Bruins snap six-game losing streak, beat Avs, 3-2

Sometimes there is no explaining the challenge of hockey The Colorado Avalanche one of the best teams in the NHL dominated the struggling Bruins through the first minutes of Saturday s matinee at the Garden But just when you thought you could chalk up the seventh straight loss for the B s they somehow turned it around and handed the Avs their first regulation loss of the season - The B s nursed a - lead for greater part of the third period Artturi Lehknon got the Avs within a goal with a tip goal with seconds left on a -on- But that s as close as they could get Goaltending of discipline matters Jeremy Swayman led the way with saves The Avs appeared to be on the verge of of blowing out the Bruins in the first period Not only did they take the early lead at on an Artturi Lehkonen goal off a lightning quick Nathan MacKinnon pass they dominated the B s territorially at a Harlem Globetrotters-versus-Washington Generals level When the Avs weren t forcing mistakes the B s were making unforced ones At one point the Avs were outshooting the B s - Colorado then seemed to get too cocky and the B s stormed back to take a - lead with two goals in seconds The first one came at when Viktor Arvidson scored his first goal as a Bruin After taking a feed from Mason Lohrei at the bottom of the left circle Arvidsson s short side stuff attempt was thwarted but but from behind the net the winger was able to bank it in off goalie Scott Wedgewood With that Arvidsson mimed the old monkey-off-back motion Then on the next shift Av defenseman Sam Malinski tried to keep a puck in at the Boston blue line but it hopped over his stick giving the B s a -on- After gaining the Colorado blue line Tanner Jeannot made a terrific shift to his backhand and sent a pretty pass over to Mike Eyssimont for Eyssimont s second of the year The B s got the first power play of the day and nearly took a two-goal lead but Wedgewood robbed Pavel Zacha with a sprawling glove save While Swayman kept the B s deficit at one goal in the first period with certain timely stops Wedgewood did the same for the Avs in the second The B s got the second PP of the championship and they couldn t convert and then Wedgewood came up with big stops on Morgan Geekie and Casey Mittelstadt The B s had to kill a couple of Colorado power plays in the second and it looked like they would be happy to go into the second intermission with their precarious one-goal lead But then the B s stunned the Avs with a goal with seconds left in the period From behind the red line David Pastrnak chipped a puck in deep and Geekie was out front to prevent the icing Both defenseman Josh Manson and Wedgewood moved toward the far side post but Geekie stopped short behind the net came out front and tucked it into the short side to give the B s a - lead going into the third period The Avs got rambunctious in the third in an effort to tie it up First Brent Burns crashed the net and was called for slashing after a scrum Then off a Parker Kelly shorthanded bid that was stopped by Swayman Kelly ignited another scrum when he too jammed at Swayman But after the ensuing brouhaha Charlie McAvoy was the only one sent to the box for roughing That produced a -on- and the B s held on for dear life