Bruins end losing streak with gutsy win over Avalanche

Speaking after his team's loss on Thursday night, Bruins head coach Marco Sturm made it clear that there's no extra help on the way. Instead, his team would have to fight their way out of their current funk with what they have.

Whether that was intended to be a galvanizing comment or not, it looked that way on Saturday, as the Bruins rallied and put forth one of their best team efforts of the season and captured a 3-2, streak-snapping win over the Avs in Boston.

“We still have work to do [and] I’m glad the bleeding is over, but I learned that we need everyone," Sturm said. "We can’t just rely on the big boys or the bottom part of the roster. No, we need the whole group. Just like we did today.” 

Down 1-0 early into this game, this was a comeback win that saw the Bruins get goals from their three top lines, beginning with a game-tying strike from Viktor Arvidsson at the 14:16 mark of the first period. The goal was Arvidsson's first of the campaign, and with a quick-strike letdown certainly on the table given the Bruins' recent luck on that front, the Bruins decided to instead continue their pressure on Avalanche netminder Scott Wedgewood.

That pressure led to a 2-on-1, and a 2-1 lead for Boston, as Mikey Eyssimont beat Wedgewood less than 40 seconds after Arvidsson's tally.

In survival mode for much of the second period, clinging to their one-goal edge, the Bruins found some much-needed relief when Morgan Geekie played until the whistle and caught Wedgewood and Colorado defenseman Josh Manson napping on the way to a tuck into the Avs net with just 4.5 left in the period.

“That was the biggest goal of the day," Sturm said. "Going into the period with a two-goal lead, that was huge for us. We know they’re going to push hard, and Geeks was pushing the pace. I thought that was the biggest play of the game."

The goal was Geekie's sixth of the season, breaking him out of a tie with David Pastrnak for the most on the team through 10 games this season.

Colorado made the Bruins sweat ever-so-slightly in the third period thanks to an Artturi Lehkonen goal with just under 19 seconds left, but the Bruins were able to hang on behind what was a 31-save performance from Jeremy Swayman.

Sturm's club remained without Hampus Lindholm due to his lower-body injury (the Bruins are still calling it a day-to-day injury), while Johnny Beecher jumped back into the lineup in place of Jeffrey Viel. Skating on Boston's fourth line, Beecher finished this game with two hits and a block in 12:31 of action.

The Bruins will get back to work Monday night when they visit Linus Ullmark and the Senators at Kanata's Canadian Tire Center.