After coming away with an uplifting 7–3 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Thursday, the Colorado Avalanche (25–13–4) continued to roll as they come away with a 5–2 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Saturday night. In a game that easily could have been 4–0 after the first period, the Avalanche turned on the jets with goals from Mikko Rantanen and Ian Cole to head into the third period with a 2–0 lead.
Colorado continued where they left off, as Rantanen tallied his second goal of the game only eight seconds into the final frame. The Devils would get themselves back into the game with a shorthanded tally from Blake Coleman, followed by Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and Jesper Boqvist exchanging goals to make the score 4–2 Colorado. Rantanen would tally an empty-net goal to give the Avs the 5–2 victory as time wound down.
The good
- Mikko Rantanen’s second career hat trick
- Sam Girard continues to remain hot after a four-point night vs. St. Louis
- Ian Cole continues to find the back of the net
- Philipp Grubauer seems to be getting back to his old self
The bad
- Colorado continues to look for fancy passes on odd-man rushes, leading to blown goal opportunities
The ugly
- The Avalanche struggled on the power play, striking out on three chances
- Turnovers, turnovers and more turnovers