The Colorado Avalanche left New Jersey with more questions than answers after Tuesday night’s 4-3 loss to the Devils at the Prudential Center.
The score makes it look like a game that swung late. It really wasn’t.
Colorado was chasing the night almost from the start, getting outshot 15-4 in the first period and still somehow escaping that opening frame tied at one. The pressure only ramped up from there.
New Jersey fired 17 more shots in the second period and still managed to add only one goal, but by the time the third period arrived, the Devils had taken control anyway.
Even with a late push, the Avalanche never fully dragged themselves back into it. Colorado was down 4-1 late in the third after pulling the goalie with more than four minutes left, and only two late goals made the final margin respectable.
The comeback effort was real. The escape act wasn’t.
This is where the concern starts to creep in for Colorado. Teams hit rough patches, sure, but the Avalanche are at the point where the skid feels bigger than a bad couple of nights.
They’ve now dropped their second game in as many nights, and on Tuesday they looked flat in almost every phase. For a team trying to find its footing, that’s not a small thing.
The bigger issue may be that nothing seemed to be working in the way Colorado needed it to. The Avalanche do have some cap space to call up healthy bodies, but that hasn’t appeared to be the direction the organization wants to go right now. That leaves the current setup under the microscope, especially with the team sitting in an October funk that could end up saying plenty about what comes next.
Special teams didn’t help. The Avalanche went 0-for-1 on the power play, showing flashes here and there but never enough to make it matter.
New Jersey’s penalty kill did its job, but Colorado still didn’t do enough to turn that chance into a real swing moment. The Avs were left leaning on a Nathan MacKinnon one-timer and hoping it would break through, and that’s not nearly enough production.
The penalty kill at least held up, as Colorado got through its lone minor without damage. But that small positive doesn’t erase the bigger picture. The power play failed to cash in, and in a game where the Avalanche were already spending too much time scrambling, that mattered.
That leaves the same uncomfortable questions hanging over the team: what happens if Colorado starts faster? What changes if the Avalanche find an answer on special teams? And how much longer can they keep waiting before the slide becomes something harder to ignore?
In Other News...
Avalanche Fans Should Keep An Eye On This Rising 2026 Pick
Beckett Hamilton is the kind of later-round pick that can start to matter quickly if the development arc keeps trending up. Drafted 74th overall by the Avalanche in the 2026 NHL Draft, the Red Deer Rebels captain has been making noise in the WHL with a strong start that has turned heads well beyond his draft slot. His ability to line up at center or wing only adds to the appeal, especially for a Colorado organization that is always looking for useful depth down the line.
Hamiltons production for Red Deer has given Avalanche fans a reason to track his progress closely, even if his eventual NHL path is still far from settled. Colorado views him as a possible depth piece who could someday fit into the organization, but the exact shape of that role is still a work in progress. For now, the intrigue is less about what he is right now and more about how much more room there is for him to grow. [Read more 🡒]
Avalanche Cup Chase Keeps Coming Back To One Uncomfortable Question
The Avalanches push to stay in the Cup mix keeps circling back to the same old pressure point in net, a reminder of how much of the franchises identity was shaped when Patrick Roy arrived in the 1995-96 season and helped transform the teams fortunes. Even now, the conversation around Colorado rarely gets far without landing on goaltending, especially after a playoff run can turn on whether the position looks steady or uncertain from one night to the next.
Connor Hellebuyck is the latest name to pull that issue back into focus, with his contract holdout in Winnipeg adding another layer to any possible pursuit. Colorado can dream about upgrading at the most important spot on the ice, but the current salary-cap landscape makes a move of that size far from simple, and thats what keeps this question hanging over the Avalanche as they try to chase another championship. [Read more 🡒]
Avalanche Escape Brutal Start Thanks To Two Timely Responses
For a period that could have gotten away from them quickly, the Avalanche found just enough poise to survive. New Jersey came out driving play and piled up the chances, but Colorado kept the score close while Scott Wedgewood came up with several key saves behind a skater group that spent much of the opening 20 minutes on its heels.
Then Gabe Landeskog delivered the kind of response teams need on nights like this, scoring late in the first period to pull Colorado even at 1-1. After being outshot 14-4, the Avalanche at least walked into the intermission with a reset, having turned a rough start into a tie game and a chance to settle in before the contest could slip further toward the Devils. [Read more 🡒]