Devils rally with five straight goals, defeat Avalanche

NEWARK, N.J. --The New Jersey Devils scored five straight goals to rally for a 5-3 win against the Colorado Avalanche at Prudential Center on Tuesday.

"We've played a lot of games like this where you get down and battle back but we don't quite make it all the way back or win the game," Devils coach Lindy Ruff said. "I thought tonight was just a belief that we were going to come back."
Nathan Bastian scored a power-play goal on a rebound from the slot at 13:04 of the third period to give New Jersey a 4-3 lead before Yegor Sharangovich scored a shorthanded goal into an empty net at 18:19 for the 5-3 final.
"We felt good the whole game, but the score didn't reflect how we thought we were playing," Bastian said. "Sometimes when you see the score, you get pretty down on yourself, but coming back from 3-0 ... that's arguably the best team in the League, so it's great for our group."

Ruff passed Paul Maurice for sixth on the NHL wins list with 776.
Jesper Bratt had three assists, Jack Hughes had two assists, and Nico Daws made 23 saves for the Devils (21-31-5), who have won the first two of a four-game homestand.
Nathan MacKinnon had a goal and two assists, and Darcy Kuemper made 38 saves for the Avalanche (41-12-5), who won 5-4 at the New York Islanders on Monday.
"I'm not going to break down the whole game for you guys. We were terrible," Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. "It is what it is. We were second to every puck, they were skating, and we weren't checking. We look tired, mentally tired. We turned the puck over every second time we touched it."
Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar had a goal and an assist and extended his point streak to 13 games (21 points; three goals, 18 assists). He extended his assist streak to 13 games to pass Joe Sakic (12 games, Feb. 27-March 24, 1992) for the longest in Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques history.
Colorado lost for the first time in 24 games this season when leading after the first period and lost after leading by three goals for the first time since Nov. 1, 2018 (6-5 to the Calgary Flames).
"They were making a lot of plays and were playing with a lot of confidence offensively," Kuemper said. "They made it tough on us, for sure."
McKinnon's power-play goal gave Colorado a 1-0 lead at 9:04 of the first period, and Mikko Rantanen made it 2-0 on the power play at 14:27 on a one-timer from the right face-off circle.
"We got two power-play goals, but I still think they were better than us," Rantanen said. "They were faster and a more physical team. We tried to weather the storm, but they just kept coming and we couldn't find the answer tonight."

Makar made it 3-0 5:52 of the second period on a rebound from the slot.
Tomas Tatar cut it to 3-1 at 9:20, following up a shot off the right post. It his 400th NHL point (186 goals, 214 assists) in his 679th game.
"It's a nice milestone, but I wasn't really looking for it," Tatar said. "I want to keep playing at least for a little while, and hopefully reach other milestones."
Devils defenseman Ty Smith made it 3-2 at 12:18 on a backhand from the right face-off circle that deflected off the stick of Colorado defenseman Samuel Girard. Defenseman Damon Severson tied it 3-3 at 17:21 with a power-play goal on a slap shot from the point.
"I think if you look at their team with the amount of goals coming out of that back end with a guy like Makar, it's a big part of the game," Ruff said. "A lot of the game is about a four-man attack or defense getting pucks through and having people around the front of the net."
NOTES: Makar's assist streak ranks fifth in NHL history among defensemen behind Paul Coffey (17 games, 1985-86), Brian Leetch (15, 1991-92), Phil Housley (14, 1992-93) and Bobby Orr (14, 1970-71). ... MacKinnon has scored 12 points (seven goals, five assists) in his past seven games and 17 points (10 goals, seven assists) in a 12-game point streak. ... The Avalanche were 6-0-1 in the second of a back-to-back this season and 13-0-4 since the start of last season. ... Ruff is 776-615-137 with 78 ties in 1,606 games. He is six wins behind Al Arbour for fifth. ... Devils center Nico Hischier (lower body) was scratched and is day to day. ... Hughes has scored 18 points (six goals, 12 assists) in his past 11 games and extended his home point streak to 12 games (20 points; eight goals, 12 assists).