Avalanche Roll Past Devils 5-2 as Depth Scoring and Special Teams Deliver

Colorado’s response to an early New Jersey goal turned a potentially tense rematch into a 5-2 Avalanche win at Ball Arena on Wednesday. The result featured a 44-22 edge in shots, goals from several parts of the lineup and a penalty kill that handled all four Devils chances.

The Avalanche had lost to New Jersey earlier this season, and the opening minutes offered little comfort: a strange carom off Cale Makar’s skate helped produce a Devils shorthanded goal. Colorado recovered quickly. By the time Connor Brown scored his second of the game, the Avalanche had built a 5-1 lead and put the visitors under sustained pressure.

Contributions came from across the lineup

Colorado’s scoring spread addressed a concern that had lingered around the team: too much reliance on its leading names. Parker Kelly, Nazem Kadri and Jaden Schwartz all found the net, while Gabriel Landeskog scored on the power play and Nathan MacKinnon supplied a highlight reel finish. The group’s combined production gave the Avalanche more ways to win than a night built around one star line.

That distribution matters over a long season. Opponents can devote their best checking matchups to Colorado’s top players; goals from other parts of the roster make that approach harder to sustain. One game doesn’t settle questions about consistency, but Wednesday offered a useful example of what the Avalanche can look like when depth players convert their chances.

Colorado also made its goals count by driving toward the crease. Kadri’s and Landeskog’s tallies came from pressure around the net, where traffic and positioning can turn possession into a dangerous chance. Landeskog broke free from the boards, found open ice and finished a feed into a largely uncovered net. It was a direct play, and a reminder that not every scoring chance needs a complicated setup.

The game-level WAR figures cited after the win also highlighted the supporting cast. Schwartz recorded 0.91, Kelly 0.62 and MacKinnon 0.68. Those numbers offer one lens on individual impact; the more visible takeaway was that Colorado received meaningful contributions from both its established stars and players whose scoring had been less frequent.

Special teams provided a clearer picture

Landeskog’s second-period power-play goal, assisted by Schwartz and Devon Toews, came with 9:02 remaining in the period. Colorado finished 1-for-2 with the man advantage. The goal was a welcome return, though the Devils’ shorthanded marker meant the special-teams ledger included a costly concession as well as a successful conversion.

The source of the power-play goal also drew attention to the second unit, prompting a case for giving that group the opening shift before turning to the first unit. That approach could offer a different look, though Wednesday’s single game isn’t enough to establish what the team should use as a regular pattern. The immediate evidence is simpler: the unit scored, and Colorado’s power play produced once in two opportunities.

The penalty kill delivered the more straightforward success. New Jersey went 0-for-4, leaving Colorado perfect across four kills. That marked a sharp improvement from the Avalanche’s 3-for-7 showing against Nashville the previous Sunday. The Devils still managed two goals at even strength, but Colorado’s ability to erase every opposing power play helped keep the early setback from becoming a larger problem.

The response mattered after the first goal

The first Devils goal arrived in an awkward fashion and could have put Colorado on its heels. Instead, the Avalanche settled into the game, generated chances and gradually pulled away. Their 44 shots against New Jersey’s 22 tell the story of a lopsided attack, while the five-goal lead showed the pressure turning into results.

New Jersey was playing for the second night in a row, and the source account observed that the Devils appeared to lose energy in the second period. That schedule context may help explain the widening gap, but Colorado still had to take advantage. The Avalanche did so with repeated pressure and enough scoring variety to punish the visitors as the game progressed.

Brown’s late second goal for New Jersey cut the margin to three, but it did not erase the work Colorado had done to establish control. Mackenzie Blackwood celebrated the win with Toews and Brent Burns, and the final score gave the Avalanche the kind of response they had missed in an earlier loss to the Devils.

Now Colorado has a few days before hosting Calgary on Saturday night. The Flames had beaten the Avalanche in their previous meeting, giving Colorado another chance to respond to a disappointing result. Wednesday’s performance offers a useful template: generate volume, get depth players involved and make the penalty kill hold up. The next game will show whether that standard carries over.