first period when he deflected a shot from the right point past Alexandar Georgiev. The Avalanche challenged for offsides, but the goal stood. It was a tricky decision — Trent Frederic was already across the blue line when he one-touched the puck behind him into the offensive zone.
A player is allowed to cross the blue line ahead of the puck, as long as he has possession of it when that occurs. The officials ruled the play counted as possession, which meant he was onsides.
The NESN broadcast showed Bruins coach Jim Montgomery’s shocked reaction after the goal stood.
“It was pretty clear — it was either going to be possession or not possession,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “I thought it was worth the risk. We’ll call the league and have them look at it, just to make sure we get real good clarification on it. I don’t know if it was the right call or not. I’m still torn on it.”
After a slow start, Colorado’s effort looked much more like how the Avs performed when Boston was at Ball Arena earlier this month in a 4-3 shootout win. The Avalanche outshot the Bruins 18-8 in the second, and had a significant advantage in scoring chances.
Nathan MacKinnon had the lone goal of the period, pouncing on the rebound of a Josh Manson point shot to pull Colorado within one at 3-2. Manson’s shot ended up behind Boston goalie Jeremy Swayman, a fact MacKinnon realized before the goaltender and he collected his 24th goal of the season.
Makar had the secondary assist on the play. It was the 299th point of his career. He needed one more in this game to tie Bruins legend Bobby Orr for the fewest games needed to reach the milestone among defensemen in NHL history.
The Avs yielded a goal on the first shift of the game and another before this contest was five minutes old. Pastrnak, one of the league’s great goal scorers, scored 46 seconds in from the slot after Charlie Coyle poked the puck away from Makar.
Jakub Lauko followed with his first of the season after another defensive-zone turnover left the Avs scrambling in their own zone. Boston had a 6-2 advantage in shots on goal at that point, but Colorado did settle in after that.
Miles Wood scored for the second straight game since returning from a prolonged illness to get the Avs on the board. It came three seconds after a Boston penalty expired, so it is officially at even strength, but it was the second consecutive game where the second power-play unit delivered a goal.
Pastrnak added his second and third goals of the night late in the third period as insurance markers. The Avs managed only four shots on goal in the third, including two in more than 14 minutes of 5-on-5 play.
“First period, it was obvious they had lots of jump and won every race to every loose puck,” Bednar said. “We didn’t get going to win any races, to check the puck back. We were checking with our eyes, not with our legs, and they capitalized.”
FOOTNOTES: Bowen Byram (lower body) and Artturi Lehkonen (neck) were on the ice Thursday for the morning skate but remained out of the lineup. Bednar said earlier this week that it was a possibility for them to return Saturday in Philadelphia for the final game of this road trip.
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