Avalanche Uses Full Team Effort to Defeat Devils 5-2

Wednesday Win

Nazem Kadri's go-ahead tally in the third period began the four-goal final frame in the team's 5-2 win against the New Jersey Devils at Ball Arena on Wednesday. Gabriel Landeskog, Parker Kelly, Nathan MacKinnon and Jaden Schwartz all added tallies for Colorado, while Brent Burns and Sam Malinski both posted two assists. In net for the Avalanche, Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 20 of the 22 shots he faced.

"I thought it was great tonight," Landeskog said about the team's performance. "We didn't get rewarded until the third period, but I thought we did a good job of sticking with it. I thought we were hungry and were on pucks. And obviously, we know they played last night, but we wanted to make sure we just bounced back and played our game more to our identity and who we are as a team in and out of the [defensive] zone. We talked about it yesterday at practice, but [we wanted an] increase on just about everything. Get better at everything. [Defensive] zone, transition game [and] offensive zone. Our special teams I thought was good tonight. Obviously, [the] power play gets one and the [penalty kill] just stepped up big when we needed it. I thought the guys responded well."

With the win, the Avalanche improved to 7-5-1.

How It Happened

Connor Brown put the Devils on the board first with a shorthanded goal at 12:21 of the opening frame via a right-circle shot off the rush that deflected in.

With his hit at 17:26 of the first period, Landeskog posted the 1,572nd hit and became the franchise's all-time leader in hits. 

Landeskog tied the game at 10:58 of the second period on the power play with his fifth goal of the season via a shot from the right doorstep, set up by Jaden Schwartz's cross-ice feed.

Late in the second period and early in the third, the Avalanche killed off a five-on-three penalty that included four saves from Blackwood.

Kadri gave the Avs a 2-1 lead at 2:45 of the third period with his second goal of the season via a shot from the left doorstep set up by Roy's cross-crease pass. With the secondary assist on the goal, Burns passed Chris Chelios and Erik Karlsson for the most points by a defenseman in NHL history (949).

Colorado doubled its lead at 3:47 of the third period when Kelly scored his second goal of the season via a right-circle shot off the rush.

MacKinnon gave the Avs a 4-1 lead at 12:00 of the third period with his eighth goal of the season via a breakaway goal after splitting two Devils players.

The Avalanche took a 5-1 lead at 12:30 of the final frame when Schwartz scored his fourth goal of the season by capitalizing on a rebound via a shot from the left slot off the rush.

Brown made it 5-2 at 15:35 of the third period via a backhand shot from the low slot.

Next Up

The Avalanche concludes its homestand on Saturday against the Calgary Flames at 8 p.m. MDT on Altitude, Altitude+, Altitude Sports Radio 92.5 FM and the Altitude Sports Radio App.