The Colorado Avalanche may have reached the Murphy’s Law portion of the 2024-25 season and are only four games old.

Another injury. A failed comeback attempt was thwarted when the reigning MVP lost the puck at center ice. Periods of improved play, but also times where they were outclassed.

The final result was a 5-3 loss Wednesday night to the Boston Bruins at Ball Arena and the club’s first 0-4 start to a season since 1998-99. The undermanned Avalanche looked overwhelmed in the first half of the game, but then looked much more like themselves in the final 30 minutes. Ultimately, it was too little, too late.

“I think there was some desperation, and that was good,” Avs defenseman Josh Manson said. “I think we all wanted to see some desperation.”

Colorado began this game without five key players and lost Miles Wood in the third period after a hard blindside hit. The Avs also stayed stuck in their own zone for far too long in the first 30 minutes, which helped the Bruins to a three-goal lead.

There were some positive aspects. Alexandar Georgiev had an excellent performance in the second half to prevent a loss and may move closer to the goaltender who won many games with the Avs in the previous two seasons. And the power play scored three goals to give the Avalanche a chance on a night where consistent offense was difficult to come by.

“Definitely better,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said of his goalie. “Made a lot of big saves. We are moving in the right direction. Last game, then this game – just keep going.”

The Bruins struck first at 13:46 of the first period. Andrew Peeke shot the puck into the net from the right wall, and Cole Koepke pushed it under the crossbar.

One of the Avs’ strengths this season has been the power play. Ross Colton tied the game 81 seconds later after a duel with Mikko Rantanen.

On the other hand, the penalty shootout was difficult. The Bruins took advantage with two tap-in one-timers.

Charlie Coyle made it 2-1 at 17:09 of the first after putting the Avs behind with a rare power play rush goal. David Pastrnak added another goal at 9:09 of the second minute to make it 3-1. Hampus Lindholm had the puck near the left wall and hit Pastrnak, who fired it to the front of the net.

“I didn’t like (the penalty) tonight,” Bednar said. “We got beat a few times on plays where I felt like we could have been better with our sticks and that we got to the net better.

“I think part of it is personnel and the guys just have to figure it out. We have to keep working on it.”

Boston had been dominant up to that point, but Georgiev had made several great saves. The Bruins broke it open on the next shift.

Lindholm shot the puck from a similar spot on the ice, and it deflected off an Avs player in front of him. It came 13 seconds after Pastrnak’s goal.

Matthew Steinberg made his NHL debut for the Avs and had his team reeling. Steinberg scored a big punch and then fought former Colorado defenseman Nikita Zadorov. The Avs got a power play with a slash from Zadorov and Cale Makar made it 4-2 at 11:15 of the second minute.

Another former Avalanche player, Riley Tufte, took another ill-advised penalty early in the third period when he crosschecked Rantanen. He made the Bruins pay at 4:52 of the third period by pulling Colorado within one goal with his fourth goal of the season.