Duchene scores as Avalanche beat Devils 2-1

By foxsports
Published

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) Matt Duchene had a November to remember. And December is off to a promising start.

Duchene scored again, Reto Berra made 27 saves and the Colorado Avalanche beat the New Jersey Devils 2-1 on Tuesday night.

Duchene had a franchise-record 11 November goals, and picked up right where he left off. He opened the scoring at 2:10 of the second period with a shot from the right circle that hit Devils goalie Cory Schneider in the left arm and trickled into the net.

''The big thing is to not think about it too much,'' Duchene said. ''I'm just focusing on speed, going hard to the net and shooting a lot of pucks. I felt like I maybe could have had another one tonight. You have to stay hungry. That's the biggest thing.''

Tyson Barrie also scored for Colorado, which got its third win in the last eight games. The Avalanche improved to 8-0-1 in their last nine games against the Devils.

Kyle Palmieri scored for New Jersey, and Schneider made 23 stops.

At the other end, Berra was steady in the second of back-to-back road games for Colorado. Semyon Varlamov gave up four goals Monday in a 5-3 loss to the Islanders in Brooklyn.

''We played a really solid road game,'' Berra said. ''Pucks out, pucks in. The guys helped a lot in front of me. Even when there was traffic in front, I always had somewhere to look.''

Barrie powered Colorado to a 2-0 lead with a rising wrist shot from the right circle at 6:15 of the second.

The Devils broke through 2:09 into the third period, scoring off a faceoff. Travis Zajac drew the puck back to Palmieri, who fired a shot that glanced off Colorado defenseman Nate Guenin.

The Devils outshot the Avalanche 9-6 in the third but could not get the equalizer.

It was a disappointing result for the Devils after earning three points in a weekend home-and-home series with the Eastern Conference-leading Canadiens.

''There was some intensity, a few scraps and jawing on the ice,'' Schneider said. ''It's a team we don't see very often. When you play Montreal, you know you're playing them back to back. You try to play almost a six-period game instead of a three-period game.''

NOTES: Fans received an Adam Henrique bobblehead. ... New Jersey scratched D David Schlemko, RW Brian O'Neill and LW Stefan Matteau. The Colorado scratches were LW Andrew Agozzino and D Brandon Gormley. .. Avalanche forward Jarome Iginla played in his 1,417th game, tying Luke Richardson for 28th on the career list.