A four-goal surge in the third period propelled the Colorado Avalanche to a 5-2 victory over the New Jersey Devils at Ball Arena on Wednesday.
Connor Brown opened the scoring for New Jersey with an unassisted, short-handed wrist shot at 12:21 of the first period for his first goal of the season. Gabriel Landeskog answered for Colorado midway through the second period, scoring on a power play at 10:58 with a snap shot assisted by Jaden Schwartz and Devon Toews.
Colorado took control early in the final frame. Nazem Kadri snapped home the go-ahead goal 2:45 into the third period off helpers from Nicolas Roy and Brent Burns. Just 1:02 later, Parker Kelly doubled the lead with a wrist shot at 3:47, assisted by Burns and Fedor Svechkov. Nathan MacKinnon added a snap shot at 12:00, and Schwartz followed 30 seconds later at 12:30 to make it 5-1. Brown scored his second goal of the night on a backhand at 15:35, assisted by Amadeus Lombardi and Cody Glass, to cap the scoring.
Colorado peppered the New Jersey net with a 44-22 advantage in shots on goal. Avalanche goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood earned the win with 20 saves, while Jake Allen made 39 stops in the loss for the Devils. The Avalanche finished 1-for-2 on the power play, while the Devils were held scoreless on three power-play chances.
The win lifted Colorado to 7-5-1 on the season, splitting the two-game regular-season series between the clubs after New Jersey took a 4-3 decision on October 20. The Devils dropped to 8-5-0 following the loss, which snapped their four-game winning streak.
New Jersey continues on the road to visit the Vegas Golden Knights on Friday. Colorado stays at home to host the Calgary Flames on Saturday.
