Landeskog, Avalanche hand Devils first loss by 5-3

Gabriel Landeskog recorded his third career hat trick by scoring the tiebreaking goal with 3:22 remaining on Thursday, and the visiting Colorado Avalanche recorded a 5-3 victory over the New Jersey Devils.

Gabriel Landeskog recorded his third career hat trick by scoring the tiebreaking goal with 3:22 remaining on Thursday, and the visiting Colorado Avalanche recorded a 5-3 victory over the New Jersey Devils, who became the last NHL team to lose a game this season.

Landeskog completed his first hat trick since Dec. 16 by firing a one-timer from the right circle over Keith Kinkaid's glove while falling to his knees in Newark, N.J.

Landeskog also scored the tying goal earlier in the third period by falling to his knees to deflect a right point shot from Ian Cole.

The Avalanche captain scored his first goal of the night on the power play about seven minutes into the second period.

Colorado's Mikko Rantanen and Nathan MacKinnon each tallied points for the seventh consecutive game. Rantanen scored a goal and set up each of Landeskog's goals. MacKinnon, on a night when he did not extend his six-game goal-scoring streak, tallied three assists.

Sven Andrighetto scored in his season debut for Colorado, and Rantanen capped his third career four-point game with an empty-net tally.

Nico Hischier and Brian Boyle scored power-play goals for the Devils, whose season-opening, the four-game winning streak was stopped. Taylor Hall scored his first goal of the season and added two assists as New Jersey was denied its first 5-0 start since winning its first seven games in 1993-94.

The Devils also lost Travis Zajac to a lower-body injury in the second period when his right leg appeared to get caught along the boards.

Colorado backup goaltender Philipp Grubauer stopped 27 shots and made Landeskog's hat trick stand up with point-blank saves on Blake Coleman and Kyle Palmieri in the final two-plus minutes.

The Devils struck first when Hischier lifted Zajac's pass through the slot over Grubauer's right shoulder with 2:18 left in the first period. But the Avalanche tied it 77 seconds into the second when Andrighetto snuck a shot just past the goal line on a call that was overturned by officials in Toronto.

Colorado took a 2-1 lead 7:08 into the second when Landeskog gained possession near centre ice, sped past Devils defenseman Andy Greene and lifted a shot over Kinkaid.

The Devils forged a 2-2 tie on a delayed penalty to Colorado when Hall one-timed a cross-ice pass from Greene over Grubauer's glove at 15:42 of the second period. They took a 3-2 lead when Boyle used his right skate to deflect Palmieri's pass from the right circle 6:22 into the third.

 

(With inputs from agencies.)