Arseny Gritsyuk scored for the third straight game, Jake Allen made 18 of his 31 saves in the third period and the New Jersey Devils earned a 4-3 victory over the Colorado Avalanche Tuesday night in Newark, N.J.
Luke Evangelista had a goal and an assist after missing three games with an illness. Declan Chisholm scored his first goal for the Devils during a delayed penalty in the second period as the Devils won for the third time in four games.
Dougie Hamilton added an assist by making a key defensive play on Nathan MacKinnon that led to Gritsyuk’s latest goal 4:39 into the third.
Jesper Boqvist added an empty-net goal with 3:55 left, which wound up being the game-winning goal for the Devils.
Bringing a one-goal lead into the third, the Devils withstood constant pressure and Hamilton pressured MacKinnon into a giveaway in Colorado’s offensive zone.
Following MacKinnon’s turnover, Gritsyuk exited the bench on a line change, Hamilton sent the puck to the blue line in the defensive zone.
The forward finished off a backhander from close range after cutting from the wing to the middle of the ice and splitting Colorado defensemen Cale Makar and Devon Toews.
Allen was honored in a brief pregame ceremony for playing in his 500th career game and denied MacKinnon five times.
Before the Devils took a 3-1 lead on Gritsyuk’s goal, Allen made three straight saves on Martin Necas, MacKinnon and Makar in the opening minute of the third.
Gabriel Landeskog scored in the first period and Artturi Lehkonen tallied twice in the final 3:13 for the Avalanche, who are 3-4-1 in their past eight games. Last season, Colorado took its fourth regulation loss on Jan. 6 in its 42nd game.
Colorado goalie Scott Wedgewood made 37 saves and fell to 5-1-0 against his former team.
The Devils opened the scoring 6:40 into the contest when Nico Hischier maintained control of a bouncing puck and found Evangelista, who slid a shot by Wedgewood’s glove from between the faceoff circles. Colorado tied the game eight minutes later when Makar put the puck between his legs and made a backhanded pass to Landeskog, who stuffed the shot past Allen.
After Timo Meier was high-sticked by Josh Manson, Chisholm’s shot from the right point caromed off Colorado forward Brock Nelson’s skate and past Wedgewood at 12:33 of the second period for a 2-1 lead.
–Field Level Media
