DENVER — The Avalanche squared off against the New Jersey Devils tonight at Ball Arena.

First Period

Jacob Markstrom gets a delay of game penalty for lobbing the puck over the glass and Marty Necas puts the Avalanche up 1-0 on the power play after one-timing a feed from Cale Makar. Great start for the Avs.

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The Devils crash the net, but once the Avalanche clear the puck, it creates a 3-on-2 rush, and Zakhar Bardakov enters the zone all alone and beats Markstrom for his first-career NHL goal. It’s 2-0 right away here at Ball Arena.

Shots are 8-6 in favor of New Jersey with 13:45 left in the first.

Turnovers are still an issue early on. Sam Malinski turned over the puck at center-ice and it created an opportunity for the Devils, but they fanned on the shot as Jack Drury made a sliding effort to block the shot.

The Avs penalty kill continues to shine. After Necas was boxed for hooking, the PK shut the door. They have killed 21 of their last 22 penalties. That’s a 95% success rate. Incredible.

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End of the 1st: Avalanche 2 Devils 0

Shots are 16-11 in favor of New Jersey

Second Period

Ross Colton sniped a shot from the left circle to start the second period and CLANG! It hits the post and the score remains 2-0 Colorado.

It’s 3-0 Colorado! Victor Olofsson rips one top shelf and he gets his first goal in an Avalanche sweater.

The Devils give the Avs a 5-on-3 power play and Nathan MacKinnon rips a one-timer to make it 4-0. The Avalanche have two power play goals on the night.

It’s getting into blowout territory now as Ross Colton feeds Parker Kelly and he lights the lamp to make it 5-0.

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With half of the game left, the Devils get on the board when Stefan Noesen beat Scott Wedgewood with a top shelf wrister.

Hamilton scored with 8:03 left in the period after he batted down his own rebound out of the air and backhanded the puck by Wedgewood in just an incredible heads-up play.

WHAT IS HAPPENING

Well, things are starting to fall apart as the Devils make it four unanswered goals with Dawson Mercer and Jack Hughes picking up scores.

MacKinnon gets one back with Colorado’s third power play goal of the game. Now it’s a 6-4 game.

Malinski deflected a pass from Brent Burns and the puck went into the stands and struck a fan around their left eye. They ended up leaving with an ice bag over the wound.

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Third Period

The Avalanche have scored four power play goals in this game as Olofsson picks up his second of the game. Don’t forget he told us that he wasn’t worried about the power play struggles last week. Well, he sure quieted the critics.

And it’s Olofsson again as he takes a feed from Jack Drury and rips another top shelf wrister for his first career NHL hat trick. All of this production for a million dollars? An absolute steal from Chris MacFarland.

What a game. The Avs score five unanswered goals before allowing four unanswered themselves, and punish the Devils the rest of the way.

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Olofsson finishes with 5 points, Cale Makar had four assists, and MacKinnon finished with three points. 5 different Avs players scored and 13 players put up at least one point. This was a complete team effort in an 8-4 defeat of New Jersey. The rematch goes to the Avalanche!