Talking Points: Duchene notches game-winning blast

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GOLD STAR: Matt Duchene has been on a tear as of late, and that was the case again on Thursday night against the Bruins. Duchene finished with two points in 20:50 of ice time, had five shots on net and won 8-of-10 face-offs while dominating the Bruins competition. It was Duchene that won the draw vs. David Krejci in the defensive zone that set up Francois Beauchemin’s game-tying strike at the end of the first period, and the Duchene notched the game-winning blast in the third period. He was the best player on ice for either of the two teams and one of several speedy Avalanche players that the Bruins defenders had major trouble containing.

 
BLACK EYE: Kevan Miller had a rough night in the defensive zone, and was on the ice for a pair of goals against for Boston. He got lost in coverage on Colorado’s first goal when Carl Soderberg popped up wide open for a blast that got past Tuukka Rask high to his glove side. Then Miller had a turnover in the defensive zone in the third period that gave Colorado possession deep in Boston’s end, and allowed the Avs to pounce on the game-winning goal. Miller finished with a pair of giveaways and a minus-1 rating in his 18:21 of ice time, and made two of the bigger B’s mistakes in a game where they had zero margin for error. Both Miller and Zdeno Chara, among others, had some problems with the speed and aggressiveness featured by Colorado.

 
TURNING POINT: The Bruins were up 2-0 six minutes into the game, put things on autopilot feeling like they had the game in the bag against the Avalanche and then proceeded to blow an extremely winnable game. The B’s had one shot over the final 13 minutes of the first period, allowed the Avs to tie things up going into the first intermission and then showed little hard-earned desire when it came to winning and losing time in the third period. That’s pretty inexcusable for a team like the Bruins that’s won one game in seven tries on home ice, and shouldn’t be taking anybody for granted at this point.

 
HONORABLE MENTION: It wasn’t the best game he’ll play this season, but Dennis Seidenberg was pretty good in his first game back for the Black and Gold. He threw six hits and blocked a pair of shots in just under 16 minutes of ice time, and played a heavy, bruising style in the defensive zone that made it tough to get to the front of the net. Seidenberg also played a key part in the B’s penalty kill efforts that made it only the third game in 15 tries this season that they haven’t allowed a PP goal to the opposition. Seidenberg looked ready to play, and that’s a big boost for a Bruins team that needed more defensive presence on their back end.

 
BY THE NUMBERS: 1-5-1 – the Bruins’ atrocious record at TD Garden this season where they’ve allowed 29 goals in seven games.

 
QUOTE TO NOTE: “We can’t keep going in that direction where you’re good one game, you’re bad the next, and you’re good the one afterwards. It’s kind of up and down. We’ve got to try and get some strings of good games going, and build some sort of identity that you’re capable of holding onto game after game.” –Claude Julien, who doesn’t like the inconsistency he’s seeing from his Bruins team.

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