Avalanche Drop 7-5 Loss to Devils, Win Streak Ends at Six Games

The Colorado Avalanche dropped a 7-5 result to the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday night, which snapped their win streak at six games.

For the Avalanche, Nathan MacKinnon scored twice, while Mikko Rantanen and Valeri Nichuhskin also found the back of the net. Artturi Lehkonen handed out two assists. In net, Justus Annunen turned aside 22 of the 28 shots he faced.
Lars Eller, who the Avalanche acquired via a trade with the Washington Capitals earlier in the afternoon on Wednesday rushed from the airport and straight into the lineup as he made his debut in the Burgundy and Blue. The Avalanche utilized a lineup of 12 forwards and six defensemen.
For the Devils, Dawson Mercer had a three-point outing (1G, 2A), while Ondrej Palat, Nathan Bastian, Tomas Tatar (1G, 1A), Dougie Hamilton, Miles Wood (1G, 1A, power play) and Nico Hischier (1G, 1A, empty net) also scored. Michael McLeod handed out two assists. Vitek Vaneck made 14 saves on 19 shots through 41:26 minutes and Akira Schmid made 12 saves on as many shots through 18:34 minutes.
GAME SUMMARY:
After scoring on their first shot of the game for three-straight contests, the Avalanche were on the reverse of that instance as the Devils drew the game's icebreaker just 1:07 into play on the first shot of the game and in what was the first of a three-goal lead New Jersey would take just over the midway mark of the first period.
As the puck rimmed around the boards, Jesper Bratt snatched it behind the net and dished a pass into the low slot. Palat was situated all alone and put the puck past Annunen to give the Devils a quick 1-0 lead.
Colorado struggled to cleanly exit their zone and sustain any offensive zone pressure as the Devils showcased their speed and ultimately capitalized with their second goal of the game at 7:52.
Annunen had just made a point-blank save on McLeod all alone at the net front 7:30 into the game, when - on the same shift - the Devils scored. New Jersey's second strike unfolded as McLeod fired a shot on net. Annunen made the stop, but as he tried to cover the puck in the blue paint Bastian jammed it past his pad. The initial call from the referees was that the goal was good. Colorado's coaching staff challenged for goaltender interference, but upon review, the goal was confirmed.
The Devils then extended their lead 3-0 at 11:27 as Mercer intercepted an Avalanche attempted zone clearance down the middle of ice. New Jersey captain Nico Hischier sent a pass across the seam to Tatar at the right faceoff circle, where the Slovakian winger corralled the puck and fired a wrister into the open net before Annunen could slide over.
Late in the period, Colorado showed no quit and trimmed their deficit down 3-1 at 19:46. The Avalanche hemmed the Devils in their own zone and Nichushkin sent a pass to the right faceoff circle where MacKinnon unleashed a blistering one timer past Vanecek's blocker.

Down 3-1, the Avalanche got off to a slow start in the second period as the Devils pulled out to a 5-1 lead just under six minutes into play, but Colorado pushed back with an electric sequence scoring three goals in the span of 2:04 and did so on just eight shots.
The Devils scored at 3:13 to take a 4-1 lead as Hamilton skated into the right faceoff circle past Andrew Cogliano and wired a shot through a Bastian net-front screen and past Annunen.
New Jersey then furthered its lead 5-1 at 5:53 on a power-play goal after Compher took a tripping penalty at 3:53. Just as the penalty was about to expire, Annunen made a stop on a Mercer shot from the right faceoff circle, but kicked the rebound out to the slot where Wood buried it past him.
After forcing a turnover, the Avalanche turned and countered the out-of-place Devils skaters. Josh Manson took a pass from Alex Newhook above the right faceoff circle and tossed a shot to the net front where Rantanen tapped it past Vanecek at 7:32.

The Avalanche turned the pressure on and at 9:00, MacKinnon came blazing down the half wall, grabbed a pass from Bowen Byram and fired a low shot on the fly through Vanecek's pads to trim Colorado's lead down 5-3.

With Ball Arena erupting in chants, the Avalanche kept their foot on the pedal and at 9:36, Compher blitzed up the ice into Colorado's offensive zone and wired a high sizzling wrist shot past Vanecek to make it a one-goal game.

The Devils erased the one-goal game late in the second period as Mercer found the back of the net - for his seventh-straight game - at 16:59. Former Avalanche defenseman Ryan Graves circled behind the net and centered the puck to the net front, where Mercer put a one timer past Annunen to give New Jersey a 6-4 lead heading into the final 20 minutes of play.
Early in the third period the Avalanche inched closer as they made it a one-goal game at 1:26. Upon entering the zone they held onto possession and cycled the puck out to the point. Samuel Girard fired a shot on net that deflected off a New Jersey skate and bounced to the stick of Lehkonen. The Finn tapped the puck into the slot where Nichushkin hammered it past Vanecek.

The Devils challenged the goal for offsides on the zone entry, but the goal was confirmed and ended Vanecek's night who was pulled in place of Schmid for the remainder of the game.
The Avalanche were unable to capitalize on their power play after New Jersey's unsuccessful challenge on the goal and were unable to pick up an equalizer as the clock wound down. Colorado even pulled Annunen late in the frame with two minutes left in exchange for the extra skater, but the Devils scored on the empty net with a strike from Hischier to secure the 7-5 victory.

ELLER MAKES DEBUT FOR AVALANCHE:

Straight off the plane at Denver International Airport (after traveling from Anaheim) and following a busy afternoon, the Avalanche's newest acquisition in Eller joined his team just in time for the last few minutes of warmups before making his debut for the club against New Jersey.

Eller, who the Avalanche acquired earlier in the day via a trade with the Capitals (in exchange for a 2025 second rounder), skated between Evan Rodrigues and Matt Nieto. Eller wore No. 20, which was the number he sported in Washington.
The 33-year-old Danish centerman totaled 14:28 minutes, fired off one shot and was 46% in faceoff wins.

NOTEWORTHY:

• Rantanen buried his team-leading 41st goal of the season. The Finnish winger is also now riding a six-game goal streak with eight points (6G, 2A) in that span.
• MacKinnon - who has named the NHL's Second Star of the Month for February with 17 points (9G, 8A) in 10 games - buried his 23rd and 24th goals of the season and extended his point streak to nin games where he totaled 18 points (11G, 7A) in that span. The centerman also has goals in five-straight games.
• Compher scored his 13th goal of the season as he skated in his 400th-career game.
• Nichushkin extended his point streak to six games as he handed out two assists. The Russian winger also reached the 200-point mark for his career.
• Annunen made his 2nd start of the season, while his record improved to 1-0-0.
• Colorado finished the game 0-for-1 on the power play and 1-for-2 on the penalty kill.
• Cale Makar (upper body), Pavel Francouz (lower body) and Darren Helm (lower body) were scratches for the Avalanche.

NEXT GAME:

The Avalanche travel to Dallas for the first leg of an away-and-home back-to-back set beginning on Saturday afternoon. The puck drops between the Avs and Stars at 1:30 p.m. MT.