The New Jersey Devils went into Tuesday night’s game against the Colorado Avalanche as huge underdogs. As Herb Brooks would say, if we played them ten times, they might win nine. However, not that game. The New Jersey Devils defeated the Colorado Avalanche on Gender Equality night by a final score of 5-3.
It was a memorable game simply based on the fact that they beat the best team in the league but there is even more. The Devils trailed 3-0 early in the second period and climbed all the way back to get the victory.
Colorado had goals from Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen, and Cale Makar who are their best players. MacKinnon scored or assisted on all three goals and the other two guys each had two points. Add an assist each for Devon Toews and Gabriel Landeskog and you have a great night for Colorado.
Unfortunately for them, New Jersey’s skating legs took over. Colorado was playing in the second half of a back to back and it showed. They were outshot 43-26 in the game. The fact that they had a chance to win shows how talented they actually are because they can win in spite of bad play.
The New Jersey Devils made Tuesday night’s win an incredibly memorable one.
The Devils scored five unanswered for the win after it became 3-0. Tomas Tatar got things started with his first goal in ten games. Ty Smith kept his hot streak going to get it within one before Damon Severson tied it up.
Later in the third period, New Jersey was awarded a power play. Jack Hughes found Nathan Bastian in front of the goalmouth where he buried it to give the Devils their first lead of the evening. It was a sensational moment for this young team.
Jesper Bratt, Jack Hughes, Yegor Sharangovich, Jonas Seigenthaler, and Pavel Zacha did a good job helping set up those goals. It came out before the game that they would be missing Nico Hischier for this one so it was good to see everyone step up in his place.
Dawson Mercer set up Yegor Sharangovich for an empty-net goal to seal the deal late in the third. That line of those two with Hughes was incredible as they set up scoring chance after scoring chance. The trio combined for 13 out of New Jersey’s 43 shots.
Nico Daws wasn’t necessarily spectacular but there was a lot of puck luck involved in Colorado’s offense in this game. He made some big-time saves in some key moments so he should be proud. It has been said a lot that this team can win with good goaltending because it can.
All in all, this is a huge win that people won’t soon be forgetting. They are way too deep in their playoff hole but they can play extremely well down the stretch and feel good about themselves going into the offseason and next year. This has been fun lately. We can only hope that they keep it up.