Avs Respond But Can't Down The Devils

There are some words between a coach and his team that aren't meant to be shared.
The conversation that Colorado Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar had with his squad during the first intermission on Friday night was one of those instances.

"Hated our first, stood around, weren't physical," Bednar said. "They outskated us. They outworked us. We addressed it after the first, and I thought we responded. I think the second period was our most physical period in a couple weeks."
When Bednar was asked if he could expand on what was discussed following the opening 20 minutes, he responded "no," while displaying a slight grin on his face.

Whatever was said seemed to work. The Avalanche had five more shots on goal (10-5), nine more shot attempts (24-15) and 10 more hits (17-7) than the New Jersey Devils in the second period and scored the equalizer late in the frame.
"After the first, I thought we did a better job in being physical in our defensive zone, shutting down their cycles," said Blake Comeau. "I think in the first, we gave them too much respect and time and space to make plays. After the first, we got better at that."
Colorado's tough play was not able to be sustained for the remainder of the contest, as New Jersey took advantage of its fifth power play of the evening after Brian Boyle scored off a rebound at 6:11 of the third period. The Avs battled, looking to retie the contest, but left the Pepsi Center ice at the final horn with a 2-1 loss.
The outing was a low-offensive affair as both teams combined for only 44 shots on goal--the Avs finishing with a 23-21 edge.
"Those are the ones when it is 1-1 in the third, you got to find a way to at least get it to overtime and see what you can do," Comeau said. "To lose in that fashion, it's frustrating."
Colorado had its share of chances to add a few more tallies on the scoreboard, but the team didn't capitalize enough on its opportunities.
Bednar said there was too much passing when a good chance to shoot presented itself.
"If you look at some of our O-zone shifts where we make some plays, get the puck inside the dots, we're not shooting it," Bednar said. "We're always looking at the next play. You're not going to get backdoor tap-ins very often, especially when you're playing teams that can check and skate, which is all of them."

The Avs finished 1-for-5 on the power play and could only generate three shots on net during those situations. The Devils finished with six shots on their six man advantages.
"I don't think it was an as exciting game as people might have thought with the speed of both teams," said J.T. Compher, who tallied Colorado's only marker. "I think both teams did a good job defensively of not letting the other team create offense. Pretty similar. They struggled last year like us. They're putting together wins, and we're trying to do the same thing."
In the end, Boyle's power-play goal ended up being the dagger.
"Our PK did a good job tonight, and we just couldn't get that one," Comeau said. "Moving forward, it is something we got to do. If we get the chance to kill a penalty to keep the game alive, we have to get it done."
The Avalanche's loss ended a six-game home winning streak versus the Devils, who had last won at Pepsi Center on March 15, 2008.

ROOKIES CONTRIBUTE

J.T. Compher scored his fourth goal of the season and Alex Kerfoot recorded his 18th point of the campaign with the primary assist as the two rookies connected for the Avs' only goal of the night.
The marker came after the Avs had a solid cycle in the offensive zone during a power play, with Compher jumping on a rebound with 2:49 left before the intermission.
"Good job by Kerf to get pucks on net. It just came to me off a block. It is a focus of ours to get pucks on net," Compher said. "Then good job by Mikko (Rantanen) in front to screen, and we were able to get a big one on the power play."

Coach Jared Bednar said after the contest he liked Compher's game and put him on the top line with Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen in the latter half of the contest to help in the Avs' comeback attempt. Compher finished with three shots on goal in 19:02 of ice time.
Kerfoot's assist marked his third point in his last two games. His 18 points on the year are tied for fifth among NHL rookies, and his eight power-play points rank tied for third among all first-year players.

TOP LINE REPLACEMENT

With Gabriel Landeskog serving the second of his four-game suspension on Friday night, Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar had to continue to find a replacement for the left wing's spot on the first line with MacKinnon and Rantanen.
Sven Andrighetto got his chance in Wednesday's overtime victory versus the Winnipeg Jets, and Friday was Nail Yakupov's turn against the New Jersey Devils.
"Yak is a guy that I like the way he's played," Bednar said after morning skate. "Some of his ice time has gone away just because of the makeup of our lines."
While Yakupov started on the top trio, he didn't finish there. Bednar swapped him and Compher for the second half of the game with the Avs trying to get going offensively.
"I moved Compher up on MacK's and Mikko's line because I liked the way he was skating," Bednar said of his reasoning. "We need that line to go."