Avs double-up Boston, 6-3, in home opener

Every NHL season needs a feel-good story and this year’s may be coming from Denver, Colorado.

Matt Duchene and Nail Yakupov, two of the more maligned players in the NHL not just Colorado, scored a goal each and two points in a 6-3 thumping of the Boston Bruins in the Avs’ home opener.

Fifth-round pick Alexander Kerfoot scored his first NHL goal in the win.

“It obviously is a great feeling,” Kerfoot said. “I mean, it’s a dream to play in the NHL, and to get a goal is pretty special.”

Kerfoot scored late in the first period.

“He’s (Kerfoot) not scared to go to the hard areas to score and create plays,” Avs head coach Jared Bednar said. “There’s a lot to like. He’s quickly earned the trust of the coaching staff.”

Semyon Varlamov got the win on 20 saves.

Sven Andrighetto scored twice and rookie Tyson Jost added an empty-bet goal for the Avs.

Bruins fell behind 4-1 before Tim Schaller and Torey Krug scored to cut the deficit to 4-3.  But two empty-net goals from the Avs put the game away late.

“You see in the third period if you’re willing to put in the work, it pays off,” Krug said. “We were able to climb back in the game and give ourselves a chance. You can try to use as many excuses you want, but you’ve got to be more committed to battles and I’m a big part of that as well.”

Brad Marchand had tied the game in the first before the Avs went on a goal surge.

“Fun game, fun game to coach. I know our players had fun playing it. The crowd was fantastic. Loved our start, loved a lot of things out of that game. I felt like we were there to skate and make plays. We were aggressive,” Bednar said as the Avs went to 3-1-0 on the season.

[WATCH: All Bruins vs. Avalanche highlights]

Tuukka Rask, got the start but was pulled at the start of the third in favor of  Anton Khudobin.

“It wasn’t good enough. They were better than us again, the second time in three days. Some of the decisions we made away from the puck to put out fires, all we did was create fires really,” Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy said of his team’s efforts in the loss.

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