DENVER (AP) — Victor Olofsson had his first career NHL hat trick and added two assists, Nathan MacKinnon scored two goals, and the Colorado Avalanche beat the New Jersey Devils 8-4 on Tuesday night in the second game in three days between the teams.
The loss snapped the Devils’ eight-game win streak, which tied a franchise record for the most victories through the first nine games of a season, while Colorado broke a skid of four consecutive games without a victory.
MacKinnon’s goals were the 375th and 376th of his career, moving him past Milan Hejduk for fourth place on the franchise’s career scoring list.
Martin Necas, Parker Kelly and Zakhar Bardakov also scored for Colorado, which had goals on four of its six power plays. The Devils had entered the night with the NHL’s second-best penalty kill, at 93.5%.
Scott Wedgewood made 26 saves and Cale Makar had four assists.
Bardakov’s goal was the first of his NHL career. With an assist on Kelly’s goal, Brent Burns tied Bobby Orr for 11th place for most career points by an NHL defenseman.
Jack Hughes, Dougie Hamilton, Dawson Mercer and Stefan Noesen scored for New Jersey. Jacob Markstrom had 34 saves.
Kelly’s goal with 11:21 remaining in the second period gave the Avalanche 5-0 lead.
The Devils responded by scoring four times in a stretch of 4:04. The spurt was capped off by Hughes’ ninth goal of the season, giving the teams a combined eight goals in the period and trimming Colorado’s advantage to 5-4.
MacKinnon got his second goal of the night 1:12 later, helping to give the Avalanche a cushion.
Up next
Avalanche: At Vegas on Friday night.
Devils: At San Jose on Thursday night.
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