In Denver, the Colorado Avalanche took a break from their offensive outbursts on Thursday night and put up three goals in the middle frame to down the New Jersey Devils, 3-1.
Pavel Francouz made 26 saves in the Avs win.
“I was pretty happy. [Francouz] didn’t have a lot of work tonight, especially down the stretch, but he makes the saves he needs to make,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “He’s a competitive guy, and he’s been playing well for us. I would say he’s been solid, doing everything and more that you’re asking a backup to do.”
Jesper Bratt spoiled the shut out bid with a strike midway through the third period.
After a scoreless first period, the Avs scored three in the second period, starting with a strike by Logan O’Connor.
“He was playing hard right from the drop of the puck,” Bednar said, “It’s almost like he got a little boost from all the [University of Denver] guys coming in and seeing his old teammates and stuff like that, but he was skating, competitive, winning races, battles. Drew a nice penalty hanging onto the puck, got rewarded with a goal, almost had another one. I thought he had a really good night.”
Andre Burakovsky pushed the lead to 2-0.
The Avs improved to 54-14-6, and have won eight straight.
Artturi Lehkonen made it 3-0 for Colorado at 14:35 of the middle frame.
“Guys were moving the puck great up top, and Mikko shot the puck. The rebound just fell under my feet, basically,” Lehkonen said. “It’s fun to get points and stuff, but as long as the team keeps winning, that’s all that matters.”
Andrew Hammond made 25 save in the loss.
“I thought we started the game really well. Didn’t want to just give them opportunities, and I think we did a good job of that in the first period,” Hammond said. “I think we gave ourselves a chance to win the game and just didn’t get the next two goals, but it felt like we had chances, especially in the first period and then down towards the end in the third as well. But obviously the second period was the difference.”
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