NEWARK, N.J. — This was a road trip to forget.

One night after being surprised by the struggling Philadelphia Flyers, the Colorado Avalanche were overwhelmed by the New Jersey Devils in a 4-3 loss at Prudential Center. Scott Wedgewood made 37 saves, but didn’t get much help as the Avs dropped back-to-back games for the first time this season.

It had already been a long night in North Jersey, but when Arseny Gritsyuk picked up the puck at the Devils’ blue line and sliced through three of Colorado’s best players with little resistance for a highlight-reel goal, it felt like a culmination in one of the worst games this Avalanche group has played in recent years.

This was the first time the Avalanche has allowed 40 shots on goal in a game since Dec. 12, 2025, in a 6-3 loss to the New York Islanders last season. It’s also only the second time Colorado has allowed 40-plus since the start of the 2024-25 campaign — a span of 174 regular-season games.

The Avs have been blown out in the odd game in recent seasons, but the shots were 23-5 at one point in the second period. Colorado had little sustained offensive pressure until after the Gritsyuk goal, but New Jersey goalie Jake Allen, who was honored before the game for recently playing in his 500th career game, finished with 31 saves and prevented any potential comeback.

Declan Chisholm had the lone goal of the second period to give New Jersey a 2-1 advantage. It came on a delayed penalty. Chisholm’s shot from the left point hit Brock Nelson’s stick in the slot and fluttered past Wedgewood at 12:33 of the middle period.

It was an unlucky goal, but New Jersey had earned the lead at that point by controlling the play and peppering Wedgewood with shots. The Devils had a 32-13 advantage on the shot clock after 40 minutes. That matched the most shots allowed by the Avs in a full game so far this season — Pittsburgh had 32 on Oct. 16 in Colorado’s 5-2 win.

Luke Evangelista put the Devils out in front at 6:40 of the opening period. Devils captain Nico Hischier had the puck as he tried to enter the offensive zone when Nathan MacKinnon and Devon Toews converged on him to force it loose. It went right to Evangelista, and he had an open look off the rush for his third goal of the season.

Gabe Landeskog evened the score at 14:32 of the first after a brilliant play from Cale Makar. The two-time Norris Trophy defenseman deked past Timo Meier at the right point and then Jack Hughes before sending the puck to Landeskog at the right post. The captain scored on his own rebound for his fourth goal of the year.

Those two Landeskog shots represented half of Colorado’s total in the first period. New Jersey outshot the visitors 16-4 in the opening 20 minutes. That is the third straight game where the Avs were clearly on the backfoot in the first period.

Shortly after Jesper Boqvist scored into an empty net to give New Jersey a 4-1 lead, Artturi Lehkonen scored his seventh goal of the season on a pass from Gavin Brindley. Lehkonen leads the Avs in goals, while Brindley picked up his first point of the season.

The Avs began this quick two-game trip with a dud Monday night in down Interstate 95 in Philadelphia. The Flyers won for just the second time in 11 games, knocking off the Avs, 3-2.

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