Devils stay hot on road, defeat Avalanche
DENVER – Jesper Bratt had a goal and an assist, Corey Schneider had 21 saves, and the New Jersey Devils continued their road success with a 2-1 win over the Colorado Avalanche on Friday night.
Brian Boyle also scored for the Devils, who improved to 9-2-2 away from home.
J.T. Compher had a goal and Semyon Varlamov stopped 19 shots for Colorado (12-10-2), which fell to 1-2 on its five-game homestand.
The Devils (15-6-4) were playing their first game since trading forwards Adam Henrique and Joseph Blandisi to Anaheim for defenseman Sami Vatanen on Thursday. Vatanen wasted little time jumping in with his new team. He logged 22 minutes, 47 seconds of ice time to lead the team.
Boyle made it a successful debut when he got the go-ahead goal on the power play at 6:11 of the third. Varlamov made an initial save on Taylor Hallfs shot but couldn't hold onto it and Boyle banged it home for his fourth of the season.
Varlamov came off for an extra skater with 1:40 left but Colorado couldn't score.
The game was scoreless until a turnover led to the first goal of the night. After New Jersey sent the puck into the Colorado zone, Varlamov stopped it behind the net and left it for defenseman Nikita Zadorov.
He sent a backhand pass blindly to the left side, and Bratt got to it first and put it in the wide-open net to give the Devils a 1-0 lead at 13:58 of the second.
The goal woke up Colorado, which pressed in the New Jersey zone and drew a hooking penalty on defenseman Ben Lovejoy. The Avalanche cashed in on Compher's fourth goal of the season at 17:11.
NOTES: New Jersey LW Brian Gibbons took a shot to the right knee early in the third period and limped to the locker room but returned later. ... Colorado LW Gabriel Landeskog served the second of his four-game suspension for a hit to the head of Calgary's Matthew Tkachuk. ... Devils RW Marcus Johansson returned to the lineup after missing 13 games with a concussion sustained against Vancouver on Nov. 1. He played on the second line with C Travis Zajac and LW Pavel Zacha. ... Avalanche C Nathan MacKinnon was named the NHL's first star for November. MacKinnon had five goals and 15 assists and tied Edmonton's Connor McDavid for the most points in the month. He had seven multi-point games in 12 games, including five points (1g, 4a) in a win over Washington on Nov. 16.