Devils Wrap Up Road Trip Against Avalanche | PREVIEW

The Devils are taking on the Colorado Avalanche in Denver for New Jersey's final game of a four-game road trip.

You can watch on TNT or listen on the Devils Hockey Network.

Read below for your game preview and pre-game story below.

PRE-GAME STORY

DENVER, Colo. - The Devils held an optional morning skate. It was heavily attended by the team. Goaltender Vitek Vanecek worked at the starter’s end.

Vana-Czech

If Vanecek does start against the Avalanche, it would be his seventh appearance in the past eight games (with six starts and one relief appearance). Vanecek was a key contributor to the team’s 4-2 victory at Chicago, stopping 32 pucks and making the save of his career.

“He’s been awesome,” “He’s the reason we’re winning some games. We need to help him a little more defensively. We can’t be giving up three, four goals a game. We need to be better and help him.”

Special Attention

One aspect of the game that will garner some deserved attention is in the special teams area. Particularly, the Devils No. 1-ranked power play (42.9%) against the Avalanche’s No. 2-ranked penalty kill (92.5%).

“A lot of teams will kill the same way night in, night out, try to take away the other team’s strengths,” head coach Lindy Ruff said. “I would anticipate them coming with a lot of pressure. That’s what we have to be ready for.”

“They’re very, very fast and pressure very hard,” Luke Hughes said. “We just have to move pucks quick and execute. Hit guys on the tape and make our best plays.”

Old Friends

The Devils will be facing two former teammates in forwards Miles Wood and Tomas Tatar. Both signed with Colorado in the off-season. Ruff shared his favorite memory of Wood in particular.

"The laugh he has," Lindy joked. "The giggle he's got always puts a smile on my face."

PREVIEW

DEVILS (7-3-1) vs. AVALANCHE (7-3-0)

Head-to-Head

This is the first of two meetings between the Avalanche and Devils this season with the second on Feb. 6 at Prudential Center.

Last year, New Jersey won both games against Colorado. On Oct. 28, the Devils shut out the Avalanche 1-0, before picking up a 7-5 victory on Mar. 1 in Denver.

Devils Team Scope:

Tuesday night’s game is the final contest on a four-game road trip for the Devils. New Jersey started the trip with a 5-3 over the Minnesota Wild before losing 4-1 to the St. Louis Blues the next night. Sunday night, the Devils picked up a 4-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks. The Devils are currently 4-1-0 this season on the road and are 7-3-1 through 11 total games.

Currently the Devils are without their top two centermen, Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier. Both have upper-body injuries with Hischier day-to-day and Hughes week-to-week. Hughes and Hischier are key parts of the Devils power play, take the majority of the team’s face-offs, and each are big parts of New Jersey’s offense. Before he was injured, Hughes was off to a fast start, as he was leading the NHL and Devils in points (20).

The Devils power play continues to dominate as the top units in the NHL, scoring 42.9% of the time. The next closest team, the New York Rangers, is scoring 31.6% of the time. The Devils saw a power play goal by Dawson Mercer in the last game, which was the eighteenth power play goal this season by New Jersey.

Tyler Toffoli and Jesper Bratt are tied for the team-lead with seven goals, while Jack Hughes leads New Jersey with 15 assists and 20 points. The Devils have turned to Vitek Vanecek for seven starts and he has played in eight total games. He has a 6-2-0 record with a 3.05 goals against average and a .900 save percentage. Akira Schmid has started and played four games with a 1-1-1 record. He’s averaging 3.51 goals against and has a .887 save percentage.

Two forwards who were with the Devils last year signed with the Avalanche this year., Miles Wood and Tomas Tatar, both are 

Avalanche Team Scope:

The Avalanche started the season on a six-game win streak before dropping two-straight games. After picking up a big 4-1 win over the Blues to start November, Colorado was shutout, 7-0, by the defending Stanley Cup Champions, the Vegas Golden Knights. Tuesday’s game kicks off a three-game homestand for Colorado.

The Avalanche are dealing with some injuries as well with Captain Gabriel Landeskog on the IR with a knee injury, goaltender Pavel Francouz on the IR with a groin injury, and forward Chris Wagner on the IR with an achilles injury.

Mikko Rantanen leads Colorado with six goals and 14 points, and is tied with Cale Maker for the team lead with eight assists. In addition to their top players, every skater that has played over five games has at least a point so far this season.

Alexandar Georgiev has started nine games for the Avalanche and he has a 6-3-0 record. He’s averaging 2.92 goals against and has a .899 save percentage. Ivan Prosvetov is the backup goaltender for Colorado with Francouz on the IR. Through one start and two games played, Prosvetov has a 1-0-0 record, a .088 goals against average, and a .970 save percentage.

The Avalanche have the third-best penalty kill in the league, keeping their opponents off the board 92.5% of the time. Colorado has allowed three power-play goals against through 40 penalties, creating an exciting matchup between a top power play and top penalty kill on Tuesday night.

By the Numbers:

Max Willman became the 66th player in franchise history to score a goal in his team debut. His goal helped New Jersey pick up a 4-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Nov. 5. The previous player to do so was Timo Meier on Mar. 5 last season.

Vitek Vanecek’s 39th career Devils win on Sunday earned him the tenth most wins in franchise history, passing Johan Hedberg. He’s four wins away from tying Craig Billington who’s ninth all-time.

The Colorado Avalanche are averaging 2.80 goals against which ranks them eighth in the NHL. On the flip side when it comes to scoring goals, Colorado has scored the tenth-most goals in the league, averaging 3.10 a game. It makes sense the Avalanche are scoring over three goals a game as they have the third-highest shots on goal a game with 34.6.

Injuries:

Devils

Jack Hughes (upper body, week-to-week)

Nico Hischier (upper body, day-to-day)

Tomas Nosek (lower body, IR)

Colin Miller (lower body, IR)

AVALANCHE

Gabriel Landeskog (knee, IR)

Pavel Francouz (groin, IR)

Chris Wagner (achilles, IR)