Same story. Different state.
The Colorado Avalanche have now been to overtime four times this season—and they still haven’t come out on top. The New Jersey Devils were the latest to knock them out sudden death style in Sunday’s bout. After rallying from yet another deficit to tie the game with just over six minutes left in regulation, Colorado coughed up the puck and the game.
Jack Hughes scored the game-winner at Prudential Center, giving the Devils a 4‑3 win and handed the Avalanche their fourth
straight loss.
Last year, Colorado went 8‑3‑1 in back-to-back games, but this year they’re off to a rough start, sitting 0‑1‑1 in such situations after a 3‑2 loss to the Boston Bruins on Saturday.
For Colorado, Valeri Nichushkin, Nathan MacKinnon, and Brock Nelson all scored, and Trent Miner made 20 saves in his first start of the season (and second of his NHL career). On the Devils’ side, Hughes scored twice, while Arseny Gritsyuk and Connor Brown also found the net, giving New Jersey their eighth straight win since losing the season opener 6‑3 to the Carolina Hurricanes. Jake Allen stopped 21 shots.
First Period
The Devils jumped out early with two goals in just 37 seconds about 10 minutes in. Gritsyuk scored first after a sharp give-and-go, blasting the puck past Miner. Then Hughes skated through the neutral zone and beat Miner from nearly the same spot, glove side, to make it 2‑0.
Colorado tried to answer. Nelson fired an 81 mph wrist shot with under eight minutes left, but Allen stopped it. Nichushkin eventually got the Avs on the board, burying a rebound off a Makar shot that deflected off a Devils defender.
With under two minutes left, MacKinnon tapped in a rebound off the post for his seventh goal of the season. Lehkonen took the initial shot, Necas tried to wrap it around, and MacKinnon was there unprotected to help clean it up.
Second Period
Colorado’s penalty kill did its job after Nelson was called for tripping early in the period. The second line center has had issues staying out of the box early this year, but the Avalanche penalty kill in stark contrast to the power play, has been very strong. Later, Luke Hughes went off for tripping Necas, who crashed hard into the boards but stayed in the game.
Then, with just over seven minutes left, a messy line change left Colorado hanging. Connor Brown grabbed the loose puck and broke away, firing it past Miner to give New Jersey a 3‑2 lead. Despite outshooting the Devils 11‑3 that period, Colorado found themselves giving up the only goal of the frame.
Third Period
The third period was a more technical period with multiple ebbs and flows. Both teams exchanged turnovers at different points and no one quite stood out. Colorado uncharacteristically only managed to generate five shots in the period as they were running out of gas after a long weekend. However, the Avalanche finally broke through.
Nelson tied the game with 6:05 remaining, taking a sharp pass from Colton in the slot and firing it home to even the score. The question now was whether Colorado could finally break their overtime—or shootout—curse.
Aghhhhhhh.
Overtime
After MacKinnon gave up the puck deep in the offensive zone, the Devils raced the other way. Hughes’ first backhand missed, but Simon Nemec jumped on Necas’ clearing attempt and passed it to Hughes at the right circle. With a quick pump fake, Hughes ripped a clean wrist shot top shelf to seal the win.
Takeaways
When you’re always playing from behind, this is what happens—and it’s happened in nearly half of their games this year. The power play has been struggling, and turnovers like this won’t work against teams of this caliber. The Avalanche are lucky to be 5‑1‑4 instead of something like 3‑3‑2. There’s clearly a lot of work ahead, and they can’t keep playing like this for the next 60 games.
Upcoming
The Avalanche (5‑1‑4) head back to Ball Arena on Tuesday for a rematch with the Devils (8‑1). Puck drop is at 7 p.m. local time.
