3 Thoughts: Avalanche Embarrass Devils; Concerning Trend; Emotionless

Despite having two goals taken off the board, the New Jersey Devils had no excuse to be embarrassed by the Colorado Avalanche the way they were on Sunday night.

The lifeless Devils had a decent start, yet, allowed the concerning trend of forking over leads to continue, and they bottomed out from there.

Let’s get to how it happened.

Devils Recap

First shot, first goal… for the Avalanche, of course. The Devils continue to fork over leads to open a game, and did so again on Sunday. Receiving a pass from Casey Mittelstadt below the goal line, Ross Colton tapped a pass past Jake Allen to give Colorado a 1-0 lead 4:07 into the first period. Later in the opening frame, Logan O’Connor redirected a shot by Calvin de Haan from the point to double the Avalanche lead.

In the second period, the Devils only managed two shots on goal, as opposed to Colorado’s 10. Artturi Lehkonen was sprung for a breakaway by Mittelstadt, and beat Allen cleanly to give the Avalanche a 3-0 lead.

The Devils pulled Allen with over five and a half minutes remaining in the third period, and Parker Kelly hit the empty net to seal a 4-0 Avalanche victory.

Allen made 19 saves on 22 shots, stopping all three chances for Colorado on their man advantage, and one short-handed chance.

Takeaways

Concerning Trend

For the ninth time in their last 10 games, the Devils forked over the first lead of the game.

The Avalanche are one of the few teams that can match the speed and the skill the Devils possess. However, nothing excuses the trend that continues where the Devils are chasing leads.

It just seemed like such an avoidable goal, too. Colton planted himself at the top of Allen’s crease and when the puck made its way below the goal line, every Devils’ attention was redirected below the goal line as well. And despite Colton being the lone Avs skater at the top of the crease, surrounded by all of Dougie Hamilton, Brenden Dillon, and Erik Haula, he still managed to score.

On both goals in the opening frame, the Devils need to be better about clearing bodies from the top of their crease and out of the slot. It’s the kind of habit that we saw began to creep in against the Washington Capitals, and has yet to be resolved.

Emotionless

Despite controlling the shot and chance differential in the first period, the Devils came out as flat as can be in the second.

Through the middle frame, New Jersey only forced Wedgewood to make two saves, applying little to no pressure in the offensive zone.

It was a period that was reminiscent of the 2023-24 season, where the Devils would fork over a lead and quickly bottom out.

Except this year, there’s new personnel on the bench and in the room, and someone was expected to change the course of the lifeless game at some point. Yet, Colorado steam rolled the Devils with absolutely no response.

“You gotta get some sort of emotional response. A big hit, a fight, a shot, a scoring chance, whatever it takes,” Sheldon Keefe said. “But a big part of it is the energy and the life comes through getting the neutral zone and starting to attack the net. They made it hard on us to do that today, and we didn’t do enough to play through it.”

Suffocated

Whereas the Devils suffocated the Seattle Kraken on Friday, it was the opposite on Sunday against the Avalanche. The Devils’ strength on offense is to create through the rush. That starts in the Devils’ own end, through the neutral zone, ultimately leading to a scoring chance in the offensive zone.

Except, the Avalanche stifled the Devils in the middle of the ice, taking their biggest strength at even strength away from them.

“We couldn’t get through the neutral zone,” Keefe explained. “They did a good job up tight on us, the gap was tight, and we didn’t play through that well enough.”