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 Randell scored a goal in his first NHL game, right winger Jimmy
Hayes added a goal and three assists, and the Bruins bounced back
from a tough homestand to rout the Colorado Avalanche 6-2 Wednesday
night.
Center Ryan Spooner had a goal and an assist, and center Chris Kelly
and defenseman Kevan Miller also scored for Boston, which avoided
its first 0-4-0 start in 51 years.
Randell was a big part of the victory. The 24-year-old right winger
was on the ice for two goals as Boston jumped on the sluggish
Avalanche from the start.
"It's definitely what you dream from day one, when you're 3 years
old playing mini sticks, firing the ball around and pretending
you're in the NHL," Randell said. "The chance finally came. I never
expected this to happen in the first game, but pretty exciting."
The Bruins, who were outscored 16-7 in their first three games,
turned to backup goaltender Jonas Gustavsson to stop the slide. He
was staked to a big lead before Colorado got late goals from right
winger Gabriel Landeskog and center John Mitchell.
Gustavsson finished with 20 saves.
"If you start 70 games or 10 games, all of the points are
important," Gustavsson said. "When I get the chance, I'm just going
to try to make the most of it and play my game."
Colorado pulled the goalie for an extra attacker with 3:01 left, and
Boston center David Krejci scored into the empty net with 1:29
remaining.
"We were awful tonight," Avalanche coach Patrick Roy said. "I'm not
happy at all. I understand if we don't have our 'A' game. That
doesn't mean to be 5-0 in the hole before we start playing. We need
to keep things simple and wait for a good opportunity to score a
goal."
Miller gave Boston the early lead when his shot from the right point
through traffic beat goalie Semyon Varlamov inside the far post at
5:49 of the first. Hayes made it 2-0 just 2:22 later when he knocked
in the rebound of defenseman Zdeno Chara's shot.
"It was a good one for me to get out of the way," said Hayes, who
finished with a career-high four points. "It felt like it was
forever to score a goal. The first one always seems like the
toughest one."
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The Bruins piled on in the second period to take command.
Randell tipped in defenseman Adam McQuaid's shot from the point at
3:46, and Boston put it away midway through the period on Kelly's
goal. Hayes stole defenseman Tyson Barrie's clearing pass at the
blue line and fed Spooner in the slot. Spooner sent a pass to Kelly,
who deked Varlamov and put a backhander in to make it 4-0.
Spooner made it 5-0 when he scored after another giveaway at 15:32.
Varlamov, who stopped just 14 of 19 shots, was then replaced by
backup Reto Berra, who stopped all five shots he faced from that
point on.
"We seem to have good starts in every game so far this year, and
that couldn't change," Boston coach Claude Julien said. "But what
had to change was we had to extend the 20-minute game to a 60-minute
game."
The Avalanche got one back on a power play late in the second.
Landeskog had it in front but lost the handle when he tried to spin
around. Chara tried to poke it away but instead knocked it into his
own net to make it 5-1.
Mitchell added his third of the season midway through the third to
make it 5-2.
The Avalanche, who blew a three-goal lead in the third period to
Minnesota last Thursday, finished their season-opening homestand
1-2-0.
"We wanted to go 3-0 starting with three home games," Landeskog
said. "We end up losing the first one, and we felt we could go 2-1,
and tonight there's definitely disappointment. Any road team that
comes into altitude, you have to jump right on them, especially
fragile teams that lost three in a row."
NOTES: Avalanche D Brad Stuart made his season debut, and D Nate
Guenin was a healthy scratch for the first time. Guenin joined D
Brandon Gormley, who has yet to play this year, on the sideline. C
Mikhail Grigorenko also was scratched. ... Boston LW Brad Marchand
is out with a concussion but is on the two-game road trip with the
team. C Max Talbot was a late scratch. ... The Avalanche scored 10
goals in their first two games, a franchise best since the move to
Denver in 1995. ... The Bruins recalled D Tommy Cross from
Providence of the American Hockey League, and he played 14:25.
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