Olofsson gets career-high 5 points, Avalanche end Devils winning streak at 8

DENVER -- Victor Olofsson scored his first NHL hat trick and had a career-high five points for the Colorado Avalanche, who ended the New Jersey Devils' eight-game winning streak with an 8-4 victory at Ball Arena on Tuesday.

“This is a lot of the reason why we got him,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said of Olofsson. “He's an elite shooter, and you look at those goals he scored tonight and they're great shots.”

Olofsson, who signed a one-year contract with the Avalanche on Aug. 20, entered the game with just five assists in 10 games this season.

“It felt great,” Olofsson said. “I've been putting a lot of pucks on the net, and unfortunately, not a lot in the net. But usually it does come when you keep shooting, and yeah, came in bunches tonight. So, it was nice.”

Nathan MacKinnon scored twice and had an assist, and Cale Makar had four assists for the Avalanche (6-1-4), who had lost four in a row (0-1-3). Parker Kelly had a goal and an assist, and Scott Wedgewood made 26 saves.

“I think you've got to celebrate the wins. They're hard to get in this league, and we did a lot of really good things tonight,” Bednar said. “I felt like the offensive side of it tonight was going to take care of itself. We just needed to be better than they were on the checking side of it, and eventually we got there and were able to get a win.

“It certainly wasn't perfect -- there's a lot more in that game than probably any other game that I'd want to clean up, like from the structure of our game -- but there was also a lot of nice playmaking. So, we got to be able to find the balance in it.”

Jack Hughes had a goal and an assist, and Stefan Noesen, Dougie Hamilton and Dawson Mercer also scored for the Devils (8-2-0), who defeated the Avalanche 4-3 in overtime in the first game of the home-and-home series in New Jersey on Sunday. Jacob Markstrom made 34 saves in his first game since Oct. 13 because of a lower-body injury.

“Our [penalty kill] was due for a bad night, their power play was due for a good night, and unfortunately we met at the same time, but certainly got what we deserved tonight,” said New Jersey coach Sheldon Keefe, whose team went 2-for-6 on the penalty kill. “Just our reads defensively were so poor tonight. We went from a game the other day where we gave them basically nothing off of the rush to today, it was just rush after rush. So, a lot of poor defending, a lot of poor reads, the rush coming through, and then obviously special teams.”

Martin Necas gave Colorado a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 1:24 of the first period. He buried a one-timer short side from the left circle off a return pass from Makar.

Zakhar Bardakov made it 2-0 at 3:49. He took a cross-ice pass from Kelly, who was along the left boards in the neutral zone, and skated in on a breakaway before firing a wrist shot under Markstrom's blocker arm from the right circle.

It was the first NHL goal for Bardakov, who was originally selected by the Devils in the seventh round (No. 203) of the 2021 NHL Draft.

“Best game he's played, for sure. The whole line was good,” Bednar said. “I think that they all looked fantastic. I loved Kelly's game, I loved [Gavin] Brindley's game, I loved Bardakov's game.”

Olofsson extended the lead to 3-0 at 2:31 of the second period with a snap shot from the right circle that went over Markstrom's shoulder and under the crossbar.

MacKinnon made it 4-0 at 7:11. During a 5-on-3 power play, he scored with a one-timer from the top of the left circle that clipped the top of Markstrom’s right pad.

“They were hitting good one-timers. I was trying to put them in the sweet spot for them, and they were doing well. So, made my night easy,” Makar said. “We just want to build on this one especially and make sure that we continue to do the right things moving forward, the things that made us successful tonight.”

Kelly finished a breakaway to make it 5-0 at 8:39. Ross Colton took a stretch pass from Brent Burns at the blue line and passed across to Kelly, who made a forehand-to-backhand deke before lifting a shot into an open net.

Noesen made it 5-1 at 10:08. He scored off the far post with a snap shot after Paul Cotter disrupted Burns’ clearing attempt.

Hamilton cut it to 5-2 at 11:48. His initial shot from the high slot was blocked in front, but he gloved down the rebound and knocked it behind Wedgewood at the left post.

Mercer then made it 5-3 on a rush at 13:42. He angled Timo Meier's centering pass to Nico Hischier, who then quickly sent it back to Mercer for a tap-in from the edge of the crease.

“I think after we were down a couple goals we lost structure, and I think that's the worst thing that can happen,” Hischier said. “Gave up easy goals, and, obviously, today we showed exactly the recipe of how not to play hockey.”

Hughes got the Devils to within 5-4 at 14:12. Skating in on a 3-on-2 rush, Hughes dropped the puck through his legs to Jesper Bratt, who sent it back to Hughes for a one-timer from below the right circle.

“First one hits a stick, knuckle puck. Second one, I make a save and it just disappears with the net-front coverage,” Wedgewood said. “Somehow, I guess, he grabbed it and threw it to himself and scored. We turned one over and they make a nice triple pass, backdoor tap in. No one's stopping it. And then they turn it over again, they make another three-pass play, and no one's stopping it.

“But you just got to go through the routine, wash each one of them and prepare for the next one no matter how [rough] it is. You can't do anything about it.”

MacKinnon ended the rally with a one-timer on the power play to make it 6-4 at 15:24.

“We just didn't have a good game tonight, which is frustrating when you look at it from a whole,” Devils defenseman Brenden Dillon said. “You look at the game, you can't give up four PK goals. The goals against were, for the most part, grade A's from our kind of self-inflicted wounds.”

Olofsson scored another power-play goal to push the lead to 7-4 at 3:10 of the third period. He then completed the hat trick at 17:38 with a wrist shot from just above the left circle for the 8-4 final.

“You're never going to have 60 perfect minutes, it doesn't really work that way, but we're trying to be as perfect as we can," Olofsson said. "I think we did a lot of good tonight."

NOTES: MacKinnon scored his 375th and 376th career goals, passing Milan Hejduk for fourth in Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques history. It was MacKinnon's 56th career multigoal game, which also passed Hejduk for fourth in franchise history. ... Burns recorded his 915th career point, tying Bobby Orr for 11th among defensemen in NHL history. ... Makar is the first defenseman in Avalanche/Nordiques history to have three four-assist games.