The Devils entered Thursday night's road affair against the Colorado Avalanche on a four-game win streak, having defeated the very same team at home in dominating fashion a week or so. The streak included a 5-1 shellacking of the Dallas Stars just one night prior to the game in Colorado.
Unfortunately for the Devils, they saw their four-game win streak come to an end in Denver. In rather ugly fashion, too.
The Devils fell by a score of 5-2, getting outshot for the first time this season (and by a landslide total of 44-22, no less) and getting out-attempted 78-44. New Jersey was only able to produce 2.31 expected goals (xG) themselves, while allowing nearly double that (4.54). For the first 25-or-so minutes, the game was relatively even, but the Devils' tired legs ultimately failed them, and the Avalanche poured it on, wave after wave, in the final 35 minutes of the game.
Despite having a healthy possession lead through 40 minutes, the game was tied. Deservingly so, though, Jake Allen (who had stood on his head for the entirety of the second period) was beaten four times in the final frame, with Connor Brown collecting a garbage-time goal -- his second of the game -- to get the Devils on the board more than once by game's end.
Important streak ends for the New Jersey Devils
It's not a worrying loss at all, despite the horrid on-ice numbers. The fact is, it was a scheduled loss, as much as it's painful to paint that picture. The Devils played one night prior, against a heavy, tough-to-beat Dallas Stars team, before travelling nearly 700 miles and elevating to a mile high in altitude and playing a team that had been resting for two-plus days. It's no wonder that the Devils' skaters looked slow and sloppy. It's no wonder that they were getting beaten to loose pucks. It's no wonder that it was, on paper, their grossest loss of the season from an underlying perspective.
Allen giving up five goals was perfectly reasonable. As was the overall result of the game. The Avalanche are 33-1-0 when playing while rested against teams on the second half of a back-to-back -- this is just an expected result at this point for them.
Despite the loss, there should be little to no concern about the overall trajectory of the group -- they're still a wagon. For now, it's on to the next one, where the Devils will have at least one day of rest.
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