Though the rest of the Avs looked flat, A.J. Greer was solid in his NHL debut

There wasn’t a lot of positives to take away from the Colorado Avalanche’s 1-0 loss to the Boston Bruins Sunday night. Aside from Semyon Varlamov’s stellar performance, perhaps the only thing worth mentioning was the play of forward A.J Greer, who, in his first NHL game, did not look out of place.

“I thought [he] did a good job getting on pucks, using his legs, playing with a little speed, taking the puck to the net on a couple of occasions,” said Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar of Greer. “We need that throughout our lineup.”

Summoned from San Antonio (where he was leading the Rampage with 14 points) due to the injury to Matt Duchene, Greer saw 16:34 of ice time, and was on the ice for the entire two minutes of the Avs’ only powerplay.

“Obviously, we’ve got a lot of big guys in here, and I’m fortunate that coach gave me the chance to play on that powerplay,” said Greer. “I tried to do my best and get better for the next game.”

Greer finished the contest with two shots on net and one takeaway. Though he was not credited with a hit, he was a physical presence all over the ice, even crashing the Bruins net on several occasions. Though it didn’t show, he was plenty nervous at the start of the game.

“You have the butterflies, and kind of realize that this is something you’ve worked for your whole life,” he said. “My first couple of shifts, a bit of jitters here and there. I bobbled the puck and made some mental mistakes. I thought I picked it up pretty well after that. You can only learn from here.”

It remains to be seen how long this stint with the Avalanche will last for Greer, as Bednar said that Duchene will practice on Monday. If he continues to play like he did on Sunday, it might be pretty hard to send him back to the AHL.

“He’s got some skill, got some grit, he wants to go to the front of the net, he’s willing to take pucks there,” said Bednar. “He’s on pucks. When the puck gets put in their zone, he’s on it right away. He’s got good legs, and he wants to get there, and he’s getting there.”

For his part, Greer was grateful for the opportunity, but he knows that getting to the NHL is one thing, staying there is an entirely different story.

“It’s a dream come true,” he said. “You work your whole life towards this goal, and the work just started. I’m proud to have lived this experience, and hopefully it’s not my last.”