First goal of the season, followed by first win.
Thanks to newcomers
Daniel Briere and
Reto Berra, the Avalanche left TD Garden in Boston on Monday with a dramatic 2-1 win.
Briere, acquired June 30 from Montreal in exchange for
PA Parenteau and a fifth-round pick in the 2015 NHL draft, cashed in a rebound with five-tenths of a second left in the third period for his 300th career goal.
Berra, acquired March 5 from Calgary for a second-round pick in last June's draft, made 27 saves, his best against
Milan Lucic on a 2-on-1 rush with about 8 minutes remaining.
‘‘It’s been a little bit of a roller coaster to start the season, but we are hoping this game will get us on our way," Briere told reporters.
After getting shut out and outscored 8-0 in the first two games of the season by Minnesota, the Avalanche scored their first goal at 3:28 of the second period when
Jamie McGinn, who missed all eight preseason games because of a back injury, beat goalie
Niklas Svedberg through a screen from the right side. The goal ended a Colorado drought of 143 minutes, 28 seconds.
The Bruins, who also have been struggling to get their offense in gear, tied matters at 7:50 when
Loui Eriksson converted on a power play after the Avalanche were caught with too many men on the ice for the second time in the game. The goal ended a Boston slump that lasted 135:49.
The only downer for the Avalanche: coach
Patrick Roy said defenseman
Ryan Wilson sustained a probable concussion when he was hit in the face with a puck. Wilson, who played 6:07, won't play Tuesday night in Toronto if that's the case. It was the second game in a row the Avalanche were left with five defensemen;
Erik Johnson was ejected early in the second period Saturday after being assessed a major elbowing penalty for his hit against Wild center
Erik Haula in a 3-0 defeat.
"It was a big win for us," Roy said. "Like we said after the game against Minnesota at home, if we play the same way we'll win a game sooner or later. This afternoon I thought we had good jump. It was a hard-fought game. Both teams played well really and wanted to win badly."
Briere, 37, and coming off a mediocre season with the Canadiens, was in front of the net when he got his stick on the puck after Svedberg made a save on
Jan Hejda's point shot. Briere swept it by the goalie's glove and inside the right post. An official replay confirmed the puck entered the net before time expired.
Nathan MacKinnon skated up the ice along the near boards and passed to Hedja for a shot on goal as the final seconds were winding down.
"It's a big relief, to be honest, finding a loose puck like that at the end in front of the net," said Briere, who skated on a line with MacKinnon and
Alex Tanguay for the second game in a row. "It certainly feels good after the start that we had. We didn't get the result that we wanted last game at home against Minnesota, but that's the way it goes sometimes when you're in a little bit of a funk. We had to get back to working hard. We got away from it in training camp a little bit and certainly in the first game, but we were much better in the last two games and finally it paid off for us today."
Briere's first NHL goal came when he was playing for Phoenix against Los Angeles in 1998. " A great feed from
Mike Gartner, one of the all-time greats,” Briere said. “Something I’ll remember all my life.”
The Avalanche took their first lead of the season on their first goal when McGinn scored after some hard work from
Matt Duchene and
Tyson Barrie.
"I was fortunate enough that it went in, but I think it’s a big goal for our team as a whole," McGinn said. "A lot of credit to everyone. We’ve been working hard. We were happy as a whole team to see it go in.”
The lead was short-lived. Erikkson tied the game 4:22 later on the first power-play goal allowed by the Avalanche this season.
But Berra, who is 6-feet-4 and 210 pounds, came up big throughout. His best stop came against Lucic, who took a shot from the left side after taking a cross-ice pass from
David Krejci on a 2-on-1 rush in the third period.
"He had a great training camp and he continues to play well," Roy said of Berra, who stopped all 10 shots he faced in the third period in the Avalanche's 5-0 opening-night loss in Minnesota. "It was nice to see him make some good saves for us. I thought our guys were focused, they were skating well and competed well. It was a really nice win for us."
The Avalanche thought they took a 2-1 lead early in the third period, but the goal was disallowed when it was ruled that
Ryan O'Reilly knocked down a puck with a high stick before it glanced off Svedberg and went into the net off rookie
Dennis Everberg.
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The Avalanche had dinner at
Ray Bourque's restaurant Sunday night, just as they did last season after arriving in Boston in early October before meeting the Bruins in the second game of a three-game trip when the team adopted its "Why Not Us?" mantra.
"I love going on the road early in the season, not even just with a new team but at any time," Briere said. "You always have new players on a team and it's fun getting everyone together having some time and meals together and getting to know each other a little better. Especially after the start that we had, it couldn't have come at a better time."
Roy said
Semyon Varlamov will start in goal Tuesday night in Toronto.
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Center
John Mitchell, who missed all eight preseason games and the first two regular-season games because of migraines, is hopeful of playing at some point on this four-game trip.
"I can't say yes or no," he told
Hockeybuzz.com. "Obviously the possibility is there. I was able to skate with the team, skate with the guys out there, and I feel good. I feel like I'm not too far off. It's just a matter of getting in a couple practices, some physical practices, trying to get some bumps in and stuff like that and see how that feels. If that feels good, I should be good to go."
Mitchell, a valuable and versatile forward, missed the final two regular-season games last year and all seven playoff games against the Wild because of a head injury he sustained in an April 10 game against Vancouver.
Mitchell had 11 goals and 21 assists in 75 games last season, and he'd be centering the third line if he was healthy. He said some vision problems have been more problematic than headaches and doesn't know if the issues are related to last season's head injury.
"It's obviously tough to tell," he said. "I'm sure some of these things stem from that. You hit the boards that hard, I'm sure you're going to jar loose a few things. Some things are going to get thrown out of whack.
"It's not so much the headaches, it's kind of a visual thing with me more than anything. It's not even a big headache problem, it's just an eye thing. It's very hard to describe. The small problem that I have with my vision, we're just trying to work things out. I do a lot of exercises for my eyes just to retrain them, I guess, or get them back to where they used to be. I think those things are progressing and we just have to stick with it and keep doing it. Eventually it'll all come back.
"It's obviously taken longer than I expected and everyone else expected for it to heal, but you just have to be cautious and make sure you're good to go out there. I mean, there's a lot of big guys out there, the game's moving quick and you want to make sure you can see out there, see plays developing."
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