BOSTON — Boston Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy had arthroscopic surgery on his left shoulder and is expected to miss the start of the regular season.
The Bruins said Friday that McAvoy had a “stabilization procedure” and is expected to need six months to recover. That would bring him back in December. A 2016 first-round draft choice and the team’s No. 1 defenseman, McAvoy had 10 goals and 46 assists last season.
Also, the Bruins said Matt Grzelcyk had a right shoulder open stabilization procedure and will need about five months to recover. Mike Reilly is expected to need three months to recover from surgery to repair his right ankle tendon repair and remove bone fragments.
The Bruins, who lost in the first round of the NHL playoffs to the Carolina Hurricanes, had previously announced that top scorer Brad Marchand will miss the start of the season while recovering from hip surgery.
FRIDAY’S GAME
RANGERS 3, LIGHTNING 2: Mika Zibanejad scored in the third period, Igor Shesterkin stopped 29 shots and New York won at home to take a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference finals.
K’Andre Miller and Kaapo Kakko scored in the first period, and Adam Fox and Chris Kreider each had two assists for the Rangers. New York won its eighth straight home game, extending a franchise playoff record.
Nikita Kucherov had a goal and an assist for Tampa Bay, Nicholas Paul also scored, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 25 saves. The Lightning goalie has allowed nine goals in two games against the Rangers after limiting Florida to three in a four-game sweep in the second round.
The Lightning have lost consecutive playoff games for the first time in the last three postseasons. The two-time defending Stanley Cup champions were 17-0 after a loss coming in.
The series shifts to Tampa for Game 3 on Sunday and Game 4 on Tuesday night.
THURSDAY’S LATE GAME
AVALANCHE 4, OILERS 0: Nazem Kadri had three assists in a 2:04 span in the second period, backup Pavel Francouz stopped 24 shots for his second career playoff shutout and Colorado beat Edmonton in Denver to take a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference finals.
The Avalanche broke through in the second after a scoreless opening period that featured something rarely seen so far in this series – defense. Artturi Lehkonen and Josh Manson scored 15 seconds apart to get things going in the second, with Mikko Rantanen adding another on Kadri’s third assist.
Nathan MacKinnon scored late in the third.
Game 3 is Saturday in Edmonton. The Avalanche are 5-0 on the road so far in these playoffs, and 15-4 in a best-of-seven series when taking a 2-0 lead.
This game was a departure from a high-scoring Game 1 in which there were 14 goals and 84 shots.
Francouz grew stronger with every save he made as he stepped in for Darcy Kuemper, who left Game 1 with an upper-body injury. Francouz was serenaded with chants of “Frankie! Frankie!” from the crowd.
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