Peter Forsberg in his prime probably would not have made a winning difference for the Avalanche on Saturday. Not with the sloppy brand of hockey the Avs are starting to display on a fairly regular basis, which continued in a dismal matinee affair with the Boston Bruins at the Pepsi Center.
In front of a sold-out, wanting-to-have- fun crowd that included Forsberg — who earlier in the day practiced with the team as part of a possible NHL comeback — the Avs started quickly but stumbled through the rest of the first two periods en route to a 6-2 loss, their second in a row and fourth in the last six at home.
The loss knocked the Avs out of the top eight in the Western Conference.
Asked what has gone wrong the last two games — a combined 11-3 goal differential — Avs coach Joe Sacco was succinct.
“Just getting outplayed, that’s the bottom line,” he said. “They really outplayed us in the first period, which was surprising because they came from an East Coast time zone and they were a little more hungry than we were in the first period.”
Craig Anderson, who allowed four goals on 28 shots and was benched after the second, wasn’t done any favors by a turnover-prone, slow-to-get-back team in front of him. In a 2-1 game with time running down in the second, Anderson was left to fend off 2-on-1 breakdowns that both ended up settling into the soft mesh behind him.
Mark Recchi, who turns 43 on Feb. 1, converted Brad Marchand’s crossing pass at 14:44 after the Avs’ Ryan O’Byrne turned a puck over at his blue line and defensive partner John-Michael Liles failed to commit to either Bruins player.
With 56 seconds left in the period, Avs forward Kevin Porter (a minus-4 in 10:13 of ice time and no shots) lost a puck in the neutral zone, leading to a 2-on-1 between Boston’s Milan Lucic and David Krejci that Lucic easily one-timed into the net to make it 4-1.
“Those are big mistakes that you can’t give up in this league,” Sacco said. “Most teams are going to capitalize on those. Just not good enough the last couple games.”
It might have still been a game, but the Avs failed to convert on a key power play right after Kevin Shattenkirk made it a 4-2 game with a steal and backhander past Bruins goalie Tim Thomas.
Kyle Cumiskey could have made it a 4-3 game, but was stopped on a point-blank chance in front on the PP, and Shattenkirk hit the crossbar near the end of it.
The Bruins sealed the game minutes later when John-Michael Liles (minus-4 in the game) accidentally knocked a puck into his own net with a skate.
“Right now, it’s just not going our way,” Avs veteran Milan Hejduk said. “We’re making too many mistakes on the ice. They dominated us in the first period, which we can’t have happen. We had some chances later, but it’s just not going our way.”
Said Liles: “It’s disappointing to play like that. We’ve got to be a lot better than that, and I include myself.”
Avs Recap
The Post’s three stars
1. Brad Marchand.
Bruins forward had two goals and two assists, with a plus 4.
2. Mark Recchi.
Ageless Bruins winger had a goal and two assists.
3. Milan Lucic.
Bruins winger had two goals.
What you might have missed
The sellout crowd was the Avs’ fifth of the season.
Up next
St. Louis, Monday at 7:30 p.m.
Adrian Dater, The Denver Post
