The Colorado Avalanche scored four goals in the third period to beat the New Jersey Devils 5-2 on Wednesday night, October 28 at Ball Arena in Denver. Nazem Kadri and Parker Kelly scored 1:02 apart early in the third to break a 1-1 tie, and the win ended New Jersey’s four game winning streak.
Colorado trailed first, levelled the game in the second period, and then overwhelmed a Devils team playing the second night of a back to back. The Avalanche outshot New Jersey 44-22 on the night, including a 21-6 margin in the second period, and five different skaters scored. Brent Burns picked up two assists and a slice of history along the way, and Mackenzie Blackwood made 20 saves in his 300th NHL game.
Third Period Breaks The Game Open
Kadri put Colorado ahead 2-1 at 2:45 of the third period, taking a pass from Nicolas Roy with Burns also drawing an assist, and Kelly made it 3-1 at 3:47 on a wrist shot from the circle, set up by Burns and Fedor Svechkov. The two goals in 62 seconds changed the night completely. New Jersey had led for most of the game to that point, and suddenly the Devils were chasing a Colorado team that could smell the finish.
Nathan MacKinnon added his eighth goal of the season at 12:00, with Artturi Lehkonen and Sam Malinski assisting, and Jaden Schwartz scored 30 seconds later at 12:30 to make it 5-1, finishing a play from Malinski and Kadri. Connor Brown scored his second goal of the night at 15:35 to close the scoring for New Jersey. Kadri finished with a goal and an assist, Schwartz had a goal and an assist, Gabriel Landeskog also scored, and Malinski matched Burns with two assists in a win built on depth as much as star power.
I thought it was a good, solid effort from all of our guys. We get contributions from everybody.
That was Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar, speaking to NHL.com after the game. Bednar pointed to a simplicity in Colorado’s offence as the repeatable part of the performance, and the shot totals backed him up. Colorado kept sending pucks and bodies toward Jake Allen all night, and the pressure finally told in a third period the Devils could not survive.
Burns Climbs The Defensemen List
Burns reached 950 career points with his two assists, on 273 goals and 677 assists, and the milestone carried real weight on the all time list. He passed Erik Karlsson and Chris Chelios to take sole possession of 10th place in points by a defenseman in NHL history. On a night when Blackwood marked his 300th NHL game in goal, Burns supplied the history, still producing from the blue line deep into a career that keeps climbing the record book.
The win came at a small cost. Colorado lost defenseman Josh Manson to a lower body injury late in the first period. Manson twisted awkwardly along the boards while battling for the puck, did not play in the second period, and was ruled out before the third. The Avalanche, now 7-5-1, had lost four of their previous six games, and they host the Calgary Flames on Saturday night hoping the third period in Denver becomes a turning point rather than a one night surge.
Devils Run Out Of Steam
New Jersey’s night started with the kind of goal that usually sets a road team free. Brown opened the scoring at 12:21 of the first period with a shorthanded goal, stealing a MacKinnon pass in the Devils zone, skating down the right side, and seeing his centring attempt deflect off Cale Makar’s skate and through Blackwood’s pads. It was the fourth shorthanded goal Colorado has allowed this season. Landeskog tied the game on a power play at 10:58 of the second, stuffing a Schwartz feed through the slot inside the post.
Allen kept the Devils in position to steal the game for as long as he could, finishing with 39 saves while facing wave after wave of Colorado pressure. New Jersey, now 8-5-0, had won in Dallas 5-1 on Tuesday night to extend its streak to four, and the schedule caught up with the Devils in the altitude of Ball Arena. Head coach Sheldon Keefe told NHL.com his team battled hard and gave him everything it had, but the dam broke in the third. New Jersey moves on to a Friday night game at the Vegas Golden Knights, while Colorado takes the two points and a four goal third period it will want to bottle.
