Devils hand Avs second straight defeat
NEWARK, N.J. >> John Marino scored with 2:17 left in regulation to help the New Jersey Devils turn back a spirited comeback attempt Tuesday night by the Colorado Avalanche.
The Avs lost for the second time in as many nights coming out of the All-star break, falling 5-3 at Prudential Center. It was the first back-to-back losses for Colorado since Dec. 7 and 9 — a span of nearly two months.
Cale Makar and Samuel Girard scored 28 seconds apart midway through the third period to rally the Avs from a two-goal deficit. Artturi Lehkonen crunched Luke Hughes with a big hit behind the Devils net, and the puck went right to Makar near the left post. He tucked it in the net before Devils goalie Vitek Vanecek was able to identify where it was.
Jonathan Drouin set up Girard on the next shift for a blast from the left point. Suddenly, after looking like a tired team at times over the previous 40 minutes, the Avs were back even at 3-3 and pushing for a winner. Instead, less than 30 seconds after a great chance for Nathan Mackinnon, the Devils’ top line struck again.
Colorado’s top line opened the scoring on its first shift of the game. Drouin poked the puck away from Devils captain Nico Hischier and right to Mikko Rantanen in the left circle for an impromptu one-timer 83 seconds in.
New Jersey answered on the next shift. Chris Tierney deflected rookie Simon Nemec’s shot from the right point, and it skipped off the ice and past Avs goalie Justus Annunen 2:05 into the opening period.
It certainly looked like a Wild West shootout was brewing, but the pace of the game slowed. The Avs held a 10-3 advantage in shots on goal at one point and were dominating play at 5-on-5. But, in similar fashion to the night before across the Hudson River, the other team played better as the game wore on.
There were signs of potential problems earlier in this game, a couple of sloppy plays or poor decisions with the puck led to counterattacks from the Devils. An aggressive pinch near the offensive blue line by Makar led to a 2-on-1 for New Jersey and the lead.
Jesper Bratt played a played a perfect give-and-go on the rush with Hischier and then scored 3:49 into the second period. Dawson Mercer added another one less than three minutes later. The puck hit Annunen
and
rolled awkwardly
off
his body. He didn’t notice where it went, but Mercer did and punched it across the goal line with one hand on his stick.
It’s far from panic time
for the Avs.
They’re still 13-4-2 since Devon Toews’ viral postgame rant after a sluggish night in Chicago, but they’ve got some work to
do on the rest of this road trip to regain the high-flying form from before the extended break. The Avs are next hosted by the Hurricanes Thursday at 5 p.m.