Another slow start turned into a second consecutive listless effort by the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday night. The Avs struggled to get going early against the New Jersey Devils they gave up the first goal, and spent most of the remainder of the game chasing the home team. In the end, it was a 4-3 loss.
Colorado trailed 3-1 late into regulation and gave up an empty netter with 3:55 remaining. It added two late goals, with the third tally coming in the final seconds. The Avalanche lost by a goal, but wasn’t necessarily a one-goal game.
Artturi Lehkonen had the two late goals and Gabe Landeskog added one in the first period. Cale Makar had two assists, while Scott Wedgewood made a whopping 37 saves. The Avalanche were outshot 41-34 and had 21 of their shots in the final frame.
The Devils struck first at 6:40 with a tally from Luke Evangelista. They held that lead and a large advantage in shots and zone time until Landeskog tied it up at at 14:32.
The captain had the goal, but the play was all Makar. The superstar defenseman gathered a pass at the blueline off a drop pass from Nazem Kadri. First, he dangled around Timo Meier, then stick handled past Jack Hughes before going to his backhand to send a pass to Landeskog through Luke Hughes.
Colorado was outshot 15-4 but entered the intermission knotted up at 1-1 thanks to Wedgewood’s strong play.
But things didn’t change in the second. The Devils were far and away the better team, even though it took more than 12 minutes for Declan Chisolm to put them ahead 2-1. New Jersey eventually added a third tally off a beautiful play from Arseny Gritsyuk just 4:39 into the third before Jesper Boqvist’s empty netter.
Lehkonen added a goal at 16:47 and 19:55. Colorado had control of the puck for pretty much the entire final three minutes but it was too little too late.
Bad: Slow, Listless Hockey
The hocke looked a lot like it did in Philadelphia. The Avalanche were a touch too slow, played uninspired, and couldn’t defend to the standard that they’ve set for themselves for the better part of the last five+ years.
There’s just no other way to put it. They were the second-best team in both games, and that’s a problem.
Good: Again, the Goalie
Against the Flyers, Mackenzie Blackwood was basically the only reason why the Avs hung around. You could say the same in this game about Wedgewood.
He tried his best to give the team a chance but didn’t get the support from the offense to even squeak out a point.
If you could believe it, this is just his 11th regulation loss since joining the Avs. Wedgewood is 45-11-8 in that time.
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