BOSTON -- Tuukka Rask received his second straight start in the Boston Bruins' net on Monday, but with the defensive breakdowns Boston has been committing it could've been Patrick Roy between the pipes and it probably wouldn't have mattered.

Rask finished the Bruins' 4-3 loss to Colorado at TD Garden with 18 saves, and really only one of the goals scored by the Avalanche was his fault. Two bad bounces and a David Jones breakaway accounted for the other scores in the rookie's first loss of the season.

"Tough loss," Rask said after the game. "I mean, it started off pretty good, [we] got some pressure and then they got those [two] goals, kind of lucky bounces and we battled back. ... Maybe I should have stopped one of those two in the second and it'd be a different game, but I like our battle but it was a tough loss for sure."

The one Rask should really want back put the Avs up 2-0, as Jones shot the puck in off the goaltender's chest. Defenseman Scott Hannan then hammered home the rebound.

"Usually, [the rebound] bounces close to you and you try to cover it. But I felt like I couldn't reach it and I tried to poke check it into the corner and their D just happened to be there. [It] bounced off their sticks."

Zdeno Chara couldn't clear a blocked shot leading up to the Avs' first goal and Rask blocked a pass that happened upon Marek Svatos' stick for the game-winner. But then there was the Jones breakaway, which resulted from Ference mistaking defense partner Matt Hunwick for David Krejci in a scrum along the wall. Ference admitted he thought Hunwick was behind him ready to take on Jones.

In his own way, head coach Claude Julien commended Rask for keeping the Bruins in the game.

"There are some bad mistakes made up front," Julien said. "The poor goaltenders are always the ones that are pointed out because they're the last defense. Unfortunately, I think he was good enough tonight. When I say good enough, he was good. Do I think he was at his best? No."

Loose pucks Defenseman Johnny Boychuk made his season debut in place of the injured Dennis Wideman, finishing a plus-2 with four hits in 17:15 of ice time. "I just made sure when I had a chance to hit somebody I would try to make sure that he didn't want to come back in my corner. So I just wanted to make a statement that maybe you don't want to come into my corner because I will try to hurt you." ... The Bruins' penalty kill has now allowed five goals in the club's past 12 shorthanded situations. ... In five games, the Bruins have allowed two shorthanded goals after they allowed seven all of last season.

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