Talking Points: Boston Bruins Third Line Dominates In Avs Win

Here are the Talking Points from the Boston Bruins 4-0 win over the undermanned Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena on Wednesday night at the start of their three-game road swing out west.

GOLD STAR: Taylor Hall continues to shine since being slotted on the third line with Charlie Coyle and Trent Frederic for a big-bodied skill and puck possession trio and scored a pair of goals along with three points and a plus-4 in the victory. The first goal was a big one for the Bruins against an Avs team that was hanging around and it was all three forwards touching the puck before Charlie Coyle fed to Hall for a tap-in goal. The second score was Hall getting behind the Avalanche defenseman for a partial breakaway chance where he snapped it past Alexander Georgiev. Hall finished with a team-high five shots on net and six shot attempts in 14:11 of ice time in a dominant performance that really featured Boston’s overwhelming depth.

Taylor Hall buries his second goal of the night – this one on a breakaway.

4-0 Bruins. pic.twitter.com/P7I7IfAt6l

— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) December 8, 2022

BLACK EYE: The defense pairing of Jacob McDonald and Sam Girard got torched by the Boston Bruins, but it really wasn’t the Avalanche’s fault given how many players they are missing due to injuries right now. Up and down the lineup, Colorado looked like a shadow of themselves with no Nathan MacKinnon out there and so many other good players also dinged up and not playing. The Avs need to be careful that they don’t fall too far out of it while all this adversity is going on.

TURNING POINT: The Boston Bruins had a 1-0 lead in the second period on a nice individual play from David Pastrnak hammering home a one-timer off a backhanded David Krejci feed, but they really broke Colorado’s spirit with the second goal midway through the period. Ben Meyers coughed up a puck at the Colorado blue line that Charlie Coyle gladly collected, fed it to Trent Frederic and then back to Coyle before he moved it to a tap-in goal for Taylor Hall. The turnover-into-goal play for Boston’s third line really let the Avalanche know it was going to be a long night where they couldn’t hope to match Boston’s depth.

HONORABLE MENTION: Charlie Coyle and Trent Frederic were both excellent but give it to Boston No. 1 goalie Linus Ullmark in earning his second shutout of the season while stopping 23 shots, including 11 saves in the first period when it was a scoreless game that either team could have seized control of in the early going. Ullmark has earned a bit of rest lately with Jeremy Swayman getting some starts, but he stormed right back in with a shutout performance on Wednesday that continues what looks like a Vezina Trophy-worthy season for the Boston Bruins netminder.

BY THE NUMBERS: +29 – the Boston Bruins goal differential in the third period where the B’s have pulled away from teams all year and did it again in the high altitude of Colorado.

QUOTE TO NOTE: “It’s been fun getting with those guys and getting some team success allows me personally to not worry about my own game. It frees me up a little bit.” –Taylor Hall on the NESN postgame about playing with Charlie Coyle and Trent Frederic as an extremely effective third line that dominated in the win over the Avalanche.