Lindholm has goal, assist, Bruins hold off Avalanche

DENVER -- Hampus Lindholm had a goal and an assist, and the Boston Bruins held on for a 5-3 win against the Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena on Wednesday.

David Pastrnak, Charlie Coyle and Cole Koepke each scored for the Bruins (3-2-0). Joonas Korpisalo made 22 saves in his first win for Boston.

“I think that's the best team game we've had so far this year, and I thought it was a complete 60-minute effort,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said. “They’re a really good team, and they're going to have their moments, but I really liked our poise.”

Korpisalo was acquired in a trade with the Ottawa Senators on June 24.

“He allows us to get our feet into the game, under us, by that great save on [Miles] Wood's breakaway early in the first two minutes,” Montgomery said of Korpisalo. “Then he just kept making big-time saves throughout the game and especially in the third.”

Cale Makar and Mikko Rantanen each had a goal and two assists for the Avalanche (0-4-0), who have lost four straight to open a season for the first time since 1998-99. Nathan MacKinnon had two assists, and Alexandar Georgiev made 20 saves.

“Always, no matter how good or bad it's going, we're not going to dwell on the previous game. Whether we were really good or whether we were really bad, you have to correct it and move on,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “Build on it and move on. It's the same thing now, the loss stings. It doesn't feel any better or worse than it did after the last game. We got to find a way to get a win and try to build it from there.”

Koepke gave Boston a 1-0 lead at 13:46 of the first period when he deflected in Andrew Peeke’s shot from the right wall.

"I saw ‘Peeker’ coming down with the puck. I just tried to get out front in case he was going to throw it there,” Koepke said. “I saw him make a heads-up play. [He] kind of looked right at me and made a great play, and (I) just deflected it in.”

Ross Colton tied it 1-1 with a power-play goal at 15:07. He took a pass from Rantanen inside the right circle and snapped it far side beyond the blocker of Korpisalo.

Coyle put the Bruins back ahead 2-1 at 17:09 on the power play, redirecting Mason Lohrei’s centering pass at the right post.

“I didn't know how it was going to come, but I knew he saw me, and I just tried to present myself,” Coyle said. “Mason’s a pretty skilled player, and he found me pretty good. I didn't have to do much with that. He put it on a platter.”

Pastrnak extended it to 3-1 with a power-play goal at 9:09 of the second period. He drove the crease from the back side and deflected Lindholm’s centering pass into the open net.

“I got a little space there. So good play by [Brad Marchand] giving me some time and space,” Lindholm said. “Then (I) took it down and then saw 'Pasta' sneaking back door.”

Lindholm pushed it to 4-1 just 13 seconds later with a shot from the left half-wall through traffic.

“It’s tough to say you played good when (you) give up four,” Georgiev said. “It’s a really tough situation. Just doing the best we can every day, and I feel if everybody does that then we’ve got a good chance every night. I believe in the team. We are such a good team who can score a lot. We can play great defense. Just have to learn from it but not get discouraged and get to the next one with sharp brains.”

Makar cut it to 4-2 with a power-play goal at 11:15 on a slap shot from the point.

Rantanen made it 4-3 with a power-play goal at 4:52 of the third period, one-timing a pass from Makar at the right face-off dot.

“I think we did a lot of good things (in the third period). I think there was desperation there, which is good. I think we all wanted to see some desperation of the team,” Avalanche defenseman Josh Manson said. “We did a lot of good things. Can't look at it and go, 'No, it [stinks]. Throw it away.' But at the end of the day, it's still not good enough. You want to win in this league, you got to be perfect.”

John Beecher scored an empty-net goal at 17:59 for the 5-3 final after MacKinnon lost the puck at center ice.

NOTES: Colorado leads the NHL with a 50 percent success rate on the power play. Makar’s seven assists is the most by a defenseman in his first four games of the season in Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques history. … Matt Stienburg made his NHL debut for the Avalanche and finished minus-1 with five penalty minutes in 4:36 of ice time. … Wood left the game at 6:17 of the third period with an undisclosed injury after taking a hit from Elias Lindholm. There was no update on his status.