Grubauer makes 39 saves, Avalanche rally past Bruins

DENVER --Philipp Grubauer made 39 saves, and Andre Burakovsky scored the tiebreaking goal in the third period for the Colorado Avalanche in a 4-2 win against the Boston Bruins at Pepsi Center on Thursday.

Burakovsky's first goal with the Avalanche made it 3-2 at 12:54. He skated into Boston's zone, spun around defenseman Connor Clifton, and moved to the top of the left circle before scoring off the right post.
"It felt great," said Burakovsky, who was acquired by the Avalanche in a trade with the Washington Capitals on June 28. "I mean, you never know when you're going to score in this League, it's tough to get the goals. Sometimes you are lucky. I just shot at the net and it hit the post and went in. Lucky. I don't think Clifton] was fully awake when I kind of jumped by him. We've been talking all the time about getting pucks to the net. That's something that was in my mind and I was just lucky it hit post and went in."
***[WATCH: [All Bruins vs. Avalanche highlights]*
Nathan MacKinnon and Gabriel Landeskog each had a goal and an assist, and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare scored for Colorado (3-0-0).
"I think our goalie saved our bacon a couple of times," Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. "I loved our goalie. I thought their goalie [Jaroslav Halak] played pretty well, too."

David Pastrnak had a goal and an assist, and Halak made 32 saves for Boston (3-1-0), which was attempting to open the season with four straight road wins for the first time in its history.
"We're in a results-oriented business," Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said. "You could argue today was our best one of the road trip. We were right there. You never like to see a two-goal lead go against you. Part of it was self-inflicted, part of it was their good offense."
Pastrnak gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead at 7:58 of the first period, taking a pass from Brad Marchand from the side of the net and scoring on a one-timer in the slot.
Zdeno Chara made it 2-0 at 15:34 when his shot from the left point redirected in off Landeskog's stick.
MacKinnon scored his first goal of the season to cut it to 2-1 at 19:05 on a power play. Landeskog skated down left wing by Bruins defenseman Brandon Carlo, and his shot hit off the post and deflected off Halak's back before MacKinnon tapped in the rebound in the crease.

"Our guys didn't feel like we were out of it," Bednar said. "We get a timely goal at the end of the first on a power play, which gets us back within striking distance. We knew we had some self-inflicted wounds and that we could be better. We got better as the game went on."
Bellemare tied it 2-2 at 9:43 of the second period. Following a turnover by Marchand in the Bruins zone, Matt Calvert skated to the net and passed to Bellemare for a tip-in.
After Burakovsky gave Colorado the lead, Landeskog scored into an empty net with 1:01 remaining in regulation for the 4-2 final.
Boston had two goals overturned following a challenge by Bednar. Karson Kuhlman's goal at 1:50 of the second period was reversed because of goaltender interference, and a power-play goal by Jake DeBrusk at 1:09 of the third period was overturned after it was determined the play was offside.
"I scored and had an assist tonight, but they got called back," DeBrusk said. "We should've won this game 4-2, but I guess neither of them were goals and that's how they called it. They looked at it and called it out how it was. It won't snowball for me, but I'm definitely [upset]."

They said it

"Obviously, it's frustrating to lose the last game (of the road trip). I felt like we had a good start, just a couple tough bounces. You know, overall, six out of eight points (is) not bad, but we feel in here we could have easily had eight. I thought it was a decent game." -- Bruins forward David Krejci
"I don't think we played our best game, I think we dodged a bullet here. They're a really good team. They're not known as a fast team, but they beat you with their structure. They haven't changed much from last year being in the Stanley Cup Final. It was a huge challenge for us." -- Avalanche goalie Philipp Grubauer

Need to know

Colorado has won nine straight regular-season home games dating to last season. … Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar had an assist to become the third defenseman in Colorado/Quebec Nordiques history to have a point in each of his first three NHL regular-season games, joining Stefan Elliott (2011-12) and Dave Pichette (1980-81). … Marchand has five points (three goals, two assists) in a three-game point streak and is one assist shy of 300 in the NHL.

What's next

Bruins:Host the New Jersey Devils on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; ESPN+, NESN, MSG, NHL.TV)
Avalanche: Host the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday (9 p.m. ET; ALT, FS-A, FS-A PLUS, NHL.TV)