The New Jersey Devils' eight-game winning streak came to an end on Tuesday night at Ball Arena against the Colorado Avalanche, losing 8-4. Goaltender Jacob Markstrom made his first start since sustaining a lower-body injury on Oct. 13. He made 34 saves on 42 shots, earning a .810 save percentage.
"Our team was just dreadful in front of him today," head coach Sheldon Keefe told NJD.TV. "We could have had two goalies in the net tonight, and it wouldn't have made a difference."
Only 18 seconds after puck drop, Markstrom was called for a delay of game - puck over glass penalty. Martin Necas gave the Avalanche an early 1-0 lead with his snap shot, beating the Devils' goaltender on the power play.
Two minutes later, Zakhar Bardakov extended Colorado's lead to 2-0. The 24-year-old was part of the trade package to acquire Kurtis MacDermid in 2024. The goal marked the first of his NHL career.
"To be honest, I think besides two mistakes and going down, we played pretty well," Nico Hischier said of the first period. "The rest of it, after we were down a couple of goals, we lost structure, and that is the worst thing that can happen. Gave up easy goals. Today, we showed exactly the recipe of how not to play hockey."
The start of the second period was not any better for the Devils, as the Avalanche received another three goals by Victor Olofsson, Nathan MacKinnon, and Parker Kelly.
It was not until the halfway mark of the game that the Devils' offense came to life.
In a span of four minutes, Stefan Noesen, Dougie Hamilton, Dawson Mercer, and Jack Hughes scored to begin a comeback, finding themselves down by only a goal.
At 14:54, Timo Meier was called for tripping against Bardakov, and 29 seconds into the Avalanche power play, MacKinnon scored his second of the game, giving Colorado a 6-4 lead entering the second intermission.
The penalty kill, which has been one of the Devils' bright spots through the first nine games, unraveled in Denver. Three minutes into the third period, Olofsson extended Colorado's lead to 7-4 on the power play as Luke Glendening sat for two minutes for slashing Valeri Nichushkin.
"You can’t give up four PK goals,” Brenden Dillon told NJD.TV of the penalty kill. “The goals against were for the most part Grade A’s from our self-inflicted wounds. Crazy, because we haven’t really done that over the first nine games of the year. Got to be better.”
With two minutes remaining in regulation, Olofsson completed his first career NHL hat trick, securing Colorado's victory.
"We have put ourselves in a good spot here coming through 10 games," Keefe said. "I think our team deserves, listen, no one is harder on this team than I am, and this team deserves to push past this one pretty quickly, learn from it, it is pretty obvious they don't feel great about the game, but we will push past it.
"I am really interested in our response," he continued. "That is really my only focus."
The Devils will have a day off on Wednesday and play the San Jose Sharks at SAP Center on Thursday.
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