Colorado has a 1-1-0 record during the early days of the season, but it is 1-for-11 on the power play through its first two contests of the year. On the penalty kill, the Avs are 5-for-9.
"I think the biggest thing was our power play, [and] we weren't very good on the PK," said forward Nathan MacKinnon. "I mean our special teams has been letting us down the first two games of the season. I don't know what it was tonight, but it wasn't good enough. Hopefully we can be better in Boston."
Head coach Jared Bednar noted that the Avalanche had too many failed clearing attempts during penalty kills early in the contest, and it ended up costing the team.
"We had the puck on our tape, and I can't tell you how many times, at least four or five times in the first period, and we didn't even get it past our blue line," Bednar said. "You got to take the extra second to get your feet moving, get your body around it and use your forehand to get it down the length of the ice. Even moving onto the second period, our first penalty kill, didn't get it down twice and then its 45 more seconds in our zone and it ends up in the back of our net. You can't kill penalties in this league when you're exhausted. When you don't get the puck down the ice, those come back to haunt you. It's pretty simple for me."
So how will the Avalanche fix its early season struggles on special teams?
"We have to watch video I think," MacKinnon said. "It's hard to pinpoint one thing. Hopefully we can figure it out."
The positives from Saturday included Colorado generating more shots in the second half of the contest and the strong play by goalie Jonathan Bernier.
The Avs outshot the Devils 41-39 in the game, and Bernier looked sharp, especially in the opening stanza when New Jersey outshot Colorado 17-10.
"I think the first period, we just lost too many of the 50-50 puck battles," Bednar said. "We were skating, and we were moving the puck OK but like every 50-50 puck they come up with it. That's why the shot discrepancy was there. We got more competitive on the puck in the second and third period."
The Avalanche has one practice to clean up those areas of its game before playing another matinee contest. Colorado faces the Boston Bruins in an early outing at TD Garden on Monday for Columbus Day.