The Colorado Avalanche took a big step in their playoff race with a 3-0 win over the visiting New Jersey Devils Sunday afternoon.
Philipp Grubauer made 22 saves to get the shutout win.
The Avs are within four points of the Arizona Coyotes and the second wild card in the Western Conference.
Tyson Barrie had two goals in Avs win – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
Grubauer has three shutouts in his last five starts.
“We need wins, and that was a good step in the right direction,” Grubauer said. “We can’t hope for another team to lose for us to get in. We have to keep playing the right way. Every shift for every guy matters.
“The guys in front of me are making it really easy to see some pucks. Last period, we gave up [five] shots. We need wins, and it was a good win today.”
The Avs improved to 31-29-12.
“I have faith that we can pull this off, that we can do it,” Avs head coach Jared Bednar said. “We’re going to fight to the bitter end to try and get it done. You don’t know how this is going to play out. We know we’re behind right now and we’re going to have to win hockey games. We don’t know what the number is, you still can’t tell. We just know there’s some important games coming up.”
Tyson Barrie struck twice, and Nathan MacKinnon added a single marker for the Avs.
“That was huge for us,” Barrie said. “Obviously, we got our work cut out for us. We needed those two points and we got them and we go on the road for two big ones. I don’t think we’ve quite lived up to our potential. We know we can do better. If we can string together 10 good games here and put some points together, we can get in.”
[WATCH: All Devils vs. Avalanche highlights]
Cory Schneider made 31 saves in the loss.
“I thought we had some looks,” New Jersey coach John Hynes said. “[Grubauer] made some good saves on the looks we had. We didn’t generate as much as we needed to. We had some really good shot attempts and looks on the power play; unfortunately, we missed the net.
“We didn’t give ourselves a chance to get second and third opportunities, which you need against a goaltender that’s playing really well. A lot of our attacking wasn’t where it needed to be. Then when we had looks, he either made big saves, or we missed the net.”
The Devils were officially eliminated from playoff contention.
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