Preview: Avalanche at Bruins, Game 4

Colorado's first road trip of the season continues in Boston tonight where the unbeaten Avs face the likewise blemish-free Bruins. Boston has held court at home for their two games this season and present a significant challenge to the young Avalanche squad who face their second undefeated team in a row. Both squads have been perfect on the penalty kill in the young 2013-2014 season while averaging over three goals a game. All-world defenseman Zdeno Chara may be seeing an adjustment in his playing time, but he's being utilized in a variety of ways. He's still manning the point on the power play, but he's also seeing some time down low on the man advantage setting screens. Very large screens.

"No one can move him," Torey Krug told NHL.com regarding his team's captain. "So they kind of just leave him to himself. And the goalie has to deal with him and it takes his eyes away. So it's nice to for us to have that."

Old frienemy Jarome Iginla continues his Marian Hossa Tour, this time with Boston as he attempts to fall ass-backward into a Stanley Cup. Other Bruins to keep an eye on are the always dangerous new edition Loui Eriksson (formerly of Dallas) and up-and-coming offensive defenseman Dougie Hamilton. Of course stalwarts like Chara, Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand, and David Krejci remain omnipresent on the minds of Avalanche players.

The Avs haven't seen the Bruins since a 1-0 Colorado victory exactly two years ago in Boston (Milan Hejduk with the lone goal). After fiery wins against the Ducks and Perds, Colorado and new head coach Patrick Roy managed a largely rage-free match against Toronto on Tuesday night. Boston hasn't seen the ice since beating new Eastern Conference foe Ddetroit on Saturday night. Will a rested Boston club that plays a hard style be able to shut down the Avalanche scoring depth and ignite Roy's fuse? Will we ever be rid of this storyline? Will rookie Nathan MacKinnon notch his first goal of his career? Will Paul Stastny muster his 400th career point tonight in the Garden? Will the Avs move to 4-0 for the first time in team history?

Avalanche netminder Jean-Sebastien Giguere will make his season debut in net tonight. Tuukka Rask continues to man the pipes for Boston and brings a stellar 1.00 GAA average into the game.

Tonight's Lines:

• O'Reilly - Duchene SLAP FIGHT!!!- Downie
• Landeskog - Stastny - Tanguay
• McGinn - MacKinnon - Parenteau
• Bordeleau - Mitchell - McLeod

• Johnson - Hejda
• Sarich - Benoit
• Barrie - Guenin

• Giguere

Injury Report:

COL: Ryan Wilson could be making his debut in this game, but we won't know until closer to gametime. We'll update the lines when we know. Remember, team execs are on the trip in an effort to evaluate the 7th-9th defenseman position.

BOS: Carl Soderberg is back skating but still listed as day-to-day.

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5:00 PM MT/7:00 PM ET
TV: ALT, NESN

More from Mile High Hockey:

• Top Shelf Analysis
• Game 3 vs Toronto Recap

Make sure and visit Boston's blog at Stanley Cup of Chowder! Game Preview HERE.