Devils, Jake Allen outlast Avalanche on special night

The New Jersey Devils made it Jake Allen's night.

On an evening where the veteran goaltender was honored for playing in 500 career NHL regular-season games, his current teammates helped him to the 229th win of his career by holding on for a 4-3 win over the visiting Colorado Avalanche at the Prudential Center on Tuesday. The New Brunswick native did his part by recording 31 saves, including 19 stops in the third period while the Avs attempted a late comeback, as New Jersey made it over the .500 mark for the season (5-4-0).

Jake Allen feted pre-game 

Prior to the contest, the Devils paid tribute to Allen for the milestone achievement of his 500th career game, which came on Oct. 10 in a 4-1 home win over Vancouver. Among other gifts, he was honored with a commemorative mask, blocker and catching glove bearing a stylized "500" logo made up of the emblems of the St. Louis Blues, Montreal Canadiens and Devils, the three NHL clubs he has backstopped since turning pro in 2012. His family was on hand along with Devils' brass, including executive vice president and Hall of Fame goaltender Martin Brodeur.

"I told myself just to enjoy that moment," Allen said to the Devils web site afterwards. "With that and the Stanley Cup (in 2019), those are the two highlights of my career.

"That's one of the games I'll remember forever."

In addition, his teammates all wore No. 34 Allen jerseys in warmups.

After New Jersey's Luke Evangelista and Colorado's Gabriel Landeskog traded first-period goals, the Devils regained the lead on Declan Chisholm's first goal of the campaign midway through the second stanza, which was also his first tally in a Devils' uniform.

"Any time you can contribute and help the team win, you're going to remember it," Chisholm said in the aftermath. "It's also nice to get the first one in this jersey."

Arseny Gritsyuk made it 3-1 early in the final frame, pulling away from Colorado defensemen Cale Makar and Devon Toews to push a backhander past former New Jersey netminder Scott Wedgewood (37 saves) to give the Devils some breathing room.

Avs make it interesting

The Avalanche, who were outshot 32-13 throughout the first 40 minutes, did not go away quietly. 

New Jersey's Jesper Boqvist bounced a puck into an empty Colorado net with less than four minutes remaining in regulation to make it 4-1, after Wedgewood had been pulled for an extra attacker. That goal ultimately stood up as the game-winner, as the Avs subsequently got two goals just over three minutes apart from Artturi Lehkonen, his seventh and eighth this fall, with the second one coming with less than five seconds on the clock.

"Obviously we knew they were going to push in the third," said Allen. "They're too good of a team, too good of a program not to, and we just had to hold it down."

Makar finished with two assists as Colorado fell to 5-3-1. He now has eight assists and 11 points in eight outings so far this season, second only to Nathan MacKinnon's team-leading 16 points.

"I just felt we were kind of behind it most of the night," Makar sai postgame to the Avalanche web site. "Not a great first two periods, and gave up a tough one in the third."

The two teams will meet again in Denver on Oct. 28 to conclude their 2026-27 season series.

"They're a really good team, and we play them again right away," said Allen. "That's one of the deepest lineups in the league, and obviously one of the most talented teams."

Just not quite enough on this night. Allen's night.