The Colorado Avalanche found their offense Tuesday night against the New Jersey Devils. Unfortunately, it arrived later than they would have preferred. Artturi Lehkonen scored twice in the final four minutes, but the Avalanche fell 4-3 at Prudential Center in Newark, suffering their second consecutive defeat. Colorado lost Monday night 3-2 to the Philadelphia Flyers.
The Avalanche were outshot 41-33 and trailed 4-1 before Lehkonen's late surge made the final score considerably closer. The Avalanche struggled to generate opportunities early, recording just four shots during the opening period while New Jersey registered 15.
Luke Evangelista opened the scoring at 6:40 of the first period, beating Scott Wedgewood for his third goal of the season. Nico Hischier and Jonas Siegenthaler notched the assists. Despite being outplayed for much of the period, the Avalanche managed to enter the intermission tied. Gabriel Landeskog scored his fourth goal of the season at 14:32 after Cale Makar worked his way through the Devils defense and delivered a pass to the Avalanche captain that Landeskog put past Devils goaltender Jake Allen.
The Devils regained the lead at 12:33 of the second period when Declan Chisholm scored his first goal of the year as his shot from the blue line deflected off Avalanche forward Brock Nelson and into the net. The goal came during a delayed penalty, giving New Jersey a 2-1 advantage. The Avalanche's offensive difficulties persisted throughout the period.
The Devils outshot the Avalanche 17-9 during the middle frame, extending their advantage to 32-13 through 40 minutes. Wedgewood kept the Avalanche within striking distance despite facing a steady diet of shots. The Devils added to their lead at 4:39 of the third period when Arseny Gritsyuk scored his fourth goal of the season, with Dougie Hamilton getting the assist.
Jesper Boqvist appeared to put the game away at 16:05, scoring his third goal of the season into an empty net to give the Devils a 4-1 lead. The Avalanche finally responded 42 seconds later when Lehkonen scored his seventh goal of the season at 16:47. The Avalanche continued applying pressure, outshooting the Devils 21-9 in the third period.
With just five seconds remaining, Lehkonen struck again, scoring his eighth goal of the season as Makar and Nelson received the assists. It was Lehkonen's second goal of the night and gave him the team lead in goals with eight. It was too little too late as the Avalanche ran out of time. Wedgewood finished with 37 saves on 40 shots while Allen stopped 31 of 34 shots.
Nathan MacKinnon was held pointless for the second straight game despite having five shots on goal in 21:19 of ice time. The Avalanche went scoreless on their lone power-play while the Devils converted once on two chances. The defeat dropped the Avalanche to 5-4-1 on the young season.
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