(Sports Network) - Boston and Colorado will begin their 2008-09 regular seasons with an interconference battle, as the Avalanche host the Bruins tonight at the Pepsi Center.

Both the Bruins and Avs are coming off postseason appearances last spring. Boston was the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference and was bounced out in the opening round in a tough seven-game series with Montreal. Colorado defeated Minnesota in six games in the first round before getting swept by Detroit, the eventual Stanley Cup champions.

The Avalanche are no longer the dominating club they were in the late 1990s and early part of this decade, but they still have captain Joe Sakic to remind them of the good old days.

Sakic, now 39 years old, opted to return for his 20th and, perhaps, final NHL season, signing a one-year, $6 million deal. The Burnaby, British Columbia native is a two-time Stanley Cup winner, a former league MVP and, with 1,363 points, is also the eighth-leading scorer in NHL history.

In a change, Colorado brought back Tony Granato as head coach after he held the same position with the Avs for parts of two seasons in 2002-03 and 2003-04. Granato will replace Joel Quenneville, who opted not to return after Colorado was swept by Detroit in the second round of last year's playoffs.

The Avalanche didn't make many major moves in the offseason, so Granato's task will be to help the club improve from within. One piece Granato will not have that Quenneville possessed is starting goaltender Jose Theodore, who signed a free-agent deal with Washington in the offseason.

With Theodore gone, Peter Budaj is back in place as the team's starting goaltender. Budaj was the Avs' No. 1 goaltender in 2006-07 and was 31-16-6 with a 2.68 goals against average and .905 save percentage. Last year, the Slovakian backstop was 16-10-4 with a 2.57 GAA and .903 save percentage in 35 games as Theodore's backup.

Little was expected from the Bruins in 2007-08, but head coach Claude Julien led Boston to the postseason by implementing a strict team defense strategy. The new system worked, as the Bruins allowed just 222 goals en route to an 18- point improvement in the regular season.

The Bruins didn't make any earth-shattering moves in the offseason so it appears the club will try once again to trap their way to a playoff berth. It may not be the prettiest style of play, but Julien certainly made it work in Beantown last year.

This year, the Bruins are hoping to have a healthy Patrice Bergeron back after the young centerman was knocked out for the season after suffering a concussion just 10 games into the campaign. Bergeron, 23, had 73 points in 2005-06 and 70 the following season.

Bergeron is expected to be one of Boston's two main offensive threats along with fellow centerman Marc Savard, who led Boston with 78 points in 2007-08.

Tim Thomas will be back as the club's starting goaltender after turning in a career season in 2007-08. The 34-year-old Thomas had a 2.44 goals against average and .921 save percentage in 57 contest and played in his first All- Star Game.

Colorado has won two straight and three of the last four matchups with the Bruins. Boston has also been defeated in four of six and seven of its last 10 trips to Denver.

The Bruins are winless in their last five season openers with four losses and a tie. The Avs won their first game of the 2007-08 campaign after going 0-1-1 (1 loss, 1 overtime loss) in the previous two years.