The New Jersey Devils got dominated on Wednesday. In most circumstances, we would take the team to task for the effort they gave in Colorado. It wasn’t good. They left Jake Allen out to dry. Everything they did on Wednesday night was the antithesis of everything they had been doing that led to dominant wins.
The Devils lost the shot battle for the first time this season, and boy did they lose it. The Avalanche doubled up the Devils with 44 shots to 22. The Devils only goal came shorthanded, with Connor Brown shooting the puck off of Cale Makar’s skate. That actually have the Devils a 1-0 lead.
They lost 5-2. Brown actually scored the other goal on a backhanded shot with less than five mintues left.
The tying goal was a frustrating one. After a fairly good penalty kill for about 1:50, including Luke Hughes completely outworking Nathan MacKinnon in the corner, the Avs finally got it together, and a tic-tac-toe pass led to a Gabriel Landeskog tally.
At the end of the period, the Devils finally got a chance to make a move. They had a 5-on-3 for a little over 30 seconds, and they took advantage of the opportunity as best they could, but former teammate Mackenzie Blackwood stoned them, especially an Anthony Mantha tip as time expired.
When the Devils didn’t convert on the power plays, the game felt over. That was their opportunity.
The Devils couldn’t survive an almost impossible back-to-back
In their last 25 games coming into this game, the Avs were 20-5 when their opponent was on the second half of a back-to-back with the opposing team traveling between. That's a ridiculous record, but it makes sense. Colorado is one of the only teams in the Mountain Time Zone. It's about a two-hour flight from Dallas to Denver. The Devils definitely got into the airport after midnight local time, and they didn't get the right amount of rest.
Then, there's the fact they were playing in Denver. The thin air is an absolute problem for athletes trying to dominate performance.
The Devils just beat the Avalanche 4-3 last week, and they dominated most of that matchup. The Avs had a surge at the end of the game, but the Devils were the better team that night.
The Devils didn't have a surge this night, but it is what it is. The Avs and Devils faced similar issues in the second half of a back-to-back. Blackwood played well enough, as he always does against the Devils, and the offense broke through in the third period.
Rinse this one and move past it. Blame the circumstances and keep doing what they were doing right before it.
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